Stand by / on call pay

bxth98

At my place of work (residential care home) they are now implementing a stand by rota for any time all residents are away from the home in the case of a resident having to return back to the home. After speaking to acas I have been advised that whether or not we are paid for being on stand by is subject to the employment contract. However, after looking at my employment contract there is no mention of pay for stand by / on-call. I was wondering how to approach the conversation about being paid for the time spent on stand by at home if there’s nothing in the contract about this. 

Andy_L

"Hey boss, whats the deal with payment for this new stand by rota?"

Farside71

*surprised face* (when boss says there is no pay)

TELLIT01

If there is nothing in the contract to say you have to be part of an on-call rota or standby rota, you are free to decline to be on it.  First step though is to find out what payment is being offered (a) simply for being on-call/standby and (b) if you are actually required to work.  On-call/standby can be extremely disruptive to home life as you can't really plan to do anything in the time leading up to, or the hours of, the on-call.  You need to ensure that you and your colleagues are happy with the financial returns.

oh_really

Ensure any agreement doesn't restrict you to TOIL, seek provision for stand-by payments and an allowance for being available in addition to payments for when called to work.
Hope the staff are in a union or you could easily find yourselves getting turned over by management on this one. 

TELLIT01

The OP says pay for being on call has not been mentioned.  What payment will be received if they are actually called out?  Will they be expected to go to work as normal the following day it the call out lasts into the night?

There are probably more questions than that so I would suggest getting together with colleagues to think about what they need to have resolved before agreeing to anything.