Travel time for National Minimum Wage purposes
Travel time for National Minimum Wage purposes
Misunderstandings over what constitutes working time for National Minimum Wage (NMW) purposes are a frequent cause of errors and problems for employers. One aspect which is particularly prevalent, is that of travel time and whilst some sectors and job roles will always give rise to more travel than others, an increasingly mobile workforce, means this risk has the capacity to impact more widely and consistently for all.
The basics
The essential element to keep in mind is that travelling for the purposes of work is treated as working time for NMW purposes. The main exception to this rule is that time taken by a worker in commuting from home to their normal or other place of work is not treated as working time.
However, as you might expect with NMW rules, there is one exception to that exception! Workers who are paid by reference to what they produce at home and attend their employer for ‘reporting purposes’ would still be able to count that travelling time as working time.
Qualifying journeys
Qualifying travel may, of course, include:
- Typical day to day carrying out of a schedule of appointments (which takes a worker to different clients and locations each time)
- Infrequent or ad hoc trips – e.g. between two employer sites
- Attending job related training at the behest of the employer etc.
The precise purpose nor indeed, whether the travel is incurred inside or outside of normal working hours, are not important points here. It is merely necessary to consider whether the employer requires the worker to undertake the journey.
Journey time
Finally, when it comes to quantifying travel time, contentions that a journey would not have taken so long had it been undertaken using a different route or mode of transport are not relevant considerations for HMRC: it is the actual journey and the time doing the travelling that matters!
In measuring journey time, time spent waiting e.g. in traffic or for a travel connection, will likely also need to be included for NMW purposes, as would breaks taken whilst on the move e.g. lunch on a train. However, it is important to remember that if the worker chooses to interrupt or break the journey for personal reasons or to take a rest break, that time would not need to be taken into account for NMW purposes.
Protecting your organisation
The message here is that it is important for employers to understand what constitutes working time for NMW purposes, the relevance of travel time as a core component of this and the need to ensure that there are systems in place to properly record this. The above scenarios only cover the most typical cases we encounter when supporting employers with NMW compliance, but it is not exhaustive and depending on the worker fact pattern other potential risks may exist.
Communication and education activities with a range of stakeholders within the business and a strong policy suite with robust controls and processes are increasingly important to ensure compliance with NMW.
If you have any questions regarding your NMW position and require assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with John Weston, or your local expert:
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