Nottingham City Council homecare workers have reached a deal with the council which will see them receive an extra £135 a month for mileage.

Two hundred and fifty homecare workers will now be able to claim mileage from when they leave their homes and for their journey home at the end of the shift.

The workers were previously not allowed to claim mileage for the journey to their first job and from the last job back home.

The deal is worth an extra £135 a month for a typical homecare worker. The payments will be back paid from 1 April, 2022.

The agreement was negotiated by local Unite representatives directly with Nottingham City Council.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: ‘The agreement is a huge victory for Unite. It was made possible because of the determination of our local representatives in Nottingham who campaigned hard with the full support of the Unite Local Government Combine.

‘The next stage of the campaign is to call on councils across the country to follow suit. Unite will also be raising a demand for similar workers to be paid from the time that they leave home.’

Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for Housing & Human Resources, Cllr Toby Neal, said: 'We have been holding collaborative joint trade union and management meetings with Unison, GMB and Unite for over a year to configure and formalise new ways of working post the pandemic period, which, in addition to developing a number of new policies, has included developing new worker types.

'As part of this, we agreed the criteria for a Mobile Worker Type, which broadly includes workers who work in the community, are not able to have a fixed or habitual place of work and need to remain under the employer’s instruction during the first and last journeys of the working day. So far, homecare workers are the only group of staff who meet this definition.

'We’re pleased that the proposals have met with the agreement of all the local trade unions involved and that homecare workers who carry out such vital work in our communities will now benefit from mileage payments for journeys at the beginning and end of their shifts.'