THREE out of four care staff who look after people at home are not being paid for the time it takes them to travel between appointments, according to new research.

Unison said its survey of more than 300 care workers across England revealed that employers are effectively breaking minimum wage laws, costing staff hundreds of pounds each month.

Homecare workers spend a fifth of their working day travelling between people’s homes, mostly paid at or just above the minimum wage, but this is “dramatically” reduced if their employer does not pay travel time, said the union.

Unison called for travel time payment to become a contractual requirement, warning that vacancy levels across care, currently 165,000, would increase if action is not taken by the government.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Both care staff and those they look after are the victims of this pay scandal. Vulnerable people suffer when their already-rationed care visits are cut short or delayed.

“Unison has been highlighting this exploitation for over a decade. Yet the government has responded with inaction and indifference.

“These appalling working practices must be tackled urgently if more people are to be encouraged to work in a sector desperately short of staff.

“Disabled and elderly people receiving care support will want an end to the exploitation of those looking after them. When it does, everyone will benefit.”

James Hawker from the West Midlands community health branch said: “This is a big issue for workers in the sector.

“Many care workers are already having to do more than one job to keep themselves afloat.

“It is unreasonable to expect low-paid workers to be effectively subsidising employers.”

Steve Jones, joint branch secretary of Staffordshire community health branch, said: “What’s happening here reduces the real income of care workers to way below the national minimum wage.”

Unison in Wales is working with the Labour government in Cardiff to work towards a social care service democratically controlled through local government.

Identifying the plight of care workers as one of the challenges that the Welsh government needs to address, Denise Thomas from Ymlaen branch said:“Care workers are already struggling to survive and have real anxieties about current and future increases in the cost of living.”

Dan Smart, a social worker in South Gloucestershire, said: “The problems facing care workers impact on other public service workers such as social workers.

“We face real difficulties trying to source care packages as the poor terms and conditions means higher vacancies as care workers vote with their feet.”