Travel between assignments
[ch 10: pages 77-78]Workers are entitled to the NMW for time spent travelling between each assignment. The only exception might be where there is enough time available between assignments for the worker to travel back to their home (regulation 15(3)(b) NMWR 99). Workers are not entitled to be paid the NMW to travel from the home to the place of work.
The right to pay for travel between assignments was confirmed in the following case:
Ms Whittlestone was a careworker providing care at service users’ homes. She had to visit several addresses each day, but she was paid only for time spent at each home. She travelled between each assignment by bus, and there was never enough time to return to her own home between appointments. The EAT ruled that all her travel time between shifts must be paid for.
Whittlestone was on a rota and was obliged to visit each service user during the course of the day. There was inevitably travel required between each appointment and that time was under her employer’s control, since they drew up her schedule. The EAT ruled that with the exception of any gap long enough to be able to go home, the time spent travelling was time work, for which Whittlestone was entitled to be paid the NMW.
Whittlestone v BJP Home Support Limited [2013] UKEAT 0128/13/1907
www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2013/0128_13_1907.html