Time off in lieu for travel?

[BlueBar]

I'm interviewing for a job that advertised occasional travel and weekend working in required in UK. Overtime not paid (substantial salaried position) but time off in lieu.

I don't mind the weekend working and the travel, but wonder what should be expected re lieu time. I quite like the idea of banking extra holiday iyswim.

So, if, say, the travel was to an office 5 hours away, you travel early Friday morning, do an afternoon in the office, support an event on Saturday and travel back late Saturday evening, what would you expect to accrue in time off owed?

Where I work the TOIL would be for anything outside normal working hours on the Friday (so if you'd set off at 6am for example that would be outside normal working hours, if you'd set off at 8am it wouldn't be), plus the time working at the event and travelling on the Saturday as Saturday is not a normal working day in my contract.

In my experience , TOIL is for hours worked, Not hours travelling to and from work / events. Having said that, anything on a weekend would be classed as TOIL. So weekdays = working hours earns TOIL. Weekend = everything work related earnsTOIL. But we are 99% Mon - Fri working.

Where I work you would get anytime spent travelling outside work hours on the Friday as TOIL (excluding your normal commute time, e.g if your usual commute is an hour then deduct that) and then everything on the Saturday as TOIL

Where I work you get TOIL but have to take it the next week, so if you worked on the Saturday you could take off a day the next week. So you can't accrue it. Travel would count if it's over and above travel time to the office. I used to work somewhere where you could bank it and use it later but I don't think that is very practical for most companies because people end up taking very long holidays.

Our TOIL included travel but only above your normal commute. My commute was 15 mins but my colleagues was an hour as he lived much further away so I always got more TOIL because of that. Then you get anything over your normal working hours.

It totally depends on the contract.
My dh, for example, goes off to conferences around the World, but it is seen as part of his job - there is NO TOIL, but if I work on a Saturday, or in the evening, it is from when I leave home to when I get back.

They actually "sell" it as a perk in the advert and say it needs to be taken in the next quarter. So I don't think it should be just worked time ie not travel, although agree that has been the case in a previous role. That didn't involve such long distances travelled though.

In any senior role I've had, travel was expected to be undertaken in your own time.

Yes, I agree but those posts didn't advertise lieu time for working away as a perk.

It really doesn't matter what you think it will be. It only matters what they say it is.

I've always only really had time back for working a day I wouldn't usually work - as full or half days. So 2 days in lieu for working a whole weekend. Half a day for working a few hours on a Saturday. If I travelled late on a Friday to be there, I wouldn't be paid or get lieu time for the evening, or time for the Saturday night. If I had to attend a midweek evening event for work, I would be allowed to start late the next day, at manager's discretion.

Can you ask for the relevant policy, so you can check exactly what you'd get?
Where I worked, the amount of TOIL varied according to role and seniority. Details were buried in an obscure document that most people never saw.

Yes, I shall have to ask. I didn't want all my questions to be pay/benefits related 😆

I already have a query over the salary because in the small print it says the advertised salary includes a London weighting which is only paid if you work 40% in London. At first interview they said 1 day per week in London, one day travelling (not always so far) and the rest at home, but the London Weighting is a substantial amount and without it the salary isn't worth changing jobs.

Toil often has to be used within a timeframe ie. the same month rather than accrued over the year.

Yes it says it has to be used within the quarter

I get Flexi/ toil for travel outside of my normal commute. For example, if I work 9-5 and I'd normally set off at 8.30 and get home for 5.30 but one day had to go somewhere else where I had to set off at 7am to arrive at 9am I'd get 7-8.30am (1.5 hours) as Flexi and the same on the return. I don't ge

That should say I don't get Flexi on a normal commute day should I get stuck in traffic on my home or anything though (not would I expect to!).