Trial shifts uk

It seems there is no legislation stating either way whether employers are required to pay workers for trial shifts. So, we spoke to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service Acas , a government body that offers guidance and advice to both employers and employees on employment matters. The Acas adviser we spoke to said, that generally an employer does not have to pay you for a trail shift — so long as this is truly a trial.

It would be possible for employer and trial worker to agree to ' a couple of hours' of unpaid work. However, the adviser stated that the problem arises where the work done ceases to be a trial and becomes actual employment. It is unclear when this will occur but if you are asked to work more than a few hours to prove your worth, you should be paid at least National Minimum Wage.

Acas also said that the best advice they can give on working a trial shift is to agree payment or expenses in advance, this way you enter into a contract with the employer and thus have the right to be paid anything that is agreed.

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Thank you for your feedback. Report a problem with this page. What were you doing? What went wrong? Email address. You can read Government advice on minimum wage legislation here. However, a myth persists that people undertaking work trials can always be unpaid! At the end of the Government issued advice to employers about when unpaid work trials can be used as part of the recruitment process, which you can read here.

Although the Government published the December guidance they seem unwilling to do anything further at present. It is for HMRC enforcement officers, and ultimately for tribunals and courts, to decide whether the minimum wage should be paid in any particular case. Employers who do not pay at least the minimum wage for work trials should consider seeking professional advice on whether this would breach NMW or other employment law. As part of a recruitment process, an individual may be asked by a prospective employer to carry out tasks, without payment, to help the employer to decide whether the individual has the skills and qualities required for the job.

Often this will be a legitimate practice, but some employers may use unpaid trial work periods to obtain work or services for which at least the minimum wage should be paid. Most workers in the UK who are over compulsory school age and who ordinarily work in the UK are entitled to be paid at least the minimum wage.

There may be a contract even though there is nothing in writing. Whether a work trial results in a contract requiring the minimum wage to be paid will depend on the circumstances of the case. There are reports of some unpaid trial work periods extending across more than one full shift or several days. Unpaid trials of this sort of length in a real not simulated work environment are likely to create an entitlement to minimum wage in all but very exceptional circumstances — especially in sectors where workers are paid at or close to the minimum wage.

This could mean that there is a contract under which the individual would be a worker entitled to the minimum wage. However, in some cases an unpaid trial work period lasting a few hours may be reasonable and not create an entitlement to minimum wage. This is because the main purpose would likely be to test the individual, and what is done would probably have little or no other value to the employer: the substance of the arrangement would therefore concern recruitment rather than providing work.

The individual would therefore probably not be entitled to the minimum wage. A key consideration is that the longer a trial period continues, the more likely it is that it results in a contract to provide work and that the minimum wage becomes due.

Ultimately, work trials have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis by HMRC enforcement officers and where necessary by courts and tribunals, taking account of the precise detail of the arrangements, including the duration and also what the worker is being asked to do. HMRC officers consider every complaint they receive and will take enforcement action where they consider workers are being exploited under the cover of recruitment.

NMW legislation permits a very limited number of exceptions for particular schemes which permit unpaid work trials. The facts of real cases will naturally be more complex. An individual is invited to undertake a trial work period in a new bar which has just opened along with seven other members of bar staff, the majority of whom are also undertaking a trial work period. The bar has informed him and the other trial staff that they will work across shifts over a one-week period whilst management decide who is suitable to be offered a permanent role.

Management do not yet know how many members of staff they are going to hire at the end of the one-week period. This scenario is likely to entitle the individual to the minimum wage. The one-week period appears an excessive amount of time to test the skills which that person requires to perform the role. The work undertaken by him and other trial workers is clearly beneficial to the employer and cannot easily be distinguished from work undertaken by a paid member of staff.

Example 2: Likely not to be a worker entitled to minimum wage.