Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much is owed to social care workers for sleeping-in payments for the provision of statutory care that was commissioned by (1) government agencies, and (2) local authorities; and from what funds it is anticipated that those payments will be paid.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Social care is usually commissioned by local authorities but it can also be commissioned by the National Health Service or paid for by self-funding individuals.

A piece of market analysis was commissioned over the summer to better understand the scale of the liabilities associated with sleep-in shifts.

The Government is in the process of further refining this work to provide more robust information. The interim enforcement approach announced by the Government on 1 November is designed to maximise the prospects of workers being paid arrears owed to them as soon as possible, while at the same time protecting existing jobs. The Government recognises the pressures these liabilities are placing on providers of social care, and we are exploring options to minimise any impact on the sector.