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I love my job as a home care support worker. I get to meet some amazing people who have masses of life experience and interesting stories to tell. I could sit with them for hours, drinking tea and listening to their memories.

A couple of days ago I read this news story on the BBC, it was talking about home carers not being paid for their travel time. Well, no, why would we get paid for driving between calls? We’re not working, and you wouldn’t normally get paid for the time it takes you to travel to another job.

Anyway, this got me thinking and I decided to check out my wages and what it means in real terms. I wish I hadn’t! Thanks BBC for this information! (Can’t you sense the sarcasm there?!)

Are you ready for some maths on a Saturday evening?

My wages are £7.24 per hour call. Halve it for a 30 minute call and quarter it for a 15 minute call (you get the idea).  I work 5pm-10pm 3 days a week. Let’s use what I call week 1, in that there are no enhancements for the weekend. My mileage is paid at 30p a mile.

Here’s the maths:

I have eight calls a night. Five of them are 30 minutes. Two are 15 minutes and One is 45 minutes. That’s 3.75 hours a night (out of 5 that I’m on duty) That gives me a daily wage of £7.24 x 3.75 = £27.15.

This round, is 16 miles. 16 x 0.30p = £4.80.

Wages £27.15 + Fuel £4.80 = £31.95

Divide this by the five hours I work = £6.39.

Minimum wage is £6.50

Weekend Rate

I have the same calls, therefore that figure stays the same 3.75. And my mileage is still 16 miles = £4.80.

My enhanced wages for the weekend is £8.56

So

£8.56 x 3.75 = £32.10

+ mileage = £36.90

Divide by the five hours I work = £7.38. That’s better!

It’s not so cut and dry as maybe people would think. Over the two week rota I work 5 week days which gives me £159.75. Two weekend days gives me £73.80.

£159.75 + £73.80 = £233.55

£233.55 divided by the 30 hours I work over the two weeks = £7.785

More than the minimum wage. So thanks BBC for the scaremongering, it’s been really helpful. I might not get much more than the minimum wage but it is more.

Like all statistics, they can be manipulated to suit your agenda. But please don’t use them to scare people into thinking their care workers are being illegally paid. We might not get enough for what we do, but we do get more than the minimum wage.