Unite news release

For immediate release: Tuesday 11 October 2022

Unite wins mileage payment for homecare workers at Nottingham City Council

`Superb’ deal worth an extra £135 a month for care workers sets national precedent

Unite representatives at Nottingham City Council have secured an important victory for homecare workers which has implications for similar local government workers across the country (see notes to editors).

250 homecare workers will now be able to claim mileage from when they leave their homes and for their journey home at the end of the shift.

The deal is worth an extra £135 a month for a typical homecare worker. The payments will be back paid from April 1st, 2022.

The agreement was negotiated by local Unite representatives directly with Nottingham City Council. The workers were previously not allowed to claim mileage for the journey to their first job and from the last job back home.

The low paid homecare workers were running out of money to fuel their cars for work, some had built up debt on credit cards just for this purpose, others were asking for bus passes.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a superb result for homecare workers who do hugely important work for the community. This is yet another example of how Unite union representatives are negotiating to improve jobs, pay and conditions for the union’s members.

“This is an important first step as part of a wider campaign for low paid local Government care workers.”

The principle of the payments was first raised at Unite’s national Local Government Combine meeting and was taken forward by the reps at Nottingham council.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “The agreement is a huge victory for Unite. It was made possible because of the determination of our local representatives in Nottingham who campaigned hard with the full support of the Unite Local Government Combine.

“The next stage of the campaign is to call on councils across the country to follow suit. Unite will also be raising a demand for similar workers to be paid from the time that they leave home.

Increasingly, employers are designating a worker’s home as their base, rather than reporting into a central site. Unite argues that it is therefore only fair that they are paid from when they leave home, in the same way that somebody would be paid from when they are on site.

ENDS

Contact: Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315 

Twitter: @unitetheunion Facebook: unitetheunion1 Instagram: unitetheunion

Web: unitetheunion.org

Notes to editors 

Homecare workers enable people to remain in their own homes for as long as is possible. There are two teams in Nottingham. Jackdawe who care for people with complex needs, providing personal care, dealing with medication, food preparation, safeguarding issues, end of life palliative care, drug and alcohol addiction and mental health.

There is the reablement team, they take on citizens from the hospital, and provide an assessment service to help the citizens reach their goals. They also provide personal care and deal with medication. 

 

Unite is the UK and Ireland’s leading union fighting to protect and advance jobs, pay and conditions for members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.