Sleep in allowance?

fishtaxi

I work for a charity, in a 24 hour accommodation unit in which I have to stay over night and have a sleeping part of my shift.
I get £25 for the 7 hours I am asleep- i.e. a sleeping allowance, and I am expected to deal with any incidents which can (and do) happen during the night. I don't however get any extra pay even if I have been up all night.
It is a relatively small, private company.
I have scoured the internet and can't find any legal guidelines regarding sleeping shift allowances- but it seems every council and large organisation pay their employees a sleeping allowance to cover the requirement of actually sleeping on the premises, and then additional hours are paid on top for time responding / call out.
Can anyone tell me if my employer must do the same, because as it stands, on a busy night I am making less than minimum wage and my next day is wasted?

SarEl

I am afraid there is no answer to this yet. Your employer isn't doing anything unlawful in not paying you anything other than the allowance. Although if the hours then contravene the working time directive then this is a different matter and may then also contravene NMW. But the fact is that there is a case rumbling through the system which should determine whether sleep ins are "legally work" or not, and until that is concluded (which may be years) it just isn't clear cut. It's certainly something that is considered bad practice, and I suspect that the case will outlaw sleeps-ins on any other than a paid basis, but unfortunately it isn't something that can be easily resolved at the moment.

More information about your working shifts may help, but I can't guarantee a helpful answer!

Badger_Lady

When I was caring via an agency, it varied by employer but there was always a limit after which you would be paid more.

Convention tended to be that, if you were called away from the bedroom on four or more occasions, you would revert to full hourly rate. I would write details of each occasion in the handover books but only once got to claim the full amount (mostly I'd be woken three times!).

I don't know about legalities though, I'm afraid - sorry!

pinkshoes

How many call outs and hours of work per night do you do on average?

Savvy_Sue

£25 is not very generous, we pay £45!

One piece of advice which I am sure SarEl will support: join a union. Never mind whether the employer recognises one or not, you don't need their permission, they don't need to know. But if you (and hopefully others) decide to challenge this, you will be glad of a union's support.

SarEl

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

£25 is not very generous, we pay £45!

One piece of advice which I am sure SarEl will support: join a union. Never mind whether the employer recognises one or not, you don't need their permission, they don't need to know. But if you (and hopefully others) decide to challenge this, you will be glad of a union's support.

Oh yes, happy to support that recommendation! Everyone should be in a union. Good employers even deduct your union fees from wages so you don't forget to pay. Although perhaps - don't ask this one about it:)

Googlewhacker

SarEl wrote: »

Oh yes, happy to support that recommendation! Everyone should be in a union. Good employers even deduct your union fees from wages so you don't forget to pay. Although perhaps - don't ask this one about it:)

Why would an employer do this?

getmore4less

How can working not be paid?

Tesco might as well put some beds round the back pay a sleep in allowance and get people up to stack a few shelves every now and then rather than employ a proper shift.

SarEl

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Why would an employer do this?

It's actually incredibly common practice for large and many medium sized employers. It is easier to negotiate with a unionised workforce than a non-unionised one; if you have to discipline or dismiss then union representation means that the process is often fairer (and that means less tribunals) plus, if you get it right the union know you did; and some employers just aren't anti-union.

Savvy_Sue

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Why would an employer do this?

A good employer would want to encourage staff to join.

We had someone from the appropriate union come and talk to all of us a while ago. I don't know if anyone but me joined as a result (and it took me over a year to do so!) and no-one has asked us to deduct subs from salaries. I chose to pay the union direct: I don't plan to change jobs any time soon, but at least that way I know my subs are being paid.

Actually I hope no-one does ask to have subs deducted from salary, because it would be yet another thing I need to check each month, and it's bad enough sorting it out whenever the pensions people fail to amend payments for leavers!

But I probably should encourage more of my colleagues to join, especially the ones on shift work and nights!

corbyboy

getmore4less wrote: »

How can working not be paid?

Tesco might as well put some beds round the back pay a sleep in allowance and get people up to stack a few shelves every now and then rather than employ a proper shift.

This is the risk you take when accepting on-call work. There is the possibility you will get woken up 10 times in a night but also the possibility you will get paid £25 for having a good night sleep.

This presumably is an agreed rate that was mentioned when you took on the job.

How often are you woken up?