The Homecare Association has responded to the government's holiday pay enforcement consultation, which proposes the Fair Work Agency should adopt National Minimum Wage-style enforcement and penalties for holiday pay non-compliance, from 2027. In summary, we asked for:
- Government to design holiday pay enforcement so it protects workers while recognising the operational realities of homecare. The FWA should focus on deliberate or systemic non-compliance, support responsible employers to audit and correct genuine errors, without penalty, and ensure its approach does not worsen the financial fragility created by inadequate commissioning rates and funding.
- A default of 100% of arrears, rather than the proposed 200% penalty, retaining the 50% prompt-payment reduction, with no penalty for genuine errors that are self-reported or promptly corrected. We proposed a two-year claim period for FWA enforcement, instead of the proposed six-year period, aligned with the existing backstop for unlawful deduction claims.
- No enforcement in respect of any period before the statutory record-keeping duty took effect on 6 April 2026.
- Statutory, sector-specific guidance developed with the homecare sector and work with software suppliers so compliant calculation is built into systems.
- Training of FWA inspectors on the homecare operating model before enforcement begins and consistency of approach between inspectors.
- Commissioning to be addressed as the root cause of non-compliance: public commissioners must pay fee rates that cover the cost of lawful employment, and the FWA should report to relevant government departments where under-priced commissioning is found to be a factor in holiday pay non-compliance.
We also included the following supporting evidence:
- Homecare Association Minimum Price for Care 2026-27 - England
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Homecare: commissioning is the key to quality, fair work and better outcomes report, by our CEO, Dr Jane Townson OBE.
The consultation, which closed on 22 September 2026, can be found here.
