Invisible labour: the legal construction of unpaid work in the UK care sector

Kennedy, Nairne (2026) Invisible labour: the legal construction of unpaid work in the UK care sector. LL.M(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis examines the legal construction of unpaid work in the United Kingdom adult social care sector. Working time remains a highly contested, poorly regulated, and deeply political topic. The study begins with a broad enquiry of social themes and the theoretical understandings of work, narrowing to the specific legal intersections that define and permit unpaid labour. It argues that neoliberal economics and austerity policies drive underpayment, while the devaluation of reproductive labour serves as justification. Drawing on these themes, this thesis traces their practical impact and application across the social care funding landscape. An analysis of funding and commissioning practices reveals a structurally embedded reliance on the underpayment of care workers. In particular, commissioning models reduce care to contact time with clients, invisibilising essential periods of workers’ schedules. This thesis distinguishes between a productivity and availability interpretation of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Working Time Regulations 1998, revealing a growing divergence between working time and paid working time based on the former. This trend marks the emergence of temporal casualisation: the strategic exclusion of vulnerable time periods from regulation through employer strategy, legislative provision and judicial interpretation.

The first case study explores the non-payment of travel time, a construction rooted in contractual mechanisms. The widespread use of zero-hour contracts and electronic monitoring has fragmented and abstracted the working day, allowing for the non-payment of travel time despite clear legal entitlement. Weak enforcement by HMRC and barriers to accessing employment tribunals further entrench this model. This contractual abstraction reflects a broader shift in the measurement of working time, whereby employers will, rather than objective metrics, increasingly determine working time. The second case study focuses on sleep-in shifts, where judicial interpretation plays the central role. Analysis of two decades’ worth of case law reveals gendered inconsistencies in minimum wage application: female claimants have been trapped by the contractual abstraction of their employment contracts, while male claimants have been afforded traditional protectionist interpretations of minimum wage legislation. These contradictions illustrate how funding pressure and the societal undervaluation of care work result in the gendered application of temporal casualisation.

• Item Type: Thesis (LL.M(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Supervisor's Name: Pavlou, Dr. Vera
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-85844
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 21 Apr 2026 11:32
• Last Modified: 23 Apr 2026 15:42
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85844
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85844