On occasions, staff may be required to travel to a different location. Examples include, but are not limited to, training courses, graduation events or recruitment events. These may be in another part of the country or elsewhere in the world. Where any employee is travelling to and from an event on the same day, but needs to set out earlier than their normal working day and/or arrive home later than normal this should be managed through normal flexible working, The additional time should be taken during the same week to ensure appropriate rest time during the week. For example, if an employee needs to leave home at 6.30 am instead of 7.00 am to allow time to travel to an event, the additional 30 minutes can be taken through flexible working during the rest of the week, however if the event and associated travel results in a shorter than normal working day the extra time needed to set off earlier in the morning will be deemed to have been taken back the same day.
On occasions, an employee may need to be at a distant location and it may not be appropriate to travel the same day. This is likely to be the case when the employee is required to work overseas and needs to travel over the weekend in order to be at the venue at the start of the week. In this instance travel undertaken at the weekend will accrue TOIL at time and a half (for a maximum of seven and a half hours) when undertaken on a Saturday and/or double time (for a maximum of seven and a half hours) on a Sunday. For example, if a person travels on a Saturday this will attract TOIL, but the following day, Sunday, provided they are not working, will be considered to be a normal weekend rest day and not attract TOIL. Should the employee travel on a Sunday, the hours travelled will attract TOIL. In this instance the Saturday will be considered a normal weekend rest day and would not attract TOIL.
If a request is made by the employee, and that request is granted, for an employee to travel to an event early in order that they can spend some leisure time in the country that the event is situated, this will not attract TOIL. If the leisure time falls at the weekend it will be classed as normal weekend rest days assuming their normal working pattern does not include Saturday and Sunday, but if the leisure time falls on a working day in that person’s normal working pattern, the employee must use their annual leave.
Managers and employees should plan to include adequate rest time during the trip. If this is not possible TOIL accrual can be agreed at the Head of Departments (Senior Staff Level) discretion. In such cases one TOIL day should be taken immediately after return to the UK. This should be taken out of the TOIL accrued during the trip.
International travel can be tiring, particularly long haul flights or flights landing during the night. When this happens, managers should make arrangements for an appropriate rest break before the first appointment. Managers must agree an itinerary, in writing, for staff who are going away so that it is clear before the event takes place:
- which days will attract TOIL (as agreed by the Head of Department or equivalent level manager (Senior Staff Level)),
- which will be annual leave, which will be normal contracted hours
- so that it is clear in advance, and the Line Manager must lead on this.