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Break times

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
gone postal
Posts: 98
Joined: 16 May 2012, 19:30
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by gone postal »

We are undergoing a revision at the moment and one issue that has upset the part timers is the enforced break . Effectively they want them to come in tie down their duty and then take their 20min break before they go out and do the delivery. I'm sure I have read somewhere that the break time cannot be taken at the beginning of your duty. Now I am all for taking breaks as it protect jobs and is necessary from an h/s point of view but scheduling the break 30mins after your start time cannot be right???
eastie
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 2234
Joined: 16 Jun 2011, 15:32
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by eastie »

We have ours half way round
rogersh
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 1374
Joined: 26 Oct 2011, 11:31
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by rogersh »

gone postal wrote:We are undergoing a revision at the moment and one issue that has upset the part timers is the enforced break . Effectively they want them to come in tie down their duty and then take their 20min break before they go out and do the delivery. I'm sure I have read somewhere that the break time cannot be taken at the beginning of your duty. Now I am all for taking breaks as it protect jobs and is necessary from an h/s point of view but scheduling the break 30mins after your start time cannot be right???
I have typed this from the following;

Business transformation 2010 & Beyond - Delivery

A National Agreement between Royal Mail & the CWU

Page 27.Breaks at the beginning or end of attendance.

Where an attendance is provided with more than one break, The second may be scheduled at beginning or end. In which case attendance is not required solely for booking on or off. A SINGLE break should NOT be scheduled at beginning or end of the attendance.
k979aaa
Posts: 12578
Joined: 03 Sep 2007, 19:14
Gender: Male
Location: THE NORTH

Break times

Post by k979aaa »

Why not take it before you leave the office.
Creditshampoo
Posts: 1189
Joined: 06 Oct 2014, 19:48
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by Creditshampoo »

Jist take your f***ing break whats the bloody problem
wacko74
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1572
Joined: 04 Apr 2009, 20:35
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by wacko74 »

Creditshampoo wrote:Jist take your f***ing break whats the bloody problem

Isn't the problem who wants to take their break only 20-30 minutes into their working day?
gone postal
Posts: 98
Joined: 16 May 2012, 19:30
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by gone postal »

Exactly!! Who wants to take their break followed by around 4 1/2 hours of walking the streets with nowhere to go apart from leaning against your hct!! The planners have said we have to take 10 minutes before we go out and 20 minutes off the end of our official finish time. All that is going to do is encourage part timers to not take any break whatsoever.
awesomepenguin
Posts: 122
Joined: 14 Sep 2016, 20:14
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by awesomepenguin »

Creditshampoo wrote:Jist take your f***ing break whats the bloody problem
:d'oh!
The Postman
Posts: 267
Joined: 10 May 2017, 14:41
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by The Postman »

Our part timers get their 10 minute break 10 minutes into their shift then the remaining 20 at the end. It's ridiculous tbh. But the alternative is to take the other 20 somewhere in the middle and finish 20 minutes later. Guess how many people do that?
Creditshampoo
Posts: 1189
Joined: 06 Oct 2014, 19:48
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by Creditshampoo »

Refuse to take it at the start done
gosickwithstress
Posts: 69
Joined: 16 Mar 2013, 12:28
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by gosickwithstress »

Under working law - check the uk government website if you like. (Re meal breaks etc)
All employers must provide a minimum of a 15 minute break after every 4.30 hours work. (Maybe paid or unpaid depending).
breaks must not be at the beginning or end of your shift pattern. -- THE LAW.
If you only work 4 hours a day you maybe out of luck for a break etc.

Always good fun to bring that one up. Print it out and take it in. Enjoy. :nana
Last edited by gosickwithstress on 29 Aug 2017, 18:26, edited 2 times in total.
joewyan
Posts: 382
Joined: 28 Jun 2016, 22:56
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by joewyan »

gosickwithstress wrote:Under working law - check the uk government website if you like. (Re meal breaks etc)
All employers must provide a minimum of a 20 minute break after every 4.30 hours work. (Maybe paid or unpaid depending).
breaks must not be at the beginning or end of your shift pattern. -- THE LAW.
If you only work 4 hours a day you maybe out of luck etc.

Always good fun to bring that one up. Print it out and take it in. Enjoy. :nana
Unless things have changed somewhat it is 20 minutes for every six hours worked not 4.5hours.
TrueBlueTerrier
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR
Posts: 72733
Joined: 30 Dec 2006, 10:29
Gender: Male
Location: On my couch

Break times

Post by TrueBlueTerrier »

To clarify the exact wording is

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1. Overview

Workers over 18 are usually entitled to 3 types of break - rest breaks at work, daily rest and weekly rest.

Rest breaks at work
Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than 6 hours a day. This could be a tea or lunch break.

The break doesn’t have to be paid - it depends on their employment contract.

Daily rest
Workers have the right to 11 hours rest between working days, eg if they finish work at 8pm, they shouldn’t start work again until 7am the next day.

Weekly rest
Workers have the right to either:

an uninterrupted 24 hours without any work each week
an uninterrupted 48 hours without any work each fortnight
https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work/taking-breaks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2. Taking breaks

Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)
It doesn’t count as a rest break if an employer says an employee should go back to work before their break is finished.

Unless a worker’s employment contract says so, they don’t have the right to:

take smoking breaks
get paid for rest breaks
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gone postal
Posts: 98
Joined: 16 May 2012, 19:30
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by gone postal »

So today got a print out of the daily duty times. It states that I am to take a break for 10 minutes between 9:18 and 9:28, bare in mind this is based on a 8:48 contract start time, so 30minutes after I get in.
Also it states a meal relief of 20 minutes between 13:58 and 14:18 with a contract finish time of 14:18 so at the end of the duty.
lightningpostman
Posts: 271
Joined: 22 Apr 2015, 20:54
Gender: Male

Break times

Post by lightningpostman »

gone postal wrote:So today got a print out of the daily duty times. It states that I am to take a break for 10 minutes between 9:18 and 9:28, bare in mind this is based on a 8:48 contract start time, so 30minutes after I get in.
Also it states a meal relief of 20 minutes between 13:58 and 14:18 with a contract finish time of 14:18 so at the end of the duty.
meal relief where, in the middle of your loop with no facilities to accommodate a real break............

i suggest every one returns to the office to take a break and only when your in the office should your break start,

" 2. Taking breaks

Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)

It doesn’t count as a rest break if an employer says an employee should go back to work before their break is finished."