Do I have any legal rights as a live-in carer?

Many live-in carers are unaware that they have legal rights, in fact most assume that because they are self-employed, they do not have any legal rights at all. The truth is that live-in carers do have some legal rights.

Government legislation says that anyone who is defined as a ‘worker’ is entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW). This applies even if a written contract has not been signed.

NLW regulations came into force after April 6^th, 2015.   

NLW must be paid for the following situations – all of which come into play with the job of live-in care work.

• Travel expenses. You are entitled to be paid for any travel time which is relevant to your placement. This included travel between clients, waiting for public transport (buses and trains), waiting to collect goods for your client such as shopping. Travel allowance also includes travelling from your client to training. Bear in mind that this is not applicable if you are on your rest break.
• You are not paid travel between your home and your client but are entitled to pay while you work.
• When required to work. If an unforeseen circumstance prevents you doing your job, such as your client being admitted to hospital, you should still be paid the NLW.
• Travel to training, and the time spent training.
• Standby or on call. For live-in carers this means night calls and working through ‘sleeping time’.

The NLW is not applicable to the following:

• Getting paid less than your normal pay such as if you were ill and received half pay while on sick leave.
• Unpaid leave that you are permitted to take. (For example, if you are given the entire day off instead of only two hours).
• At home and not working, or on call.
• Travel between work and your home.

You should be aware that despite being entitled to NLW, accommodation, which is normally provided free to you, can be considered when calculating the minimum wage. The offset rate for accommodation is £5.35 per day, which is £37.50 per week. The higher the accommodation charges, the lower the pay will be when calculating the minimum wage. Some employers also factor in expenses such as utility bills.

 

What this means to live-in carers who are privately hired is that you need to be careful when you negotiate your pay with a prospective client so that accommodation and utility bills are factored into your final salary.

 

Some other points

According to the government, there are three types of breaks, namely, rest at work, daily rest, and weekly rest.

 

If you work more than 6 hours a day then you are entitled to a break of 20 minutes (uninterrupted) in which time you may do as you please.

 

Daily rest means that workers have the right to 11 hours between shifts. This means that if you finish your shift at 9pm, you do not have to start before 8am the following day.

 

Weekly rest means that you have the right to either 24 hours work-free time in one week, or 48 hours work-free in two weeks.

There are exceptions to the rules for live-in carers in that they may be self-employed or on zero-hour contract jobs. These positions mean that you can choose the hours you work and how much time you have off (i.e. no set hours). These positions are not entitled to receive the three types of paid breaks. 

To sum up

It is vital that before you accept any live-in care position that you are sure about how you will be paid, and how long you will be expected to work. Most agencies set this out very clearly before you start, but as a private live-in carer you may want to seek guidance and have a written contract between yourself and your client, so that there are no nasty surprizes to you wages.

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