If carers don't stay for the allotted time can we claim those charges or refuse to pay for the hour?

Chrysalis157

Hi, 

I'm new to the community and hope I can find some answers to a few questions on here if possible please.

My dad is paying carers to come in to care for his bed ridden wife and although they are charging for the full hour, some only stay for 5 minutes.  I've recently found out that the charges are calculate on a 6 minute basis.  Does this then mean that if carers don't stay for the allotted time of a full hour and only stay for 5 minutes, can we then claim those charges or refuse to pay the full hour charge and only pay for the 6 minutes that they stayed?  I know this sounds long winded but if anyone can answer this on a legal basis it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you

poppy123456

Hi,

We can't give legal advice because we are not experts here. If it was me then the first thing i'd be doing is speaking to them or the agency if they are employed this way.

JustPete

@Chrysalis157 I have just employed somebody to work for me; she will be a live-in carer and she will be covering a 48hr shift each fortnight.  She also does domiciliary care - not sure she will continue with that.  We got talking about the people she visits and how different working for me is.

In our conversation she did say how, if a client pays for 30 minutes care and the carer is there for 24minutes then they have fulfilled their contractual agreement and can charge the 30minute amount.

If you are paying for 60minutes and only getting 5/6 minutes then you really must challenge this.  I suggest you document as much as you can and, as @poppy123456 says, challenge the care providers.

Come back for further advice if need be.

Lisatho11987777

Depends what they are suposed to do as s former carer if the person I cared for only wanted a drink and it was an hour call and only stayed for the time it took to make a drink  and nothing else was required then the carer can leave  the time is recorded time in time out and what was required

You can report this to the company but if nothing was required in the call then becsuse the carer attended and did what was asked you can also have the time of the call reduced to half an hour  if a full hour is not required 

L_Volunteer

Thanks for sharing your advice with the community @woodbine. Sorry to hear your dad experienced this. It sounds really tough for you and your dad. Sorry for your loss too