Anyone good with this stuff at all?

Specifically travel to and from customer sites, working hours and also travel to other business sites not covered in the contract?

Just putting feelers out before i go to a full on Employment Lawyer  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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Sorry to hear that Will. Sorry, can't help.

Its just the usual of introducing someone to cut costs to ensure they keep their bonus rubbish

Im pretty sure im right on most of it but need to be doubly sure before I wade back in guns blazing as i was happy here until the recent poo storm but ho hum, good things never last so polishing the CV off again wont hurt  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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How's the car running by the way?

It all hinges on the wording of your initial, or updated contract of work, I have been involved in a few tribunals during my time, as an employer and I can safely say the law thankfully errs on the side of the employee unless every i is dotted and t crossed. Breach of contract should be an easy one to prove, a bit messy etc, but in 99% of cases worth it

Couple of questions...

Are you self-employed (i.e. Ltd Business) and on a contract to the employer.
Have you worked for the employer (on contract) for more than two years (continuous employment) at the same site?

Self-employed (IR35) and 'Umbrella' Company employment also have different rules.

It's all a minefield to me, but it's what I have to obey.

Employed by the same company for under 2 years.

Have a copy of my contract and it mentions 'from time to time' to cover work at other sites.

Thing is they only have 3 sites that are very close together and my contract still states the office that was a 2 minute walk from my front door

But it doesn't cover thing a like work at customer sites and the deal with travel time. Previously I have always gotten travel time back within the uk or an agreed amount when not able to drive there and back in the same day.

The rangey will run with some start help and when I mean some very little, but still runs lumpy so a fuelling fault somewhere. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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There are stipulated guidelines on working away from 'designated' place of work, it covers travel time, meals, overnight etc, will see if I can look them out

Cheers fella I've never had it different before and like I said I think it's part of some cost cutting they are trying to instigate realising how much time I claim back in toil and mileage from it they are trying to remove it bit by bit as it's a fair old whack of cash every month in mileage paid at 40p a mile

Reminds me I need to print them all off and speak to hmrc about the 5p rebate thing that should be a nice little bonus! FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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EU Working Time Directives would be a good place to start.

A lot depends on what is classed as your "usual place of work". If working in a clients office for a set period, regardless of distance from your home/main office, this can be deemed as your usual place of work even if its only temporary and short term. If that's the case then your travel to/from that location is not deemed as working time, so no TOIL claim allowable. Travel outside of business hours i.e. evenings/weekends also isn't classed as recordable working time

Different story if its for a meeting/one off visit during normal working hours as it would then be classed as working time and needs to be formally recorded and therefore counts towards your 48 hr weekly limit (unless you opted out).

Travel expenses is more complex. We have 3 company offices and majority of our clients all within a 40 mile radius and company recently introduced a policy that mileage between our own sites and client offices within that zone could not be expensed given we are a consulting company by nature and travel/visits are inherently part of the nature of the job.

Obviously this kicked up a stink as for the last 6 years, all business related travel could be ex'd back at the max HMRC allowed limit (45p/mile). We got some legal advice and were basically told that as our contracts included a statement regarding occasional business travel/visits and mentioned nothing about recompense for it, they were quite within their rights to do it, and only option therefore was to log it and claim some back via HMRC/Self assessment.

Accommodation/Subsistence/meals costs etc. when working away are different again. HMRC Guidelines exist as to maximum allowable tax free claims, but I don't believe there is a legal minimum that needs to be provided, although I don't know any company that refuses to pay anything.... '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
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2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Cheers Ally

The 3 offices that are within the same company are within a 10 miles of each other but the other sites are 23-40 miles.

My contract has the statement of 'from time to time we may require you at other sites' but is a customers location covered by this or only the employers, and does time to time mean 1-2 days a week all the time, or the occasional day to cover sickness/holiday and not long projects, without agreement between both parties?

Also with it already being given for such a period does this not constitute as a precedent already being set? FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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Problem is expenses are covered by company policy rather than set out in a legal contract so can pretty much be changed whenever they like without any consultation or agreement required.

Working hours and location need to be included in a contract and are legally binding if they state a single location , but the easy way of avoiding hassle is doing as they have with yours, i.e. not saying a specific work location.. '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Ah well guess that's that sorted then, time to get the cv out there


Cheers Ally  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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I'm not a lawyer, only going by what happened in my situation...your situation may be different so might be worth getting it sense checked by someone else that is qualified to give advice..

Not sure what the legal definition of "usual place of work" is, but if you're only going 1-2 days per week I would guess that doesn't count, especially if these change regularly. You might have a case for travel being classed as working time, but then again, if its only a couple of hours a week, is it really worth it?

I regularly do 2+hrs overtime a day (unpaid and untracked) just to miss the traffic and get a decent parking spot. I get nothing back for it but I hate sitting in traffic jams and it means my boss is pretty good if I do need time off. i.e. I scratch his back, he scratches mine...at the end of the day I'm paid to do a job, not to sit in a chair for 8hrs/day and have never been one for clock watching - some fights just aren't worth fighting. '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Thats the thing ally, 1hr+ a day minimum thanks to roadworks soon adds up. I can normally dodge most of it by doing 0800-1600hrs but there have been times where it has taken me over 3.5hrs to get home due to road closures and weather and that just blows.

I used to commute an hour each way to work and after a long period doing it i swore i would never do it again and wont change that as the office im meant to be based in is 5-8minutes from the door by car or 15minutes on the bike. I all came about as i spent more than a month away from the office and working long days as well and i started to grate when i totalled up my TOIL for less than 3 months as 9days in extra hours and they got shirty about giving me that back and are still doing so

The best way to describe it is that the mindset has changed form a google based one to a Microsoft one

never mind the fact i can envisage being dragged to an office that is 45mins away in clear traffic but is really at least an hour, for a wee while and the weekends and evenings that are being pushed on me at the moment.

Think I'll sound out someone in the know and see what they recommend even if it costs me a bit of cash to get it looked at.

I work to Live not Live to work these days, long gone are the days of me slogging my guts out for nothing  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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