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The European Court of Justice has ruled that travel time to and from first and last appointments by workers without a fixed office should be regarded as working time.

This is an important ruling for care workers across Europe, and is important in the context of the changing landscape of care work worldwide, and according to experts the decision could affect millions of workers. The ruling rightly highlights that time taken to get to clients is indeed work time and should be compensated as such. 

Those companies employing care workers, especially to deliver home care services, would need to take action to ensure they were not breaching EU working time directive and workers should organise to take this up with their employers.

The European Court has said that this decision is about protecting the health and safety of workers.

A legal case in Spain involving a company called Tyco, which installs security systems, led to the ruling. The company abolished their regional offices and required the workers to start their day on the road. 

The court ruling said: "The fact that the workers begin and finish the journeys at their homes stems directly from the decision of their employer to abolish the regional offices and not from the desire of the workers themselves."

"Requiring them to bear the burden of their employer's choice would be contrary to the objective of protecting the safety and health of workers pursued by the directive."

Read the full judgement here.