Mobile care company - ridiculous hours

[Mobilecarehell]

A close relative of mine is employed by a mobile care company, wants to keep the job for now as it's so hard to get another job at the moment. They keep putting pressure on this relative to do more & more hours, promising promotion into the office as a manager, so they carry on working.
They're breaking the law on so many levels. A lot of days they are imposing 16 hour shifts (wtf!), doesn't get chance to take a statutory break; they're not allowing 11 hours between one working day until the next.
Tonight she worked til 10pm, probably got home around 1030pm with no proper meal all day, just eating on the hoof. She's got an early start Saturday morning, about 7am I think until 10pm. Has worked 10 days so far without a day off, at least 8-10 hours a day, some days 16 hours, & has no idea when her next day off is. Sunday morning will be an early start again. All this time driving around all day from house to house. Driving is now taken as working hours. They have trouble recruiting & keeping staff, which is a common problem in the industry I believe.
I am very worried for her physical and mental health, and the danger they are putting her and the service users in. I'm on the verge of emailing them to say if she's ill or has a car accident I will make sure they will be held responsible and will be prosecuted for this slave labour, exploitation & blatant breaking of the law with regard to hours.
Also on the verge of making a complaint through gov. Website. I would never betray her like that, but I'm so angry & worried. She won't bin them off without another job to go to, but she has hardly the time to eat & sleep properly never mind look for another job. It's nothing to do with me but I am very worried about it. If I did make a complaint they would know it's originated with her.
How does she get out of this catch 22 with this awful job?

She does complain, they try to give her a more normal working week, but due to lack of staff it just reverts back to this exploitation 😡

Its normal within care unfortunately. The shit long hours = staff shortages = shit long hours.
IIRC the rules about number of hours between shifts don't apply to shift workers
16 hour days with no breaks were common where I worked.

I'm not saying that makes it right by the way. But it is normal.

It's bloody dangerous, driving around like that for that many hours 😡

They're breaking the law on so many levels
Yes. This is sector that's supposed to be highly regulated, but labour laws are completely ignored.

I work 12 1/2 hr night shifts, 3 in a row. Im lucky if i can get 4 hours sleep in between, but i have got used to it. People who work days think that we get a rest between looking after residents. Some nights we lucky if we can sit down for 1/2 hour.

At least i only drive to work and back, i have my music blasting and window open.

This is pretty common in the domiciliary care industry.

However, she should have agreed her available hours with them when she started. She is only obliged to work within those hours. You need to be very firm, as when they can get cover, they will put a lot of pressure on you to work, but for the sake of your own health you need to learn to say no. It’s hard when you know the people you’re caring for and your refusal may mean they have to go without care. But sometimes for the sake of not reaching breaking point you have to learn to refuse and stay strong.

It’s shit. Domiciliary carers have to much responsibility on them. Yet they are treated like absolute dirt. It’s a really big problem that has a huge knock on effect right through the health care system. I wish people would wake up and realise that so many problems would be solved if they just treated the carers a bit better.

Very common and totally ignored.

Working time directive applies to everyone and the 11 rest is mandatory but care companies flout it.

I reported in to the care commission and they ignored it.

The using home I work in has had quite a few new hires over the last 6-8 months who used to work in home care, the stories they tell are awful. They think 3 or 4 twelve hour shifts they do for us is a doddle, they drive to work and park so petrol bills dropped, All of them were being taken advantage of. One didn't drive and was hired by telling her she'd get all shift in the very large town she lived in. They would assign her one lady in a tiny village about 12 miles away, she'd be on a bus for nearly an hour, buses were rare too. so most of her afternoon was just one visit. They do this a few times a week and expect her to work 7 days just to try and make a living.
Tell your friend to look at nursing homes it's a much better work/life balance.

*Nursing home.

I got used to the care company I worked for ignoring the law, but I was a bit shocked when a client's relative/advocate told me that someone at the council had told him they didn't fund payment for the live-in carers on their last 24 hours because "they don't do much".
We're heading back to the Victorian era and no-one seems to care.