Home Care Workers Squeezed by Fuel Costs as Mileage Pay Falls Short

BBC Business reported Monday that home care workers across the UK are facing mounting pressure from rising fuel bills, with many saying mileage payments from employers fall well short of their actual costs.

The Human Cost of House-to-House Care

Sheffield-based carer Amanda Nottingham, 42, told the BBC she drives up to 300 miles per week visiting elderly clients. She spends as much as £400 monthly on fuel alone. Her employer pays 35p per mile, which she described as helpful but insufficient to cover real outgoings. Nottingham said paying carers for both travel time and mileage should be standard across the industry. Without those payments, she argued, employers would struggle to retain staff in a sector already facing chronic shortages.

Dan Archer, chief executive of Sheffield care firm Visiting Angels, said cost-of-living pressures hit home carers disproportionately because of low baseline wages. He warned that unpaid travel time could push some workers’ effective hourly rate below the national minimum wage. “The system is being propped up on the goodwill of carers,” Archer told the BBC, calling it fundamentally wrong that workers were effectively subsidising care packages themselves.

Background: A Chronically Underfunded Sector

The strain on carers has deepened alongside a sharp rise in petrol and diesel prices since the outbreak of the Iran conflict in February. Unleaded petrol has climbed 26.7p per litre over the past three months, according to RAC Fuel Watch data cited by the BBC.

The sector’s funding gap is longstanding. The Homecare Association, which represents care providers, calculates that homecare should cost at least £34.42 per hour in 2026-27. Councils and NHS integrated care boards pay an average of roughly £24 per hour. That gap leaves providers unable to raise mileage rates even when they want to.

Government Move Falls Short, Industry Says

In May, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a 10p increase to tax-free mileage rates, lifting the threshold to 55p per mile. The government also extended a 5p fuel duty cut through the end of the year. But Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association, said most employers still cannot reach the new 55p benchmark. Around 60% of providers pay 40p per mile or below, she noted. Townson also cautioned that workers unwilling to absorb long-distance travel costs could make rural care harder to access.

The government said it was committed to keeping costs down for motorists and supporting the care workforce. Industry leaders say meaningful change requires councils and NHS bodies to pay closer to the actual cost of care.

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