Care Workers' Rights in Scotland

Who this guide is for

Care workers in Scotland in adult social care: care at home, care homes for adults, housing support 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 Northern Ireland: see Care Workers' Rights in England, Care Workers' Rights in Wales or Care Workers' Rights in Northern Ireland.
• 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 irregular or zero hours: see Zero Hours Contracts in England, Wales and Scotland.
• Agency workers' pay after 12 weeks: see Agency Workers in England, Wales and Scotland.
• PVG and disclosure checks themselves: see What Shows Up on a Criminal Record Check in Scotland?.
• SSSC fitness to practise cases. Ask your union or the SSSC.
• 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. Is the service you work in commissioned by a council? That decides whether the £13.45 funding applies.

"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. These rules 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 PVG 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 Scotland.

"Do I have to register with the SSSC?"

Most job roles in social services in Scotland must register with the SSSC, including roles in care at home, residential care, adult day care and housing support. Agency and relief workers must register too if their role requires it. Your employer can confirm whether your role does.

You need to achieve registration within six months of starting a new role. You must hold, or agree to work towards, the qualifications for your job. If you do not yet hold them, the SSSC can register you on condition that you achieve them, usually within your first period of registration.

"What is the £13.45 rate?"

The Scottish Government has set a minimum rate of pay so that adult social care workers providing direct care in commissioned services, in the third and private sectors, are paid at least £13.45 an hour from April 2026 (up from £12.60). It covers roles such as practitioner, support worker, supervisor and personal assistant.

It applies where your employer has agreed to deliver the uplift with the council. It is a funding policy, not a legal right like the minimum wage. Ask your employer whether it applies to you.

There is no Fair Pay Agreement in Scotland yet. The Employment Rights Act 2025 allows the Scottish Ministers, with the agreement of the UK government, to set up a Social Care Negotiating Body for Scotland by regulations. No such regulations had been made when this guide was checked.

"I want to report poor care or wrongdoing"

Whistleblowing law 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 Scotland:

• the Care Inspectorate, for the provision of care services: 0345 600 9527, careinspectorate.com
• the SSSC, for matters about the registration of social service workers: sssc.uk.com

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

Deadlines you must meet

• Register with the SSSC within six months of starting a new role that must be registered.
• Unpaid minimum wage, claimed at an employment tribunal as unlawful deductions from wages: 6 months less 1 day from the date you were paid (the last one, for a series), if that was on or after 1 October 2026. Before 1 October 2026, it is 3 months less 1 day. A claim cannot go back more than 2 years.
• Whistleblowing claims: 3 months less 1 day from the act, or 6 months less 1 day where it (or the last in a series) happened on or after 1 October 2026. Interim relief after a dismissal: 7 days.
• Notify Acas within your time limit. Early conciliation pauses the clock.
• Your exact date depends on your facts. See our tribunal deadline guide.

Money figures

• Minimum wage from 1 April 2026: £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, £8.00 under 18, £8.00 for apprentices (under 19, or 19 and over in the first year).
• Accommodation offset: £11.10 a day.
• Scottish Government funded rate for adult social care workers in commissioned services: £13.45 an hour from April 2026 (funding policy, not a legal right).

Traps

• The £13.45 rate is a funding policy, not the minimum wage. Whether your employer must pay it depends on your contract and its agreement with the council.
• The six-month SSSC deadline runs from the start of a new role, not from when you hear about it.
• Agreeing to a deduction does not make it lawful if it takes you below the minimum wage.
• Do not use the 6-month tribunal limit for pay or acts before 1 October 2026.