Wow.
I'm a carer, and have been with the same company for 4 years - it's not a zero hours contract, though.
I recognise some, but not all, of your points.
Travel time should be paid. Great - in theory, but they seem to work it out 'as the crow flies' which, of course, doesn't apply when you have multiple town centre visits on market day, so are driving up and down the bypass to avoid traffic jams, because your rota allows 2 minutes between visits. That's not even long enough to lock the flat door, walk down the stairs to the main door of the building and then to where you parked the car, never mind drive to the next visit and park up and walk to the home!
Also, the first and last visits of the day are counted as commuting - so, I often find that my first and last visits are the furthest away ones, so my petrol costs double, but I don't get travel time or fuel allowance for it.
Cancellations - your service users will be being charged if they cancel within 24 (or 48) hours. This is so that carers don't end up short. However, in my experience, cancellations often disappear from the rota, either replaced with a visit from someone else's, or a gap. Managers and seniors have access to rotas, so will swap out a cancellation with one of their own visits, so they (or their friend) get to go home early, on full pay, while you twiddle your thumbs in a car park for no pay...
I'm off out in an hour, same again tomorrow. 2 of my regular clients are in hospital, and one died a few days ago. So, I have 4 hours of actual paid work. I receive a Universal Credit top up, so my earnings are reduced by 55%. Additionally, I pay the usual tax and NI. So, tomorrow's shift is worth £40 - 70%, so £12. Petrol will cost me £10. Most of that is commuting, so I'll be refunded about £1.50 of that (16p p/m). So, my child will be home alone and miserable. I'll be home too late to go out. I'll be wet. And likely late, as the local pharmacy is overwhelmed and I have a prescription to collect. I'm allowed 15 minutes, but it'll take at least double that, and I'll have to pay £1.50, to park, out of my £3.50 net pay.
I can't afford to buy a car, so lease one through the company. I pay £120 p/m towards it, plus around £180 in petrol. There's no Ofsted registered childcare available at 7.30 am on a Sunday,.so I pay casual babysitters, which isn't refunded under the 80% UC scheme. So, most months, I am around £100 better off than if I didn't work, at all. I do 120 hours.
Phones - we log in and out of visits on them, and to have write very detailed notes. Each task has to be ticked off. So, say I apply some cream, I have to unlock my phone, log in to the app, go to the correct visit, go to the task screen, select 'medications', select the cream, and tick off each body part I applied it to. I have to navigate the same cumbersome system for each sip of water, each mouthful of food, each change in the redness of a sore, the approximate wetness of an incontinence pad, the service users mood, etc etc etc. So, yes, it may look as if I'm 'on my phone for half the visit'.
Stealing. I think the problem is that companies are so short staffed, that they'll give just about anyone a go. Also, Jobcentre plus 'work coaches' believe that anyone can do the job. I've had new starters, sent by the Jobcentre, under threat of sanction, shadow me. They don't want to be there, and have no aptitude for the job. Carers are overwhelmingly likely to be poor, non academic, working class women with children, often lone parents, trying to fit work around kids, school runs, caring for their own parents, troubled relationships etc.etc. I've had to make a safeguarding report, before,.when it became clear that a cleaner was 'financially abusing' a client of mine. I'd previously passed her the info for Women's Aid.
What's the solution?
Better pay, better conditions, acknowledgement of just what the job entails.
But that won't happen, as long as the reality is that those with the fewest options are caring for the most vulnerable, 'least economically active' members of society.
So, why do I do it. Well, it's the only way I can afford a car, without which, my life would be unbearable.
But, mostly, it's because I love the actual work, the actual people. And I think I do a good job. And I think that most of my colleagues feel the same.