Can Social Services legally pay less than minimum wage

nametaken

I have applied for a job with SS which involves being on call for victims of domestic abuse. I would have to answer the phone and deal with queries/crises from 5pm till midnight for £7.50 an hour. Fine.

My problem is, from midnight to 9am the following morning, they want me to be on call but they only want to pay me £30 for this? Surely they still have to pay at least minimum wage? Can anyone clarify?

Googlewhacker

If you are not at the workplace and are on call like other people then yes they can do this as you are not effectively working that period unless you presumably get a phonecall.

nametaken

but if you make yourself available to take phone calls then you are effectively working.

I mean, if I was in the office and the phone didn't ring all day my employers wouldn't pay me less? I don't get it.

SarEl

nametaken wrote: »

but if you make yourself available to take phone calls then you are effectively working.

I mean, if I was in the office and the phone didn't ring all day my employers wouldn't pay me less? I don't get it.

I wouldn't even try to "get it". Just accept it. The legal position is that if you are on call, you are not working, but you may be expected to work, so you must be vailable. During this time you are paid an allowance. Normally, if you are then called to work during this time, you must pass a certain threshold (say, more than 30 minutes work) before your normally pay kicks in. It is common practice in social services employments and perfectly legal.

patanne

This is fairly normal for on call - they pay you to go home to bed and have a phone where it will wake you and not drink too much to drive legally. They will presumably pay you if you ARE called out. Unless you are someone who takes an hour to waken up, I would grab it, and I know some people who do take over an hour. After all if the phone doesn't ring they have paid you £30 for a good nights sleep. A win win situation!

wuckfit

You get paid an allowance to be ready to work. This means that you're getting paid to be on-call. If you're at home you could be watching TV, cooking, cleaning or whatever, But as soon as the call comes in, you have to be ready to drop everything. There's a chance there won't be any calls, and you've been paid an allowance for doing no work. At Home. You're not at work, so why should you be paid work rates?

nametaken

Oh, I see, well I'm obviously in the minority then.

Can't believe anyone would agree to do it though. Obviously they do.

I won't.

Googlewhacker

nametaken wrote: »

Oh, I see, well I'm obviously in the minority then.

Can't believe anyone would agree to do it though. Obviously they do.

I won't.

Why? Its no differant to firemen, police, nurses etc being on call.

custardy

nametaken wrote: »

Oh, I see, well I'm obviously in the minority then.

Can't believe anyone would agree to do it though. Obviously they do.

I won't.

why not ask to be paid for the hours you work on call
that way you are paid for the work you do
do you feel you should be paid 9 hours pay when you might not do anything?
so often folks slate the non private sector jobs but this is the reality of SS
your not gonna get rich

Totally_Fed_Up_2

nametaken wrote: »

Oh, I see, well I'm obviously in the minority then.

Can't believe anyone would agree to do it though. Obviously they do.

I won't.

Yes you are in the minority.

You'll be getting paid £30 regardless of whether you take any calls or not. And that's bad because????

I work p/t as an on call crisis worker and get paid £45 a shift. Last week I was on call Mon-Friday and didn't have any calls. That's £225 for doing absolutely nothing.

I really don't see what the big problem is.

Person_one

As long as you go 'on the clock' for your normal pay as soon as there is a call, then I don't see an issue. No, you won't be able to relax fully and you'll have to be mindful of things like drinking and travelling too far, but that's what the £30 is compensating you for.