Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of low commissioning rates by local councils on incidence of non-payment for travel time between care visits for homecare workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.
Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.
As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed council commissioning rates for homecare to ascertain if councils are encouraging the underpayment of the National Living Wage.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.
Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.
As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State with Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association on tackling the non-payment of travel time of homecare workers in advance of a fair pay agreement for adult social care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department of Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a range of issues regarding local government services, including adult social care.
All social care workers must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the work that they do. Time spent travelling between appointments counts as working time for minimum wage purposes.
Currently, National Minimum Wage enforcement continues to be delivered by HM Revenue & Customs under a contracting arrangement with the Fair Work Agency. This ensures continuity of service while the Fair Work Agency prepares for the full transfer of National Minimum Wage functions in April 2027.
If an individual believes their rights as a worker are not being upheld, they can seek confidential guidance and support from ACAS. ACAS can be contacted on 0300 123 1100, or they can visit the ACAS website for further information, which is available at the following link:
They can also submit a query online directly to HM Revenue & Customs via GOV.UK; it considers every complaint it receives.