Work contract

[MrJuice]

I'm doing casual shifts here and there as a covid vaccinator. There have been a few occasions where I've booked a shift and they have been cancelled before the start of the shift. It's annoying because I've cleared my diary but then find myself not working. No biggie. One shift was cancelled two hours before.

Today, I've been told that the shift I'm currently working will be cut short from 8am to 4pm to 8am to 12 noon. Apparently they don't have enough punters coming through to jab. Fair enough

But then they should not book people to work if they don't have the punters. And if they do book people, they should pay them regardless, IMO.

Can someone really cancel your shift once it has started?

[48k]

MrJuice said:

I'm doing casual shifts here and there as a covid vaccinator. There have been a few occasions where I've booked a shift and they have been cancelled before the start of the shift. It's annoying because I've cleared my diary but then find myself not working. No biggie. One shift was cancelled two hours before.

Today, I've been told that the shift I'm currently working will be cut short from 8am to 4pm to 8am to 12 noon. Apparently they don't have enough punters coming through to jab. Fair enough

But then they should not book people to work if they don't have the punters. And if they do book people, they should pay them regardless, IMO.

Can someone really cancel your shift once it has started?

What does your contract say?

[Ussrcossack]

It's a casual / zero hours contract.
Without seeing the contract I'd assume they can cancel.
Employment contracts are usually weighted towards the employer

[tex200]

What does your contract state? I I doubt there is a set standard.

For example in my line of work permanent staff require 48 hours notice to change/cancel a call but for casual staff that is cut to 24 hours. Anything less than required notice results in being paid.

Also if a shift gets cut short after it has started then that’s just too bad for the employer.

[MrJuice]

Good point

There is no contract. I've checked all the correspondence I've had. It tells me how much I'll be paid and how. Nothing about cancelling shifts from their side.

[Countdown]

[quote=Ussrcossack]It's a casual / zero hours contract.
Without seeing the contract I'd assume they can cancel.
Employment contracts are usually weighted towards the employer[/quote]

Zero hours contracts certainly are!

In relation to the OP it depends how decent the Agency/Employer is. A decent one would have minimum notice periods for cancelling (eg 24 hours/48 hours, or even 1 week in advance). Scummier ones won't.

[A205GTI]

OP i am in a covid centre as well,

Whereabouts are you based and who did you go through as an employer, ours are winding down and will close end of May?

[MrJuice]

I don't even know who is employing me. I did my first shift at the very beginning of march and still have not been paid!

I've also been told the site is closing down at the end of next week. What really irked me was that I am booked for a shift next Friday and have been told that is also likely to be stood down but they'll let me know.

The annoying thing is that when they were doing 800 jabs a day and getting £12.50 per jab, that was all fine for them. Nice chunk of profit daily. Now they're running out of people to jab, they're not willing to use the surplus from before to pay people they have booked to work. Bad form.

[Jonny Wishbone]

MrJuice said:

I don't even know who is employing me. I did my first shift at the very beginning of march and still have not been paid!

I've also been told the site is closing down at the end of next week. What really irked me was that I am booked for a shift next Friday and have been told that is also likely to be stood down but they'll let me know.

The annoying thing is that when they were doing 800 jabs a day and getting £12.50 per jab, that was all fine for them. Nice chunk of profit daily. Now they're running out of people to jab, they're not willing to use the surplus from before to pay people they have booked to work. Bad form.

I can tell you from first hand experience that £12.50 per jab doesn't even cover the costs of what has been a herculean operation in primary care. You are of course free to believe otherwise, I can't prove it to you. There is a reason that a number of vaccination centres are shutting down and it's because now that GP's don't actually have to do it, they're voting with their feet and going back to the day job, because it's a massive pain in the arse. And deltoid.

Edited by Jonny Wishbone on Friday 21st May 12:44

[MrJuice]

Wasn't it always opt in?

I can see why GPs would not want to do it now given they don't have punters to jab and why they did want to do it before. Sounds like they don't want to take the rough with the smooth.

[Jonny Wishbone]

MrJuice said:

Wasn't it always opt in?

I can see why GPs would not want to do it now given they don't have punters to jab and why they did want to do it before. Sounds like they don't want to take the rough with the smooth.

