Commissioning of home care fuels use of zero hours contracts, says union

The UK's largest union has sharply criticised local authority commissioning practices in relation to homecare services, claiming that they have led to a rise in the use of zero hours contracts.

A freedom of information request submitted by Unison found that more than half of the 196 councils to respond commissioned homecare from 20 or more providers. More than 20 councils revealed that they commissioned care from more than 50 providers. Nine said they bought services from more than 100 private and voluntary sector organisations.

Six of the local authorities to respond have either total in-house models or guaranteed hours for all their external providers. A further 31 (16%) used both block contracts and flexible contracts. Unison said: "The way councils' commission care means that they have a large numbers of contractors on their books but do not guarantee them specific hours from one week to the next.

"This in turn fuels the use of zero hours contracts for homecare workers, fuelling insecurity and low pay and causing high staff turnover in the sector. This has a detrimental impact on services and in turn on the elderly and vulnerable people who rely on them."