To think my employer isn’t allowed to do this? (Expecting staff to be on call but not paying them)

They are taking the piss, I think your union/HR would also agree

No, they can't do that

They are taking the piss, and possibly acting illegally if you are in fact not getting paid min wage for the hours you are on site.

Pretty sure NMW should take all time at work into account - you may find they are breaching NMW regulations

If they want you on the premises they need to pay for your time.

You are at work; you need to be paid. End of story.

No it’s not allowed but not that always uncommon in nurseries. However there are plenty of nicer nurseries out there. Are you qualified? If so you can have your pick of jobs at the moment.

And then report them for breach of minimum wage

I think that’s probably illegal as you are attending work as requested and it’s not your fault there aren’t enough children. I assume from your post you can’t go off site or go home.
I think it’s common practise in nurseries to do this at the end of the day but staff are free to go home.
I think this will bring your wages below nmw and you can report them for it - or you could bring it up with them first. They may not realise.

It depends on your contract - if there's nothing in there about being required to be on call without pay (and that usually means you can do what you like during that time, i.e. you shouldn't have to be physically on site) I'd tell them to get fucked.

Speak to your union if you're in one (and if you're not, join one!). I think if you're on site you should be be paid but I'm not 100%, but your union or ACAS will know better based on your contract.

Totally outrageous. Speak with ACAS.

That's dreadful - you should be paid from when you arrive

That is out of order. Get a new job first then report them

Being on call is different to being onsite and not being paid.

I would raise it to management first of all and if you don't get anywhere, report to ACAS. The nuclear option would also be to tell the parents because negative publicity like that kills the reputation of nurseries.

In jobs where you’re genuinely ‘on-call’ (not just on a zero hours contract) you get paid for being on call (less, but it’s still money). This is just a zero hours contract where you are also expected to go to work.

They should be paying you from when your work starts not from when you have to be working with children. Being at work in a room with a phone waiting for work related calls is working.

What do you think your boss/the owner will do if you put your foot down on this? Nurseries are notoriously bad at treating staff fairly as they are often full of young girls on training that don't know any better (I remember friends and friends' daughters working at nurseries after school, get shafted and then sacked when their training ended and their wages had to go up).

OP you really need to check your contract.if you are contracted 40 hours a week and there is nothing in there about variable hours and you have not signed any variation to your contract they should be paying you for 40 hours when you are physically turning up for that time and are able to work.

You're not on call, you're at work, you should be being paid.

Even if this is covered in your contract you should still check with ACAS. As a general rule, you cannot be contracted out of your statutory rights and I'm pretty sure that a clause that attempted to effectively deny you NMW would not be legal.

If you are contracted to work 40hrs per week at min wage, and they aren't paying that they are breaking the law, it's as simple as that. You are entitled to that money.

If you are on the rota to start at 8 then that’s when you should get paid from
I would refuse to go to the staff room and start work from 8, find something to do, planning, cleaning etc

Op, are you in the northwest of England?