Payroll in social care is harder than it looks. Staff work days, nights, sleep-ins, split shifts and bank holidays, often across more than one service, on a mix of contracts. Margins are thin, so small errors add up, and the rules on minimum wage, sleep-ins, travel time and holiday pay catch out providers who would never knowingly underpay anyone. This guide explains where care payroll goes wrong, the rules that matter most, and the rota and attendance records that make payroll right.
The short answer
Pay starts with an accurate record of who worked what and when. Every worker must receive at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for their working time, averaged over the pay reference period. Waking nights count in full. For sleep-ins where the worker is allowed to sleep, the Supreme Court has ruled that only time awake for the purpose of working counts for minimum wage, although most providers pay a sleep-in allowance as well. In home care, travel time between visits counts as working time. Deductions for uniforms, DBS checks or training cannot take pay below the minimum. Holiday pay must reflect normal pay, and irregular-hours workers can now have holiday pay rolled up at 12.07 per cent. Get the rota and attendance records right and most payroll problems disappear.
Rota or roster: the record payroll depends on
'Rota' and 'roster' mean the same thing: the schedule of who works which shifts. 'Rota' is more common in British care homes; 'roster' and 'rostering' are common in software. What matters for payroll is not the planned rota but what actually happened. Three records need to agree:
| Record | What it shows | Common gap |
|---|---|---|
| Planned rota | Who was meant to work | Swaps and cover agreed by text and never updated |
| Attendance record | Who actually signed in and out, and when | Missing sign-outs, people signing in for each other |
| Timesheet or payroll input | Hours and shift types to be paid | Sleep-ins, nights and premiums keyed in wrongly |
Reconcile them every pay period. Where they disagree, the attendance record is usually the best evidence, which is why each worker should sign in personally. Our guide to rota planning covers building the rota itself.
National Minimum Wage in care
Every worker must be paid at least the minimum wage for every hour of working time, averaged over the pay reference period (usually the pay period). The rates change every April; check the current rates on GOV.UK. The National Living Wage applies to workers aged 21 and over.
The calculation is about average pay for working time, not the hourly rate on the contract. That is why the following situations cause underpayment even when the headline rate is above the minimum:
- unpaid time at handover, training or supervision;
- unpaid travel between visits in home care;
- sleep-in time when the worker was woken and worked;
- deductions or payments that reduce pay for minimum wage purposes, such as charging for uniforms, DBS checks or training.
HMRC enforces the minimum wage and regularly names employers who underpay, including care providers. Arrears are calculated at current rates, and penalties can be significant.
Sleep-ins
A sleep-in is a night shift where the worker is required to stay on the premises and is allowed to sleep, but must respond if needed. In 2021, in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake, the Supreme Court ruled that a worker on a sleep-in who is permitted to sleep is not working, for minimum wage purposes, simply by being present. Only time when they are awake for the purpose of working counts.
In practice that means:
- Record every time a sleep-in worker is woken, why, and for how long.
- Pay at least the minimum wage for those hours of work, on top of the sleep-in allowance if your contract structures it that way.
- If a sleep-in is regularly disturbed, it may in reality be a waking night. Review it, because both the pay and the staffing are wrong.
- Be clear in the contract and the rota what a sleep-in includes and what the allowance is.
The ruling settled the legal minimum, not what is fair or what commissioners fund. Many providers pay sleep-in allowances above the legal minimum to recruit and retain night staff.
Waking nights
A waking night is working time in full. Every hour counts for minimum wage, the Working Time Regulations' night worker protections apply, and many providers pay a night premium. Make sure the rota distinguishes waking nights from sleep-ins clearly, because a sleep-in keyed as a waking night overpays, and the reverse underpays.
Travel time in home care
For domiciliary care workers, time spent travelling between visits counts as working time. If a carer is paid only for the minutes they are in people's homes, their average pay across the whole working day can fall below the minimum. Record actual travel time, or a realistic estimate built into the rota, and include it in the pay calculation. Mileage paid at HMRC's approved mileage rates is not taxable income, but it is expenses, not pay, so it does not count towards the minimum wage.
Holiday pay
Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. Two points cause most errors in care:
- Normal pay. Holiday pay should reflect what the worker normally earns, including regular overtime and shift premiums such as nights or weekends, at least for the first four weeks. Paying basic hourly rate only can underpay staff who regularly work premium shifts.
- Irregular hours. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, workers with irregular hours or part-year work accrue holiday at 12.07 per cent of hours worked, and employers may pay holiday as a rolled-up 12.07 per cent uplift on each payslip, shown separately. This suits many bank workers.
Working time
The Working Time Regulations apply to every shift pattern in care:
- a maximum average 48-hour week unless the worker has signed a voluntary opt-out;
- 11 hours' rest between working days;
- a 20-minute break when working more than six hours;
- night workers' normal hours averaging no more than eight in 24.
Back-to-back long days and nights are a safety issue as well as a legal one. Tired staff make medication errors. A rota that tracks hours and rest periods per person, rather than per shift, catches these patterns before they happen.
