To think triple split shifts are completely fucking ridiculous.

[safariboot]

Pursuant to these article

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-42758615

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-council-carers-strike-over-14179002

So Birmingham City Council now plans to demand care workers work for a few hours, don't work for 2 hours, work for a few hours, don't work for 2, work for a few more. Every single working day.

So they're expected to get into work at for example 8 am, then they stop being paid at 12 but are expected back in for 2. Unless they live real close to their work they're left with the choice between spending ages travelling home and back again, or killing 2 hours in the middle of nowhere. And then it repeats. So the employees will be actually working 16-hour days, with 6 of those 16 hours as unpaid breaks.

It just seems completely fucking ridiculous, and insulting to demand any employee work like that, let alone care workers supporting the most vulnerable people.

Wow. And that's local government. Imagine what shit the private sector will try to pull if this is legal.

I wonder if any of those workers are represented by a union? Seems utterly ridiculous to me and a clever way of getting free labour out of them. Appalling

I was a carer years ago and this was the norm then. Out at 7am, home at 6pm with 8 hours pay at a total maximum

Absolutely unbelievable. I can't believe that this is legal. Perhaps it hasn't been legislated against because nobody thought an employer would consider doing this.

This is standard in hospitality.
They basically rely on you not going home and then working for free.
It’s absolutely disgusting the way workers are treated.
As long as there is 11hours between shifts then no one gives a shit!

It’s always been like it in community care. Before I did my training I did community care, I left the house at 6am and would work til 10, back out for 11.30-1.30, again 3.30-5.30 and sometimes back out for a night run 6-10pm!

I wonder if any of those workers are represented by a union?

They are, and they're taking industrial action. Which is why it's made the news. I'm hoping they win and the council backs down.

And this is a Labour council too.

It would work for some people if close to home. It would work for me I could do errands and walk my dogs in the break instead of paying for a dog walker etc.

I use a care agency this is normal. Start early say run of calls for 5h. Not actual paid for say 20min between calls where they are traveling. Then few hours off and back to it again. It’s only way to get a wage you can be out the house for 16h but paid for half. The rest is unpaid travel or hanging about.

It's compleat bolloxs to think that a triple shift is going to provide a better service to the residents. The only thing that this move will improve (reduce) is the wages bill. I very much doubt that the savings will be used for the residents, more likely the company/council fat cats. I have been a carer for 18 years and I have seen the sector go down hill so much it's heartbreaking. I have seen first hand that there is no regard for the service users or the staff supporting them, it's all cuts, saving money, poor wages and extortionate charges for invaluable services. It's a disgrace. It's with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave this profession and retrain.

I'm a support worker, and this appears to be common. I only work 10-15 hours / week, so it doesn't affect me much, but full timers are used and abused. Our turnover rate is sky high.

I have a lovely neighbour who is an agency carer - I was horrified to realise that she doesn't get travelling time paid for. She can be allcoated to zig zig about, doing short calls, but then the travelling time between can be twice as much . The control centre is somewhere in Scotland, with the operator telling her ' I can see it on the map, it won't take you more than 15 minutes to get there' not understanding that rush hour ( i.e. crawling) traffic in west London doesn't work like that.

I don't really see anything ridiculous about it. Services have been cut to the bone, and it makes financial sense just to pay staff to provide the three essential calls a day so they can cater for as many service users as possible on a limited budget.

Sucks for the council staff tho, but it's been the same for private care agency staff for a long time now.

This is why no one wants to do this job. Standard to not be paid travelling time, too. All the agencies round here want you to forgo pay during travel time and use your own car, too! For 37p/mile. Tons of positions going vacant.

My partner is a carer - paid only for contact hours. A day might look like this:-

Start at 6.30am, drive unpaid (19p a mile reimbursed) to first appointment.
7am-7.50am appointment
7.50am - 8am, expected to drive to somewhere 20 minutes away, not paid for time.
8am-9am appointment
9am - 10am no appointment, unpaid but 30 mins from home so no point coming back
10am - 12 noon, appointments
12 noon - 3pm, no appointment, drive home and get maybe an hour's sleep
3pm - 9pm, appointments, generally 45 mins with 10-20 mins unpaid driving time in between
Home 9.30pm

Your first and last sets of travel get zero reimbursement for mileage.

So that's a 14.5 hour day, 19p a mile for most mileage, but not all. Total hours paid, maybe 8 or 9.

It's fucking shit, and it makes me furious.

By the way, for anyone in this situation, I believe if you're being grossly underpaid for mileage, you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief, and you can normally also claim something back for washing your uniform. Every little helps.

Was f there a ruling a year or so ago that said they had to be paid travel time between clients

NeedsAsockamnesty - only if the total you get paid comes to less than minimum wage, I think. Not 100% sure on that though.

Every year they pull up few bad employees and name and shame
About not paying min wage for all hours worked. Then everyone fits how bad they are and ignore that it’s moat other care agencies do the same

It's ridiculous but I suppose the real problem is elderly people will all require help about the same times in. Getting up and breakfast, midday meal and then getting ready for bed.

I was about to describe this as "the Tory dream" (which it is) then saw it's a Labour council doing this. I thought Labour were opposed to zero hour contracts and the abuse of the working class they facilitate.

I used to be a home carer and this was just expected, my working day would usually be first call at 6.45am work till 10 mulll around till 12 work till 4 mull around till 7 and work till 10pm (obviously im not being paid while mulling around waiting for work to start again). All for minimum wage. It was shit and wouldnt go back to it for that reason.

Yanbu.

Also all your calls were back to back 8-9 9-10 etc so you were constantly late and rushing.