Sleep-in Payments / Min Wage

damianx

Hello
Has anyone got any experience with the following? I've worked a 0-hour job for 7 years now (used to be PT but began relying on it when laid off from NHS) which involves sleep-overs i.e. I'm on hourly rate from noon 'til 10pm and from 8am-noon following day but am given £25 for period in between when I sleep at project. This constitutes 1 shift. I believe there has been a new ruling which obligates employers to now pay minimum wage for this period. This ruling applies retrospectively i.e. back pay is supposedly possible. Does anyone have any experience re: the claims process / any advice? Thanks.

elsien

Despite this idea floating around for a while now, all the services I know still pay the sleep in rate. And if you look at the gov.uk minimum wage page, it's still saying sleep ins don't count. So I wouldn't bank on getting the employer to accept it any time soon.
Are you in a union - if so, I'd suggest that as your starting point.
Edit - you'll probably also find that the minimum wage thing averages out your hours over the month/pay period. So if your shifts pay above minimum wage, then that could balance out the shortfall on the sleep ins. It's not as straightforward as just being paid NMW for night hours on top of your usual payments for shifts.

Nebulous2

There have been a few posts on this before. See this for instance.

It always raises strong feelings, as it brings in a heady mix of pay, rights, law and very underpaid staff.