Bank, agency and staff working across services
Bank staff are often paid at different rates, may be workers rather than employees, and may work across several homes. Make sure their hours from every service are combined for the minimum wage and working time calculations. Agency staff are paid by the agency, but your sign-in record is the evidence you use to check the invoice. Our guide to agency staff covers checking invoices against attendance.
Pensions, sick pay and the rest
Payroll also has to handle workplace pension auto-enrolment, statutory sick pay, statutory family pay, student loans and tax codes. These are the same as in any business, but care's mix of part-time, variable-hours and multiple-job workers means eligibility changes more often. Use payroll software or a payroll bureau that handles variable hours well, and keep its inputs clean.
What a clean payroll input looks like
For each worker, for each pay period, the input should show:
| Item | Source |
|---|---|
| Day hours, by rate | Attendance record, reconciled to rota |
| Waking night hours | Attendance record |
| Sleep-ins, with hours woken and worked | Rota plus night log |
| Bank holiday and premium hours | Rota |
| Training, supervision and handover time | Training records and rota |
| Travel time (home care) | Rota or call monitoring |
| Holiday taken or rolled-up holiday | Holiday record |
| Sickness | Absence record |
| Mileage (expenses) | Mileage claims |
Where Kiwi fits
Kiwi does not run payroll. Rostering is in Kiwi Rota, an optional add-on. Kiwi itself has a daily shift password that staff need to sign in, so they can't sign in from home when they're not on shift. It keeps sickness, holidays, training and supervisions in the HR module. It doesn't export to payroll or rota tools; Kiwi Rota, a rota add-on with a pay export for your payroll provider, is available now. Our HR and operations page shows what is included.
Worked example: the disturbed sleep-in
A supported living house has one sleep-in worker each night. The night log shows Jordan, one of the tenants, wakes most nights between 2am and 4am and needs support for an hour or more. The sleep-in allowance is a flat amount and nobody has been paid for the time awake.
The manager adds up three months of night logs: the worker on shift was woken and working for an average of 80 minutes a night. Those hours must be paid at least at the minimum wage. The provider pays the arrears, starts paying woken time each pay period from the night log, and asks the commissioner to review Jordan's package, because the pattern suggests he needs a waking night. Six weeks later the package is changed and the house moves to a waking night, which is what Jordan's needs required all along.
Common mistakes
- Paying from the planned rota rather than actual attendance.
- Unpaid handover, training or supervision time.
- Not recording or paying time woken on sleep-ins.
- Paying home care staff for contact time only.
- Charging staff for uniforms or DBS checks in a way that takes pay below the minimum.
- Holiday pay at basic rate for staff who regularly work premium shifts.
- Not combining a bank worker's hours across services.
What good looks like
The payroll input for every pay period comes from attendance records, not memory. Sleep-in disturbances are logged and paid. Waking nights and sleep-ins are clearly separated. Holiday pay is checked for staff on premium shifts and irregular hours. The manager can show, for any worker, the hours worked and how pay was calculated. If you want to see how sign-in, HR and training records sit together in Kiwi, book a demo.
Final conclusion
Care payroll goes wrong at the edges: the woken sleep-in, the unpaid handover, the carer's travel time, the holiday pay that ignores night premiums. Every one of those is a records problem before it is a payroll problem. Keep the rota, the attendance record and the night log accurate and reconciled, apply the minimum wage rules to working time rather than contract rates, and your payroll will be right, and you will be able to prove it.
Frequently asked
Are sleep-in shifts paid at minimum wage?
Following the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake, workers on a sleep-in who are permitted to sleep are only entitled to the minimum wage for time they are awake for the purpose of working. Many providers also pay a sleep-in allowance. Record every time a sleep-in worker is woken and worked.
Is a waking night working time?
Yes. Every hour of a waking night is working time for minimum wage and Working Time Regulations purposes.
Do home care workers get paid for travel time?
Time spent travelling between visits counts as working time for minimum wage purposes, so average pay across the working day, including travel, must be at least the minimum wage.
What is the difference between a rota and a roster?
There is no real difference: both mean the schedule of who works which shifts. 'Rota' is more common in British care homes, while 'roster' and 'rostering' are common in software.
How is holiday pay worked out for bank staff?
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07 per cent of hours worked, and employers may pay it as a rolled-up 12.07 per cent uplift on each payslip, shown separately.
Can a care home charge staff for uniforms or DBS checks?
Charges or deductions that reduce a worker's pay below the minimum wage for the pay period are not allowed. Many providers simply pay these costs themselves.
Does Kiwi do payroll?
No. Kiwi has a daily shift password that staff need to sign in, so they can't sign in from home when they're not on shift, and holds sickness, holidays and training in the HR module. Kiwi Rota, a rota add-on with a pay export for your payroll provider, is available now.
Sources
- Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8
- GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, and calculating working time
- HMRC: National Minimum Wage enforcement and naming scheme
- Working Time Regulations 1998 and the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023
- GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers
- HMRC: approved mileage allowance payments
