Care Workers' Rights in Northern Ireland

Who this guide is for

Care workers in Northern Ireland in social care: domiciliary (home) care, adult residential care, day care, supported living and similar services. It covers employees and workers, including agency workers placed with a care provider.

What this guide does not cover

• Work in England, Wales or Scotland: see Care Workers' Rights in England, Care Workers' Rights in Wales or Care Workers' Rights in Scotland.
• Visas for care workers from overseas. This guide does not cover them: see GOV.UK, Health and Care Worker visa (gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa).
• Minimum wage rates by age and how to complain in detail: see The Minimum Wage in the UK.
• Holiday pay on zero hours: see Zero Hours Contracts in Northern Ireland.
• Agency workers: see Agency Workers in Northern Ireland.
• AccessNI checks themselves: see What Shows Up on an AccessNI Check in Northern Ireland?.
• NISCC fitness to practise cases. Ask your union or the NISCC.
• Tribunal time limits in detail: see our tribunal deadline guide.

What the rules depend on

1. Are you an employee or worker, or genuinely self-employed? The minimum wage applies to workers.
2. What is your hourly pay over the whole pay period? Divide your pay for the period by all the hours that count.
3. On a sleep-in, are you allowed to sleep, or required to be awake?
4. Between visits, did you go home, or go straight on?
5. Which setting do you work in? It decides whether you must register with the NISCC.

"Do I get the minimum wage for sleep-in shifts?"

Only for some of the time. If you are allowed to sleep at or near your workplace, and your employer provides suitable facilities for sleeping, the hours you are asleep do not count for the minimum wage. Only time when you are awake for the purposes of working counts. If suitable sleeping facilities are not provided, the minimum wage must be paid for the whole shift.

If you are on call at or near your workplace, that time counts for the minimum wage, unless you are at home.

This is the effect of the Supreme Court's judgment in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake (19 March 2021) and regulation 32 of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, which apply across the UK.

If you are required to be awake and available for work all night, those hours count in full.

Your contract may pay a set amount for a sleep-in. That is a matter for your contract, not the minimum wage.

"Is travel between visits paid?"

Travelling from one work assignment to another counts as working time, so it must be paid at least the minimum wage. Travelling between home and work does not count.

• Two visits with no break: the visits and the travel between them count.
• Home for a break between visits: the travel home and back does not count.
• A break on the way to the next visit, without going home: the travel counts, the break does not.

Waiting to start a job, or to meet someone for work, also counts.

If you are paid only for contact time, your pay for the whole period, divided by all the hours that count, must still be at least the minimum wage.

"Do I have to be paid for training, my uniform or my AccessNI check?"

Training, and travelling to training, counts as working time. If your employer requires it, you must be paid at least the minimum wage for it.

These reduce your pay for minimum wage purposes, so they cannot take you below it, even if you agreed:

• uniform your employer requires but does not provide, and charges for cleaning or repairing a uniform from normal wear and tear
• protective equipment you pay for and are not paid back for
• charges for training your employer requires, including a deduction from your final pay
• other costs your employer requires you to pay in connection with the job, and does not pay back

GOV.UK says a fee you paid to get the job in the first place, giving a DBS check as the example, does not reduce your minimum wage pay. A fee your employer imposes for that role while you work there does. The same test applies to a check in Northern Ireland.

"Do I have to register with the NISCC?"

Social care workers in these settings must be registered with the NISCC: adult residential care, day care, domiciliary care, residential childcare, residential family centres and supported living.

New entrants to social care must achieve registration within six months. If you have worked in a registered social care role before, you must be registered again before you start a new post.

There is no Fair Pay Agreement for care workers in Northern Ireland. The Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions on social care negotiating bodies do not extend to Northern Ireland.

"I want to report poor care or wrongdoing"

The Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 protects workers who report certain kinds of wrongdoing, such as danger to someone's health and safety, to their employer or to the right prescribed body. In Northern Ireland:

• the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), for the quality, safety and availability of health and social care services: rqia.org.uk
• the NISCC, for the registration and regulation of social care workers: niscc.info

For what counts, and what to do if you are treated badly, see Whistleblowing at Work in Northern Ireland. If someone is in danger now, call 999.

Deadlines you must meet

• Register with the NISCC within six months if you are new to social care. If you have worked in a registered role before, register before you start.
• Unpaid minimum wage, claimed at an industrial tribunal as unlawful deductions from wages: 3 months less 1 day from the date you were paid (the last one, for a series). The Great Britain change to 6 months does not apply in Northern Ireland.
• Whistleblowing claims: most are 3 months less 1 day. Interim relief after a dismissal: 7 days.
• Notify the LRA within your time limit. The clock stops for up to 1 calendar month while conciliation takes place, plus up to 14 more days if both sides agree.
• Your exact date depends on your facts. See our tribunal deadline guide.

Money figures

From 1 April 2026, the minimum wage is the same as in the rest of the UK: £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, £8.00 under 18, and £8.00 for apprentices (under 19, or 19 and over in the first year). The most an employer can count for accommodation it provides is £11.10 a day.

Traps

• Before an industrial tribunal claim you notify the LRA, not Acas.
• Northern Ireland time limits stay at 3 months less 1 day for these claims.
• The six-month NISCC deadline for new entrants runs from when you start, not from when you hear about it.
• Agreeing to a deduction does not make it lawful if it takes you below the minimum wage.
• The England Fair Pay Agreement does not apply in Northern Ireland.