Yorkshire carer: "It’s financial abuse — office staff got bonuses, and carers got petrol bills."
It is becoming increasingly apparent that carers in Britain are being underpaid for their long, laborious days at work.
The Fairer Carer Pay "Underpayment Analysis" from April 2022 to September 2025 states that 71.8% of people working in care are underpaid by £2.51 an hour.
A North Yorkshire care worker has spoken out about what he calls the "financial abuse" of carers.
He has described working 15 hour days and only being paid for nine or ten of those hours.
Stephen from the Harrogate area worked in home care for many years and says that although the job was rewarding, the unpaid hours, long travel times and lack of recognition eventually broke him down.
Stephen's long hours meant that he was away from his family for 60 hours a week.
"I was out from seven in the morning until ten at night, sometimes later," he said.
"I loved my clients but after all that work, I'd realise I'd only been paid for a fraction of my time. It's exhausting, you're expected to keep going, even when you're running on empty."
In their 2023 "Homecare Survey", UNISON(the public service union) states that 75% of care staff who look after people at home are not paid for the time it takes them to travel between appointments.
Stephen says carers often covered long distances between visits but weren't reimbursed properly for their mileage or time spent on the road.
"It's a bit like being punished for caring. Office staff got bonuses and we got petrol bills. How is that fair?"
UNISON is now calling for travel payment to become a contractual requirement.
71.8% of home care workers in the UK are underpaid once unpaid travel time is included with an average shortfall of £2.51 per hour, according to Fair Carer Pay(2025). This adds up to a loss of around £100 per week for a full-time carer.
The Low Pay Commission(2024) found that non-compliance in home care pay is three times higher than in the wider economy.
The Care Workers' Charity(2024) reports food bank usage among carers is a concerning five times the national average.
A spokesperson for the Fairer Carer Pay Campaign said: "Carers like Stephen are telling us the same thing across Yorkshire, they're doing critical work but being illegally underpaid."
"The government keeps saying it's tackling the issue but reforms just haven't gone for enough or fast enough."
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