New Union Access Rules Could Add Hundreds Of Millions Of Pounds A Year To The Cost Of Homecare, Providers Warn

The Homecare Association has written to the Minister for Employment Rights warning that a late change to the Government’s new Code of Practice on trade union access to workplaces could add hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the cost of delivering homecare in England – with no funding to pay for it.

The Code, laid before Parliament on 6 July 2026 and expected to come into force by October 2026, gives trade unions a new statutory right to request access to workplaces.

Paragraph 83 of the final version states that employers should pay all workers, in full, for time spent attending union meetings held under an access arrangement during working hours – an expectation that goes beyond existing employment law, under which only union representatives, not attending members, have a statutory right to paid time off.

The provision was not consulted on in this form and no assessment of its cost to publicly funded care has been published. Government purchases around 80% of homecare in the UK. The Homecare Association’s analysis shows that, across England’s homecare, supported living and extra care workforce of 595,000 filled posts (Skills for Care, 2024/25), the additional cost of paid attendance at union access meetings could range from tens of millions of pounds a year at modest participation to more than £1 billion in a worst case:

The warning comes as the Association’s research, The Homecare Deficit 2025, found that only one council in the UK paid a sustainable price for homecare in 2025/26, and that 29% paid rates that did not even cover direct employment costs at statutory minimum pay rates.

Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said: “We support constructive relationships between employers and unions, and fair treatment of careworkers. Our concern is not the principle of union access – it is that the Government has slipped a significant new pay expectation into statutory guidance without consultation, without an impact assessment, and without a penny of funding to meet it.

“State purchasers of homecare are already paying less than the cost of lawful service delivery in most of the country. Providers cannot absorb hundreds of millions of pounds of new costs, and the councils and NHS bodies that buy care have not been funded to cover them. Unionised employers would also be undercut when bidding for work by operators with minimal union engagement and those using self-employment models that sit outside these rules – the opposite of what the Government’s Fair Pay Agreement for social care is trying to achieve.

“We are asking ministers to clarify exactly what paragraph 83 requires, publish the costs, and fund them. If the Government wants to extend paid time off for union activity to the whole workforce, it should legislate for that openly – not introduce it through the back door of a code of practice and leave a fragile sector to pick up the bill.”

The Association has asked the Department for Business and Trade to clarify the scope of paragraph 83, publish an assessment of its cost to publicly funded care, and set out how the costs will be reflected in local authority and NHS funding settlements. The letter is copied to the Department of Health and Social Care, HM Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.