Mileage & Travel Time 🚗

OnCare includes a dedicated mileage and travel time reporting tool that calculates the distance, cost, and travel time between client visits for each care worker. This feature is found under Reports > Mileage in the main navigation.

If your agency reimburses care workers for travel between visits, this tool removes the need for manual mileage claims and spreadsheet calculations. It gives you accurate, auditable figures based on real schedule data, so you can include mileage costs in payroll without relying on care workers to submit their own estimates.

Many domiciliary care agencies reimburse care workers for the miles they drive between client visits. Without an automated system, this typically involves care workers filling in paper mileage forms or spreadsheets, which are time-consuming to process and difficult to verify.

OnCare's mileage report calculates distances automatically using the addresses stored against each client profile. This means the data is consistent, auditable, and based on the same addresses the rest of the system uses. It removes disputes about how far a journey was and gives you a clear, downloadable record for each care worker.

Travel time is equally important, particularly from a CQC perspective. CQC requires that agencies demonstrate they have scheduled enough time between visits for care workers to travel safely between locations. If visits are scheduled back-to-back with no travel time, it suggests that either visits will be cut short or care workers will arrive late. The mileage and travel time report helps you evidence that travel time has been considered in your scheduling.

To generate a mileage and travel time report, go to Reports > Mileage. You will need to select the following:

There are four travel modes available: Driving, Bicycling, Walking, and Public Transport. Select the one that applies to how your care workers travel between visits.

Once you have made your selections, click Download Report. The report is generated as a CSV file which you can open in Excel or any spreadsheet application. The CSV includes the care worker's name, the date, the origin and destination addresses, the distance in miles, the calculated mileage cost based on your rate, and the estimated travel time between visits.

Before you can generate meaningful mileage reports, you must configure your rates in Settings. Go to Settings > Rate Sheets and set up your mileage rate (how much you pay per mile, for example 0.45 per mile) and your travel time rate (the hourly rate for time spent travelling between visits).

If no mileage rate is set, the report will not be able to calculate reimbursement amounts. If no travel time rate is set, travel time costs will not appear in the report. Make sure both rates are configured before generating your first report.

The mileage report uses postcode-to-postcode distances based on the addresses stored in each client's profile. It calculates the distance between consecutive client visits on a care worker's schedule for the selected date range. The report also calculates the estimated travel time based on the selected travel mode.

It is important to understand that the report uses calculated distances, not real-time GPS tracking or actual driving routes. This means the calculated distance may differ slightly from the actual miles driven, particularly in areas with winding roads or limited direct routes. However, it provides a consistent and fair basis for reimbursement across all care workers.

The report only calculates distances and travel time between consecutive client visits. It does not track the care worker's journey from their home to their first visit of the day, or from their last visit back home. It only covers the travel between scheduled visits.

OnCare does calculate travel time between visits, which is included in the CSV report. However, travel time expenses cannot be added as a line item on client invoices generated through OnCare. If you need to charge clients for travel time or mileage, you will need to create your own invoice separately using the appropriate tax codes, or handle it outside of the OnCare invoicing system.

One important limitation to be aware of is that the report does not distinguish between actual travel time and breaks. For example, if the travel time between two client locations is 30 minutes but the next visit is not scheduled for another two hours, the care worker has time to go home and return. In this case, the agency would not typically need to pay for two hours of travel time, as the gap is long enough to be considered a break rather than continuous travel. OnCare does not have the ability to detect this situation or flag it as a break. The report simply calculates the travel time between the two addresses regardless of the gap between visits. This means your office staff will need to review the report and use their judgment when there are long gaps between visits for a care worker.

Before using the mileage and travel time report, make sure the following are in place:

The mileage and travel time report is a standalone CSV export. It cannot be incorporated directly into OnCare invoices. If you need to bill clients for mileage or travel time, you will need to handle this outside of the OnCare invoicing system.

The report cannot detect whether a care worker actually drove to a visit or used alternative transport. It calculates based on the schedule and addresses regardless of how the care worker actually travelled.

The report does not differentiate between continuous travel and breaks between visits. If there is a long gap between two visits, the report still calculates the travel time between the two locations, even if the gap was long enough for the care worker to return home. Office staff need to review and apply their own judgment in these cases.

Mileage reports cannot be generated retroactively for periods where client addresses were missing or incorrect. The calculation uses the addresses that are on file at the time the report is generated, so it is important to keep addresses up to date.