AN INVESTIGATION has been launched amid allegations that staff at a Penarth care home are being paid less than the minimum wage.

Corporate Watch UK uncovered evidence that MiHomeCare - owned by outsourcing company Mitie - are not paying workers for travel time and as a result are earning less than the minimum wage, once this is included.

A leaked document, titled 'MiHomecare - National Minimum Wage Review of Penarth Branch', discusses how the company plan to respond to an HMRC investigation into two of the company's Welsh branches.

The document breaks down the unpaid travel time for 44 members of staff in the Penarth branch for a week in September 2014, estimating they could be owed as much as £80,000 over three years.

It also describes a practice called ''clipping'', scheduling care appointments back to back allowing no travel time between visits.

The document says: "the employee is expected to travel within the time allowed for the appointment with actual time spent with the client varying depending upon journey times", meaning that visits are "clipped" short.

Labour MP for Penarth Stephen Doughty said he will be demanding an urgent meeting with MiHomeCare/Mitie to question them on the matter and would also be raising the matter with Ministers.

"It is utterly unacceptable for any company to try and circumvent the National Minimum Wage," he said. "And if these allegations are proved to be true then HMRC need to act urgently to ensure workers are compensated and the company faces tough sanctions.

"This is about a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work - and tough penalties and prosecution for those who fail to comply. Far too many care workers and other crucial professions are struggling to get by on poverty pay - as well as the serious implications for those who rely on them.

"It's simply not good enough. I am proud Labour plans to raise the minimum wage and incentivise payment of the higher living wage."

Mitie have responded to the allegations saying they "really value all of our homecare support workers who provide invaluable support to the elderly and vulnerable people that they look after."

Their response to Corporate Watch reads: "In the care industry support workers have flexibility around working hours and appointment patterns. Consequently there is no standard approach to the treatment of travel time across the industry. We recognise that this creates uncertainty and can be unsatisfactory for care workers.

“MiHomecare is a responsible business and we will meet all of our contractual and legal obligations. Whenever we find any cases where the treatment of travel time has resulted in our people not being paid the correct amount or if there are billing queries from our clients, we will sort them out.”