The Court of Appeal recently ruled that a residential care provider was not liable to pay staff for "sleep-in" periods when working night shifts.
The decision has been criticised by unions (see box), but residential child care providers say it has prevented a crisis in the sector that could have led to the closure of hundreds of children's homes as a result of owing millions of pounds in back pay to staff.
However, the long-running dispute is not yet settled - Unison, the union that brought the original case, has applied to the Supreme Court to appeal the latest ruling and latest guidance from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) suggest employers may still be liable for payments.
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