Time spent travelling between assignments
[ch 4: pages 99-100]An hourly-paid worker must be paid the NMW for all time spent travelling between assignments, as long as there is insufficient time between each assignment to travel back home (regulation 34, NMWR 15). This was established in the following important case:
Ms Whittlestone had to visit several service users at different addresses each day but she was paid only for time spent at each service user’s home. She travelled by bus and there was never enough time to go back home between appointments. The EAT said her work was “assignment work” under regulation 15(3)(b), NMWR and that as a result, her travel time must be paid for. Whittlestone’s rota required her to visit each service user, and travel was inevitably required between each appointment. That time was within the general control of her employer, who was responsible for arranging the assignments. With the exception of any gap in time that was long enough for Whittlestone to be able to return home, time spent travelling was time work covered by the NMW regulations (see page 97) for which she was entitled to be paid.
Whittlestone v BJP Home Support Limited [2013] UKEAT 0128/13/1907