Home worker entitlement

400ixl

Most contracts for the last 30 years would have a similar clause. It is pretty standard practice to cover the unknown in the future.

If your contract says your home base is your home address, and they have put in writing that their travel expense policy covers you  for trips to the office then you are pretty much covered and don't have anything to worry about.

Relax and look forward to the new job. Good luck when you start.

Brie

I understand your concern completely.  I was hired by a huge multinational company and was told there was free parking available on site, for bank holiday working you got double pay and a lieu day, set hours, monthly and quarterly bonuses etc etc.  When I started I was told parking would cost £30 a month, double pay was stopped for bank holidays and working hours could vary by up to 12 hours for particular days sometimes with minimal notice.  Bonuses were changed to annual only and not available to anyone in their first 2 years as they were considered to be in training.  

GingerTim

Savvy_Sue said:

sultan123 said:

Oh is it? That is comforting to know!

They said it is a standard mobility clause that is in there but unlikely they will use it. Also said any such request would be reasonable.

And remember, if you disagree with the reasonableness of their request, they can't MAKE you attend the new office. There's always job-hunting! And they WOULD have to give notice, and almost certainly consult beforehand. 

And as always - join a union!

Savvy_Sue

GingerTim said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sultan123 said:

Oh is it? That is comforting to know!

They said it is a standard mobility clause that is in there but unlikely they will use it. Also said any such request would be reasonable.

And remember, if you disagree with the reasonableness of their request, they can't MAKE you attend the new office. There's always job-hunting! And they WOULD have to give notice, and almost certainly consult beforehand. 

And as always - join a union!

Ah yes, should have said! 

ANY changes to pretty much ANY policy should involve some consultation, even if it's more of a 'this is what we're doing chaps, you can tell us if you foresee any problems but it's still gonna happen' consultation. 

For example, our holiday year used to run from January to December. Our financial / accounting year ran from May to April. And something changed in the charity accounting regulations, and we had to start reporting any accrued-but-untaken leave as part of our accounts. 

Now obviously we COULD have worked out for each individual employee how much untaken leave they'd got after the first four months of the calendar year - the information was certainly available. But even for just 50 workers it would have taken time, and it was far far easier to change the holiday year to run from 1st May. At that point 95% of us would have had no more than a week's annual leave accrued, because that's all we could carry forward - the 1% was the small number who might have been accruing leave while on sick or maternity leave. 

So we told people: your leave year is changing, your calculation for one year will be based on 16 months and this is what you're entitled to for that 16 month year. Here's your new timesheet, with 16 months in it rather than 12, any questions talk to your manager. And managers referred to me, and boy were there questions ... 

Speaking directly to the question of expenses: it would be a pretty daft employer who would stop paying previously agreed expenses. What they might want to do is change how these are claimed or paid, set different limits for different types of claim, tighten up the claims process, tell you that claims not submitted within - say - three months won't be paid, etc. And some of these will be good changes: eg if you are driving, then if HMRC raise the mileage rate below which they won't charge tax, you want your mileage rate increased in line with that. And if there's a set maximum limit for a night's accommodation, you don't want that set at the same rate as it was in 2000, do you? So these aren't things to worry about. 

sultan123

GingerTim said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sultan123 said:

Oh is it? That is comforting to know!

They said it is a standard mobility clause that is in there but unlikely they will use it. Also said any such request would be reasonable.

And remember, if you disagree with the reasonableness of their request, they can't MAKE you attend the new office. There's always job-hunting! And they WOULD have to give notice, and almost certainly consult beforehand. 

And as always - join a union!

I always think of unions in public sector such as NHS.

How does it work with joining one for private sector?

GingerTim

sultan123 said:

GingerTim said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sultan123 said:

Oh is it? That is comforting to know!

They said it is a standard mobility clause that is in there but unlikely they will use it. Also said any such request would be reasonable.

And remember, if you disagree with the reasonableness of their request, they can't MAKE you attend the new office. There's always job-hunting! And they WOULD have to give notice, and almost certainly consult beforehand. 