All PCN's were required to participate; The only way of opting out would have been to not be part of a PCN, which is not really an option for most practices because of the other unrelated benefits of teaming up with other local practices.

We - speaking from my personal experience - did not want to do it before. We don't want to take the rough with the even rougher. If a load of GP time is taken up sorting out the vaccine delivery program, the regular punters (understandably) get the hump because they can't get an appointment. Rock meet hard place.

[Mandat]

MrJuice said:

I don't even know who is employing me. I did my first shift at the very beginning of march and still have not been paid!

Please accept the thanks of a grateful nation for volunteering your time like this in the national vaccination effort.

Once the job is complete you can bask in the warm glow of satisfaction that you have done your bit for the country.

Are you sure that you're actually going to be paid for your time, since March?

[MrJuice]

Obvs the logistics for covid vacc are different to flu jab but GP practices are very happy with the £5 revenue for those

[voyds9]

Ussrcossack said:

It's a casual / zero hours contract.
Without seeing the contract I'd assume they can cancel.
Employment contracts are usually weighted towards the employer

However, enforcing that contract is often too time consuming and expensive

[QuickQuack]

MrJuice said:

Obvs the logistics for covid vacc are different to flu jab but GP practices are very happy with the £5 revenue for those

That's because the logistics and costs involved in flu vaccine programmes and COVID vaccine programmes are incomparably different. £5 per a flu jab is profitable, £12.50 per COVID jab loses money for most practices. The financial loss at my wife's practice is several thousand pounds per partner but they didn't have the option to not take part.

[MrJuice]

QuickQuack said:

That's because the logistics and costs involved in flu vaccine programmes and COVID vaccine programmes are incomparably different. £5 per a flu jab is profitable, £12.50 per COVID jab loses money for most practices. The financial loss at my wife's practice is several thousand pounds per partner but they didn't have the option to not take part.

Oh dear

But up overall as a direct result of covid? That's the message I'm getting from GP friends

[Chris32345]

Jonny Wishbone said:

All PCN's were required to participate; The only way of opting out would have been to not be part of a PCN, which is not really an option for most practices because of the other unrelated benefits of teaming up with other local practices.

We - speaking from my personal experience - did not want to do it before. We don't want to take the rough with the even rougher. If a load of GP time is taken up sorting out the vaccine delivery program, the regular punters (understandably) get the hump because they can't get an appointment. Rock meet hard place.

Most people could never get a gp appointment even before covid around here for most GPS the avarage wait time for a appointment was 2 weeks

[Countdown]

QuickQuack said:

MrJuice said:

Obvs the logistics for covid vacc are different to flu jab but GP practices are very happy with the £5 revenue for those

That's because the logistics and costs involved in flu vaccine programmes and COVID vaccine programmes are incomparably different. £5 per a flu jab is profitable, £12.50 per COVID jab loses money for most practices. The financial loss at my wife's practice is several thousand pounds per partner but they didn't have the option to not take part.

Isn't the £5 for a flu jab or £12.50 for a Vaccine on top of their normal salary?

[QuickQuack]

MrJuice said:

Oh dear

But up overall as a direct result of covid? That's the message I'm getting from GP friends

Some are, but the majority aren't and they're at breaking point. One partner has just handed in their notice, leaving medicine for good, not even going to the industry like me, aged 44. Mrs QQ is soldiering on purely out of a sense of loyalty to her colleagues and partners, so that she doesn't destabilise the practice by handing in her notice before the first notice period has even been completed. Several local practices have also lost experienced GPs long before their retirement dates. Nobody cares about the money anymore, they just want their sanity back.

[robbie1990]

Jonny Wishbone said:

I can tell you from first hand experience that £12.50 per jab doesn't even cover the costs of what has been a herculean operation in primary care. You are of course free to believe otherwise, I can't prove it to you. There is a reason that a number of vaccination centres are shutting down and it's because now that GP's don't actually have to do it, they're voting with their feet and going back to the day job, because it's a massive pain in the arse. And deltoid.

Edited by Jonny Wishbone on Friday 21st May 12:44

£12.50 a person and cant cover costs what the hell are they doiong

most gp get paid more then enough but i guess its never enough for some