Minimum wage must be there for support workers, says Leech.

12.00.00am GMT Sun 28th Dec 2008

The government should put an end to support workers being paid below the minimum wage when sleeping at their place of work according to John Leech MP.

Recognising the valuable work of support workers who provide overnight support to vulnerable adults, Mr Leech said: "I was contacted by a constituent who is a support worker, and understanding his concerns, find it unjustifiable that the minimum wage is not available for him and others when on-call at work."

Presently, employers are able to pay rates below the minimum wage to support staff who sleepover but remain on call throughout the night. Although they are technically allowed eight hours sleep, this rarely happens, meaning that they are often effectively paid below the minimum wage for their shift. Mr Leech is now urging the government to bring forward proposals that would close this legal loophole.

He added: "If support workers are at work during this on-call time, and are being constantly woken up throughout the night, they should be paid for this. This is why I am calling upon the government to put the wheels in motion and make this happen"

<ENDS>

Notes to editors:

1. John Leech is the primary sponsor of Early Day Motion 325, Minimum Wage Rates and Support Workers, which has gathered cross-party support.

For more information, visit: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37334&SESSION=899

2. Mr Leech has also previous tabled a parliamentary question on the issue. For more information, visit:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-10-20b.227696.h&s=section%3Awrans+support+workers+speaker%3A11707#g227696.q0