The Supreme Court is allowing the trade union, Unison, to appeal the Court of Appeals decision about sleep-ins.
This means that the Supreme Court will now look at the case.
The Supreme Court is the highest Court of Appeal in the UK. They make decisions about how the law works in cases where the law is currently unclear.
The decision they make must be used by all other courts.
To have a case heard at the Supreme Court it must be heard at the other levels of Court first. Only cases that are very important to the public go are heard.
The sleep-ins case is about whether support staff should be paid the National Minimum Wage during overnight shifts when they aren’t always working.
It is seen as very important to the public because a decision that staff should be paid the National Minimum Wage for the whole sleep-in shift would have a huge effect on the social care sector. It might mean the sector has to pay around £400 million in back pay to staff. This might bankrupt some organisations. It also is an important message on how support staff are valued for the work they do so many people want a solution that keeps good reliable staff doing their jobs.
For more information about the case and previous decisions, click here.
The 12th and 13th February 2020 have been set as the dates for the appeal. It is expected the Court will make a decision by July 2020.
Sleep-Ins effecting Members
Some members have been telling us about changes their providers have tried to make to wages for sleep-ins.
One family told us about their provider trying to reduce staffs sleep-in pay despite the local authority committing to not reducing rates. They have challenged the provider on this as they think its unreasonable and unfair for staff to take a pay cut.
If you have been effected by issues around sleep ins and would like to share your experiences, you can contact Rachael on rachael.hall@ldengland.org.uk