We have a number of casual workers employed at the school who are required to carry out induction training which involves completing a couple of safeguarding courses, material reading and a quiz! All in all it takes roughly 3 hours to complete. The casual workers tend to do this from home etc. There is some debate over whether they should be paid for this time. I personally think they should otherwise you’re treating them less favourably than a perm staff member who is being paid for it as they can complete during work hours.
I’m struggling to find anything that expresses that we should pay workers for induction training. does anyone have an opinion on this? Or know of where I can obtain this info ? I have a meeting next week with leadership so want to get my facts right!
I am certain you are right and believe this very point has arisen but simply cannot remember when or where. Perhaps someone else will read this and be able to cite the authority you are looking for. I can't see how this cannot be classified as work and therefore not be subject to the requirement to pay the minimum wage.
Like Elizabeth I can't recall a specific post. I seem to recollect that it was about student vacation workers who were required to trial their skills for a couple of days and who were not paid for it.
Perhaps Steve Bridger can remember or find the post?
I used to work for one of the big 4 supermarkets and we certainly paid them for their 2 day induction in the store, now the induction is 3 hours and all on an ipad! I believe they still get paid for the 3 hours.
We are all on the same lines here although none of us has been able to come up with a specific case. If you need to cite some kind of authority to your school, I would go with the obligation to pay the National Living Wage. Also, if it isn't work, I would say you can't oblige them to do it. Also, don't other school employees get paid for compulsory training outside their usual hours?
I was looking for something similar the other day and the gov website has some clear examples of payment for training/inductions which you may find useful: www.gov.uk/.../calculating-the-minimum-wage
Whilst this may not be the same everywhere, within the Local Authority I work for, we always pay Casuals when they attend training as we class it as working time.
Hi Elizabeth, yes we would pay other employees for carrying out training outside their usual hours. I didn't get a chance to discuss this in our last leadership meeting but will be on Monday so I will take this line of approach. Thank you, Leonie
That means that as well as the points on the legality or morality about not paying them already raised, this could also be less favourable treatment of part-time workers.
