In the UK, minimum wage is calculated for every hour a worker is required to be on site, awake and on duty. Plus, any work-related travelling time. This covers all the duties listed in any fairly typical summer school job description, including:
- Wake up/bed time duties, meal monitoring and supervisory duties, English tuition, afternoon and evening activities, full day or half day excursions and trips, meet and greet on arrival days, airport check-in assistance on departure day.
- Meetings and travelling time to airports or on excursions are also working time. Preparation time does not count unless it’s timetabled.
As a rule of thumb, to be deducted from working time, rest breaks should last at least 20 minutes and staff must be permitted to leave the workplace.
In minimum wage calculations, holiday pay must be deducted, but a maximum of £52.85 a week can be added to offset accommodation.
Minimum pay is currently £8.21 an hour for those aged 25 and over, and £7.83 for those between 21 and 24.
To calculate how many duty hours can legally be expected from a residential worker, take the weekly wage net of holiday pay and before accommodation, say £400, and add £52.85 to give you the total.
Divide the total, £452.85, by the minimum hour rate. That give you 55 hours and 12 minutes for staff aged 25 or over, but 57 hours 50 minutes for those under 25.