And as always - join a union!

I always think of unions in public sector such as NHS.

How does it work with joining one for private sector?

Everyone has the legal right to join a union, no matter what sector they work in. The TUC website has a handy guide to finding which union would be best for you: https://www.tuc.org.uk/joinunion

Aside from the importance of worker collectivism, being in a union will offer you protection and advice should, for example, an employer try to materially change your contract conditions (as @Savvy_Sue suggests, above).

EnPointe

sultan123 said:

GingerTim said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sultan123 said:

Oh is it? That is comforting to know!

They said it is a standard mobility clause that is in there but unlikely they will use it. Also said any such request would be reasonable.

And remember, if you disagree with the reasonableness of their request, they can't MAKE you attend the new office. There's always job-hunting! And they WOULD have to give notice, and almost certainly consult beforehand. 

And as always - join a union!

I always think of unions in public sector such as NHS.

How does it work with joining one for private sector?

same as it works in the public  sector 

 unequivocal right to be represented by  your union on personal matters, potential for collective bargaining  if  one or more unions have sufficient  numbers to get  Official recognition 

Savvy_Sue

People sometimes say "there isn't a union where I work", but all that means is that the employer has not recognised a union with which they will engage when there's anything to consult about. Absolutely no reason for anyone to use that as a reason not to join. And the key thing is to join BEFORE you need their help, because they will not represent you until you've been a member for a few months. 

No need to read the rest if you're already convinced, but many years ago, when I was still working, I just got a teensy bit uncomfortable with a couple of suggestions being made at work. I wasn't sure they'd be implemented, because it was generally a 'good' employer, but even a good employer sometimes has not-quite-so-good moments. So I joined the union appropriate for my line of work / my employer's line of business. I knew one of the my colleagues was also in this union: they had 'history' of needing the union from a previous employment. That colleague may have known I was joining: no-one else did, certainly not any of the managers. 

A year or so later there was a structural pay review. I accepted that I was probably being overpaid for the level of responsibility I was SUPPOSED to be taking, and that a number of responsibilities had fallen to me just because no-one else seemed interested. If I'd wanted to, I could have argued for a promotion and management responsibilities, but I really wanted a quiet life, with fewer responsibilities - plus we now had someone obvious to take those things away from me at manager level. 

But their suggestion was to bump me down to the same level as another of my colleagues, and I was NOT happy with that - steam coming out of my ears not happy! Fortunately I was on several weeks' sick leave at the time, so only DH heard the steam. I had been there longer; their job had been carved out of mine but I remained able to do all of both jobs whereas they only ever did their bit; it had always been the case that if they had a query they came to me first; and apart from anything else I had a better ATTITUDE, a 'can do', let's make this work attitude rather than a 'not my problem, not my job' attitude which was their default response to a challenge. 

So, I wrote to them, explaining why their proposal was not acceptable to me, and boy did it feel good to be able to finish with "if you persist with this, I shall be obliged to consult my union." Because none of the managers knew I was in a union, and I don't think it had occurred to them that anyone would not just accept the proposal. 

While I was off sick, a new manager started, who was going to manage me and my team. At an early stage I asked what was happening to my pay review and was told "nothing until you've finished your phased return from your sick leave." A couple of months after that, I asked again: still nothing. Finally they just said "don't worry, we're not changing your salary." 

Now, I'm not saying my letter without that phrase wouldn't have been sufficiently persuasive, but it made me feel better! And I've seen several situations where the support of a union has been hugely beneficial to an individual, especially when there have been accusations of misconduct, which COULD have led to dismissal. 

sultan123

pleataring said:

I also work from home, and the issue of reimbursement for business trips is always a complicated one. It is worth getting written confirmation of the reimbursement policy in advance to avoid misunderstandings. You can also check for tax credits for remote workers, which can sometimes help cover some of the costs.

What is tax.credits? Is that,from hmrc?