THOUSANDS of low-paid homecare workers are in line for a wages boost after a tribunal ruled that they are entitled to be paid for time spent travelling between home visits.

Public-service union Unison has fought a four-year legal battle against profiteering private care providers’ practice of paying workers only for the time they spend with their sick and elderly clients.

The practice, now ruled illegal by an employment tribunal, meant that many workers were not paid even the minimum wage.