Articles by ‘James Sage’

The Court of Appeal has today delivered care providers a lifeline, saying that they do not have to pay staff the National Minimum Wage when working ‘sleep-in’ shifts. The decision lifts an estimated £400m…

The issue of whether ‘standby’ (on-call) time is working time was recently considered by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Belgian case of Ville de Nivelles v Matzak.

Mencap’s appeal against a finding that its sleep-in shifts are working time under the minimum wage regulations was heard by the Court of Appeal in March. The judgment was reserved but will hopefully be delivered by the end of May 2018, if not sooner.

When buying or selling a dental practice, it is vital to make sure that the value and goodwill of the business is adequately protected. That’s why you should carefully consider the nature and content of the associate agreements.

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), the consumer watchdog, published the final report of its care home market study on 30 November 2017. Two of the key themes in the report are the urgent need for funding reform and concerns about care providers using unfair contract terms.

The Government’s latest response to the sleep-in pay crisis is the introduction of a new Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS).

Under the scheme, providers who have not paid sleep-in shifts in compliance with the National Minimum Wage can self assess their non-compliance and repay workers with protection against HMRC enforcement action.

At the end of last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began a formal market study into care homes for the elderly, to review how well the market works and if people are treated fairly. The study is focused on four key areas: choice of home, regulation of the sector, competition between providers and consumer protection issues.

The recent case of Royal Mencap Society v Mrs Tomlinson-Blake (‘the Mencap case’) confirmed that sleep-in shifts in a care setting were ‘working time’ and subject to the National Minimum Wage/Living Wage.

The ruling is consistent with earlier judgments and was not unexpected. However, it was not the outcome care providers hoped for and the implications will cause significant concern to those who have not treated sleep-in shifts as working time.

Welcome to the April edition of the monthly bulletins from our Social Care team.

It is well known that the social care sector is in the midst of a funding crisis due to punishing budget cuts and stagnant fee rates. CQC has publicly stated that the sector is “at tipping point”.

The CMA (formerly the Office of Fair Trading) recently announced its intention to carry out a 12 month market study into care homes across the UK.

After six years of punishing budget cuts and stagnant or below inflation increases in local authority fee rates, the care sector is, as CQC states, “at tipping point”. If you are a provider who relies on local authority contracts, you could feel that you are at the sharp end of the funding crisis.