If you are First Aider at work

[WendyFromTransvisionWamp]

Do you get paid extra?

I started a new job (school) in September and was requested to attend a first aid course which I did last week. Didn’t think anything of it but then my friend said when she was a first aider at her previous work place (also a school), they paid her extra £10 pm on top of her salary.

Being a first aider was not on the job description when I accepted the role.

I used to be- also got the £10/ month on salary. Only had to help out once for something fairly minor and did it for a couple of years.

No. I used to be but they stopped it years ago. I'm still happy to do it although I've never been called on for more than a plaster.

Old job in retail I got £20 every 4 week pay period. Now at a college and nobody gets anything extra.

Never heard of being paid extra.

First Aiders (and Fire Marshalls for that) would be given all the necessary training including accommodation & travelling if/when required but extra pay...... never come across it.

Yep.

Also school.

Also get the £10 a month.

however that £10 isn’t worth that much when you then deduct tax, NI and pension!

I don't think they pay any extra at our school ! If they do it's a well kept secret 🧐

My work used to give a days extra AL a year for being a first aider. Then that stopped!

Did you have any choice? Do you want to be a first aider? My view is that unless the job description and competence requirements clearly said you had to be the first aider then it should be voluntary. As far as I know there’s no legal requirement to pay first aiders and many people do it because it’s a valuable life skill or because they want to. It’s not for everyone though and the last thing I’d want is to be treated by a first aider who had been forced into the role.

No, I work for a small is company and we’ve never even considered it

At my school everyone has to have basic first aid training as part of the job, which is normal and to be expected. The official first aiders who we have to contact after most minor accidents had to do a much longer, more thorough course. They did it through choice though, and don’t get paid any extra.

No never (private and third sector)

Yes, I work for my local council and being a first aider means an extra £16 per month.

I got called to a severed artery, now that was scary!

Before that, the 'worst' call was a scraped knee.

Work in a nursery and every single person it first aid and paediatric first aid trained with no extra pay

Even if they previously did there are very few schools that will have any budget to be paying people extra for being first aiders

We pay £21 a month to our first aiders.

No private sector but they did pay for the course. These added things on top of your job are expected.

Yes. work for the local council and get extra for being a first aider.

Nope. Not heard of it for first aiders, evac-chair team, fire marshals, and the many other 'voluntary' roles that are actually required. It's interesting that some places do, I wonder how different the uptake rate is.

The only 'voluntary' role where I am that gets extra pay is adding tech support onto our usual duties, and I think that's because they're avoiding actually hiring on-site IT support while also trying to digitise everything. The uptake rate is abysmal, oddly even if you're colleagues who would otherwise treat well, it's well known to be a poisoned chalice that they'll still treat you like shite if you're trying to fix their computer...

It’s not for everyone though and the last thing I’d want is to be treated by a first aider who had been forced into the role.

It's a legal requirement for there to be a certain numbers of First Aiders on site, depending on risk level and number of staff - so somebody has to take on that role.

I've previously been in places where everyone has to be trained. Where I am now, all security staff have to first aid trained to cover that it's voluntary for the rest of us, though it's also policy that they only get involved if it's life threatening and things like first aid box management and such comes under the building managers and the 'voluntary' first aiders.

Yes, I have always been paid extra for being a First Aider, in various jobs.

£14 a month, private sector

Yep. My company (private) pay £400 a yr plus a monetary value for each drill you attend. So you can make nearly 1k a yr for it

I have worked in schools for 12 years, have always been first aid trained, never been paid extra for it.

Thanks for the replies! Amazed to find out how much extra some of you get paid 😳

Upon my googling it seems it’s not a legal requirement to pay anything extra.

£20pm extra where I work (national chain)