Staff Facilities

ohreally

Saverbabe wrote: »

It doesn't really go into much detail about how much privacy we're entitled to!

Reg 24 of the above states that the facilities must be suitable and sufficient including for reasons of propriety...
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1992/Uksi_19923004_en_2.htm#mdiv24

Saverbabe wrote: »

We have lockers, so at least our stuff is secure.

You should have seperate lockers for your work clothing and your "outside" clothing.

Saverbabe_2

ohreally wrote: »

You should have seperate lockers for your work clothing and your "outside" clothing.

We don't have separate lockers, just one each.

ohreally

Who launders you work clothing?

Saverbabe_2

I do, at home. Does that make a difference?

ohreally

Yep, your entitled to claim tax relief through fixed expenses, it's an adjustment of around £90 to your tax code iirc.

Saverbabe_2

Really? How do I go about sorting that out?

ohreally

Write to the tax office dealing with your PAYE.

Jules

I would suggest asking your local Environmental Health Officer, usually attached to your council. They would be more than happy to clarify any queries with regard to changing facilities and it can be done without giving names.

Definitely claim your tax allowance for laundering, can take the tax office a bit of time to sort it but well worth it. There was a template letter on one of the boards but can't find it so heres what I sent

Your Name

Address

Date

HM Inspector of Taxes
???? Area
Address of Tax Office

Employer Tax Ref :-

National Ins No:

Dear Inland Revenue

RE: Expenses Allowance
I have been employed at (insert employer name & address) since (insert date here).
I am obliged to launder the uniform, which is supplied to me by the company. I therefore wish to claim a laundering expenses allowance of £45 per year up until 5th April 2008 and £60 for each subsequent year.

Yours Faithfully

Your Name

jumpycheese1

Jules wrote: »

I would suggest asking your local Environmental Health Officer, usually attached to your council. They would be more than happy to clarify any queries with regard to changing facilities and it can be done without giving names.

Definitely claim your tax allowance for laundering, can take the tax office a bit of time to sort it but well worth it. There was a template letter on one of the boards but can't find it so heres what I sent

Your Name

Address

Date

HM Inspector of Taxes
???? Area
Address of Tax Office

Employer Tax Ref :-

National Ins No:

Dear Inland Revenue

RE: Expenses Allowance
I have been employed at (insert employer name & address) since (insert date here).
I am obliged to launder the uniform, which is supplied to me by the company. I therefore wish to claim a laundering expenses allowance of £45 per year up until 5th April 2008 and £60 for each subsequent year.

Yours Faithfully

Your Name

I work for a supermarket (wearing the uniform) and my tax code automatically changed from 603L to 609L, do you think this is the taxable allowance for uniform laundering?

jumpycheese1

Quoting from http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg244.pdf - Room dimension and space:
Workrooms should have enough free space to allow people to move about with ease. The volume of the room when empty, divided by the number of people normally working in it, should be at least 11 cubic metres.

I worked in a call centre where, the room was so small, ceiling too low and there wasn't an actual path to take from your desk to the door when going on breaks etc. Plus as the ceilings were too low, customers could hear everyone else's calls.

This publication doesn't mention about curtains/blinds etc. Everyone of my call centres had this problem. Regardless of where you sat, certain times of the day, the PC screen is unreadable due to the sun beaming directly onto your monitor. Most of my workplaces didn't have blinds on their windows, or if they did, were useless as some of the slats (whatever the individual blinds bits are called) didn't turn with the others when you adjusted them. Every meeting I was in, I always mentioned do something with the windows. They never did! So for 45 mins - 2 hours per day, I used to have a screaming headache, unable to read the screen properly etc.

Also, is there a rule telling employers you must have a toilet for every X employees? At the call centre I mentioned above regarding the lack of personal space, there were ONLY 3 toilets for about 150-180 women on the our floor we work on. One day, we were unable to go to use any toilet as the toilets on our floor were broken, the caretaker never showed up so the toilets by the main door were locked. There were other toilets available, but unable to use as our swipe cards wouldn't allow us to open some doors. My employer should have let us to go home as it's illegal.