Travel and pay?

[C_1612]

Hi all, new member here

Im just looking to let off some steam and ask for other peoples (carers) issues when it comes to `working time` when travelling?

Im in a bit of a dispute with my current employer over being asked to travel a good 25+ minutes to a clients house (with the same travel time back to nearer where I live) and not being paid for that time. Ive spoken to ACAS this morning who say that travel time must be paid as a court ruled last September that all travel time must be paid to carers and the like..

Has anyeone else encountered this issue? My concern is not being paid for that time but when I work out my rate of pay Im actually being paid LESS than the minimum wage - roughly 2 hours away from home but being paid for 1. Surely this cannot be right?

Apologies if this posting is in the wrong category

[jenny lucas]

C, oh, dear, hate to tell you this, but this is actually a forum for non-professional carers (ie, family carers), not for professional care-workers. That said, there are sometimes members who are both unpaid family carers AND also work as professional care-workers, so they may be able to advise you.

Glad you are in touch with ACAS - what about contacting Unision/Unite (or whatever they are now), the union that represents professional care workers.

Do remember that, overall, there are FAR too few care-workers in the UK for the demand for them, so theoretically at least that puts you in a powerful position. How easily could your employer replace you (with someone also willing to put up with what they want you to!)

All the best - we 'family carers' REALLY rely on professional care workers (to keep us sane!)

Kind regards, Jenny

[Henrietta]

Hi C1612
I wear both hats so don't mind answering. Yes that is quite common I'm afraid to say. The employer I work for tend to think you can fly across a large town in the rush our in ten minutes which seems to be their standard slot unless you shout up in advance. I'm not paid for travel time but the rate is above the national minimum wage which I think they would use to include travel time if it was ever queried in a legal situation. The rate of staff turnover in the industry is enormous mainly for this reason, a lot of the working day is wasted between clients and sitting around waiting for start times. I can only advise that you check your schedule as soon as it is issued and query any undoable journey times . Also report back on any allocated travel times that weren't long enough. I've not heard of any care company paying staff travel time but hopefully you are getting a contribution towards some mileage?
There are several advantages to working this way and there are also plenty of disadvantages that many people are not prepared to put with, the choice is yours at the end of the day.
If you are on a zero hours contract which may well be the case, then to be blunt if you kick off and get awkward with the office you are unlikely to get any work allocated so you will leave anyway. Work out what the advantages are for you personaly and decide if it is for you. I wish you all the best.

[matteo_1508]

I enjoyed reading your discussion forum posting and I have been there before. I have been there where I was not reimbursed for the travel work that I did and I spoke about it to my director and I was reimbursed from one job, but not the other job and that made me upset because I worked hard and should have been paid for that. So, my advice would be to speak up about this issue and go to the department of labor as well. I would go to HR about it as well. I am so sorry that this is happening to you and I hope that it gets resolved for the better.