Wales

Regulation 37 states that providers must adhere to the Employers’ Code of Practice published by Social Care Wales under section 112(1) of the Social Services and Wellbeing Wales Act 2014.  This Code requires at section 1 that providers ‘make sure workers’ terms and conditions are lawful and adequate to sustain a suitable workforce and review terms and conditions regularly to ensure they remain lawful and adequate’. This reference to the adequacy of terms and conditions (in additional to legality) is distinctive to Wales and an important addition to the regulatory landscape in the UK.

Regulation 38 requires that all staff, including volunteers, are provided with information.  The guidance expects all staff to be provided with a job description setting out their responsibilities, duties and line of accountability.  Agency workers but be treated equivalently so far as providers are responsible for checking their suitability for work (regulation 35), they must also provide agency workers with an introduction to the service including information about core policies and procedures (regulation 36), the addition of the regulation 38 requirement for a job description adds to the accountability of managers when relying on agency staff or volunteers.

Regulations in Part 11 of the service provider regulations apply specifically to the employment of domiciliary (home care) workers in Wales.

Regulation 41(1) requires that a service provider must allocate sufficient travel time when it prepares a schedule of visits for a domiciliary care worker.  The care worker must be given a copy of the schedule.  Travel time must be sufficient and determined by the distance between the locations of one visit and the next and any other factors that might affect travel time, such as heavy traffic or lack of available parking nearby. This provision is likely to protect care workers’ minimum wage rights because it will assist them to identify and evidence their working hours if need be.  It also encourages employers to recognise contractual hours as paid working time for the purposes of minimum wage calculations as well as contractual pay.

Regulation 41(4) requires that time allocated in a workers’ schedule for visiting each service user must be sufficient time to enable care and support to be provided in accordance with their personal plan. The visit duration must not be less than 30 minutes unless regulatory conditions are met. This provision is likely to be protective of wages and care workers’ wellbeing because it discourages call cramming practices in which employers increase workloads by underestimating the time needed for each call.

Regulation 41(5) requires that service providers keep a record of the time spent by each home care worker on travel time, visits and rest breaks.

This regulation has important implications for aiding compliance with minimum wage law.

Regulation 42 requires that after 12 weeks of employment service providers must offer a guaranteed hours contract to domiciliary care workers working regular hours. Guidance advises that ‘regular hours’ means hours consistently worked over a weekly or monthly basis for three months. The regulation expressly states that this requirement does not prevent domiciliary care workers from being employed on the basis of non-guaranteed hours, so long as these arrangements are by mutual agreement.  The guidance states that service providers ensure contractual arrangements are reviewed, after a further three-month period, for any domiciliary care worker who opts to remain upon a non-guaranteed hours contract. Service providers must keep records of discussions about contractual arrangements. This provision is motivated by a desire to improve continuity of care and the quality of care provided to service users through the creation of more stable contractual employment relationships in the homecare sector in Wales.