Hi,

I am working for a care provider and recently been awarded the tender with the Council. Everybody’s hopes relied upon this and the MD had communicated to all staff that pay rises will take effect only if we were successful. Now the time for celebration has arrived but unfortunately there is no celebration as the MD has introduced changes in contracts.

To cut things short:

Before the tender the minimum pay per hour [as per the contract]was £6.30 however, in realistic terms the pay was always on or above £9.00/h [staff got paid per visit and not per hour and there are different rates for 15mins, 30mins, 45mins, 1h etc].

Now, the MD has increased the minimum pay per hour to £8.00 BUT the majority of visits are 1/2h and this has gone down by 50p and travelling time is not included anymore.

As a result, staff now will need to work longer hours to end up learning less than before.

Shift patterns had been agreed in both verbal and written forms and each staff had specific contracted hours.

In the contract’s terms and condition at the ‘Hours of Work’ section it is stated: ”Your normal hours of work are x per week. These normal hours of work may be varied to meet the needs of the business or section in which you are based”. 

My question therefore is twofold:

1. if a change in working hours, pay and shift patterns can  be considered as a breach of contract terms and thus, unlawful? 

2. if staff members do not comply with the new contractual terms and chose to resign if they could do so on the grounds of constructive dismissal and proceed with a Tribunal claim?

Thanks very much for your help and advice.

Anastasia