Online training vs wages

Myszak

So my employer is requiring some online training to be completed, in my "free time". Previously when online training was required some amount was paid and specified on a payslip. Currently, they are saying that online training will not count towards working hours and I am not gonna get paid for it in any shape or form. Can they do that? I have offered to come to work to complete my training but did not receive an answer.

General_Grant

What is your hourly pay rate?

Myszak

I am currently receiving 10£ per hour

Myszak

Also I received some advice from CAB:

4 If the training is work-related (which the training needs to be to qualify for time to train),
the time spent training (and the time spent traveling in connection with the training)
counts towards the hours on which the workers pay is calculated for the purposes of the
national minimum wage (NMW). Once that calculation has been done, provided the
worker is being paid on average at least the NMW, the training itself may be unpaid.

 However, they are not sure if that applies in this case.

Marcon

Myszak said:

Also I received some advice from CAB:

4 If the training is work-related (which the training needs to be to qualify for time to train),
the time spent training (and the time spent traveling in connection with the training)
counts towards the hours on which the workers pay is calculated for the purposes of the
national minimum wage (NMW). Once that calculation has been done, provided the
worker is being paid on average at least the NMW, the training itself may be unpaid.

 However, they are not sure if that applies in this case.

Just do the arithmetic for yourself: how long will the training take? Add that to your working hours for the month and divide your month's pay by work hours + training hours. That answers the bit about whether it meets minimum wage requirements.

Myszak

Marcon said:

Myszak said:

Also I received some advice from CAB:

4 If the training is work-related (which the training needs to be to qualify for time to train),
the time spent training (and the time spent traveling in connection with the training)
counts towards the hours on which the workers pay is calculated for the purposes of the
national minimum wage (NMW). Once that calculation has been done, provided the
worker is being paid on average at least the NMW, the training itself may be unpaid.

 However, they are not sure if that applies in this case.

Just do the arithmetic for yourself: how long will the training take? Add that to your working hours for the month and divide your month's pay by work hours + training hours. That answers the bit about whether it meets minimum wage requirements.

I don't know how many hours I will do this month, but I guess I could make a "best guess". However my issue is I am not looking for extra pay just for doing the training. My issue is that training time will not count towards my working hours. Does that makes sense?

Marcon

How much training time is involved here - 20 minutes, 2 hours, 20 hours...? Tempting as it might be to bang the drum for 'the principle of the thing', it's always worth stepping back and pondering how much you want to keep your job - and perhaps be in line for a pay increase when life begins to return to a semblance of normality.

Myszak

About 10 courses from 30 minutes to one hour, so we are talking probably 5-7 hours of training. And the main reason I am asking is because up to this point all the places I worked for either had training on-site during work, as an extra day of work or even specified rate for online courses completed at home - initially even the company in question. In this case, I am just trying to establish if I am eligible to count training as working hours or the company is just "chancing" it.

Savvy_Sue

Too much to hope that you're in a union and could get advice from them. 

Does this just affect you, or multiple colleagues? there's always strength in numbers.