Why travel time is risky
A care worker can appear to earn above minimum wage on paid visit hours, but the effective hourly rate can fall once travel between clients is included in the minimum wage hours.
See how care plans, verified visits, and payroll connect in Workmax. Book a Care Demo
Live risk result
Below National Minimum Wage (£12.71/hr)
Effective hourly rate
£10.50/hr
Weekly top-up needed
£79.56
Annual exposure
£49.65k
Across 12 workers
Shareable result
Turn the calculation into something a director, payroll lead, or registered manager can act on.
Want a full workforce compliance review?
Uploading rota, mileage, and payroll data makes the risk much clearer than averages. Workmax connects scheduled visits, verified time, travel, mileage, exceptions, and payroll-ready records.
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Home care minimum wage risk calculator
Use this checker to estimate whether unpaid travel time between care visits, mileage reimbursement shortfalls, or other job-related deductions could create a National Minimum Wage risk for UK care workers.
Why mileage matters
Mileage is usually an expense reimbursement rather than minimum wage pay. If workers are not fully reimbursed for employment mileage costs, the shortfall can reduce minimum wage pay in the model.
How Workmax helps
Workmax connects rotas, verified visits, travel, mileage, exceptions, and payroll-ready timesheets, so care providers can spot travel and mileage risk before a payroll run is rebuilt by hand.
CARE TRAVEL PAY FAQ
Care Worker Travel Time & Mileage FAQ
Common questions about care worker travel time, mileage, and minimum wage risk.
For minimum wage purposes, travel from one work assignment to another can count as working time. GOV.UK gives the example of a care worker driving from one client to another between appointments.
Travel between home and the first or last appointment is generally treated differently from travel between assignments. This checker focuses on travel between client visits during the working pattern.
Mileage reimbursement is normally a repayment of an expense and does not count as minimum wage pay. If a worker is left with unreimbursed employment costs, those costs can reduce pay for minimum wage purposes.
The checker uses the April 2026 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates: £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for workers aged 18 to 20, and £8 for under-18s and apprentices.
No. It is a planning checker for care operators. Actual compliance can depend on the pay reference period, contracts, premium pay, deductions, uniforms, live-in care, sleep-ins, and payroll setup.
