Jackie wrote:

When you think of BHIC at his age (no offence BHIC) earning £5.25 per hour in the care industry it is disgusting.

No offence taken Jackie. Yes, I guess it is disgusting, but then as I have said above, I am not doing the job for the money. I am doing the job because I love working with the elderly. A bit off topic, but I have to wear a tunic for my job and the Care Home provides me with one Free Of Charge, which is totally inadequate as I need to wear a clean tunic for each shift as you can imagine they do tend to get covered in, well....I think you know what I am getting at....so I have had to purcahse extra tunics at a cost of £20 per tunic and that does NOT includer trousers or footwear which I have to provide for myself.

But that said, job satisfaction more than compensates me for those expenses.....but I would never work as a Holiday Rep for .8op an hour and if the daughter of the original poster's post is to be believed (I'm not saying I don't believe it, but considering it was extremely negative I cannot understand why she does not hand in her notice at once), there is no way I would becaome a Holiday Rep.....Sun, Sand and, well the other bits or not.

Sanji wrote:

Care assistants do not need any form of training to be employed in Privately owned Nursing homes.
Private being the operative word, low wages, more profit for the owner.
I don`t agree that BHIC should because of his age, be paid anymore for doing the same job as a 19 year old....it is classed as unskilled labour and therefore attracts people who do it for the love of the job and caring for people .....and it also attracts people who use it as a stop gap, either between jobs and to get the job centre off their backs

I'm sorry Sanji, but that is not quite true. As a Care Worker employed in a Privately owned Residential Care Home For The Elderly, I have had to receive training on such things as: Moving & Handling, Lifting, Health & Safety, Drug Administration, Care and Storage of Medications, Fire Safety & Evacuation....not to mention training on how to use various types of Equipment like 'Stand Aid Hoists, and other devices to aid lifting and moving the elderly who are not themselves mobile. As Care workers are dealing with Vulnerable Adults, you cannot simply 'walk' into the job and get on with it.

I attended training courses prior to being employed, and whilst employed, the Care Home owner is obliged to ensure that all his Employees receive the appropriate ongoing 'In House' training on a regular basis to be kept up to date with current legislation for which there are Certificates displayed in the Reception area of the Home and in brochures and literature. I am also studying for my NVQ Level Three now.

Sanji wrote:

it is classed as unskilled labour

I'm sorry, but I beg to differ.

Thanks for that clarification Gary.

Now, if we please can get back to topic and discuss the role of the Holiday Rep.

Ta

MarkJ HT Mod

Sorry Mark.
BHIC, what you are describing is called "in service training" it is the law written into the Health & Safety rules that you are shown how to lift and handle patients correctly.etc etc....it is not something new, been around since the 1980`s.
This is not only for the patients benefit, but also for yours....we don`t want you hurting your back and then sueing the owner of the nursing home or the local health authority for failing to provide you with equipment and training....do we?

it is classed as unskilled labour

I'm sorry, but I beg to differ.

As you will never have any letters behind your name, which I actually do....whether you work there 5 months or 15 years, apart from a few certificates .....I think I`ll stick with my analyst of what is unskilled labour and what you would like to define as skilled.

I`ll leave it at that Mark.

but i think i just need to say Sanji that while your points are correct about the health and safety stuff.. i in no way would ever class my work in care for the learning disabled and challenging behaviour unskilled. I too have letters after my name and i started out as a care worker earning £4.50 an hour and got promoted several times because i was good at my job ( and i still am). Under the care standards act 2002, all people working in a care home must have a minimum qualification of NVQ2 in care. There are numerous other qualifications that can be gained as part of the job, some of these must be provided by the employer as standard ( 1st Aid, Health and Safety etc) and are nationally recognised. My type of care was well different to BHIC's ( i tried elderly and i hated it)..anyway, as i said before, i no longer work in the private sector but within the NHS in a well known hospital.

i think way back it was probably me that made the post mentioning care workers and i think the only comparison i ever made between the 2 was one of those jobs that people do the job for the love of it not the money. Since then, we have all got way off track ( i think you more than most BHIC). There have been numerous little and maybe it is time we stopped and got our thoughts back to the original topic of holiday reps. I am as guilty as anyone else....

This topic is about reps and I`m glad you recognise that BHIC has taken it off topic more than anyone else, but has the audacity to correct me in other threads on the board, when I go off topic.
I hope you also recognise that he decided to go into detail about my statement, and has continued via PM.

The letters that I have behind my name took many years of training to gain,and some stiff exams at the end, I could go anywhere in the world and get a job based on those letters....I have a profession.

It`s not me that classes care workers as unskilled labour, so take it up with whoever, not me.

Sanjii, i do not wish to take anything up with anyone.. i wish merely to discuss the subject.. however if you read your own quote further up the thread ( and if i knew how to attach it i would ) you said it is classed as unskilled labour. That is not necessarily implying that that is your own personal opinion.. but it does read as if it is to the untrained eye.

I wish also to point out that i am a professional and it has taken a long time to get there, many hardships on the way and quite rightly i am proud of what i do and of what i have done.. as equally you should be of your achievements... and going even further back to try and get back on topic... brit5alpha's mum is quite obviously proud of her daughter. I am sure you don't need letters after your name to be a holiday rep, but equally, there are many skills that are required to do the job successfully.. and as qualified and as talented as we all may be in our own way...i for one admit that i most likely do not have what it takes to be a holiday rep..so well done brit5alpha's daughter, who so far, obviously has.

The term 'unskilled labour' does not mean that you require absolutely no skills to do a job. Every job requires some element of skill. I would have classed the lowest rung of careworker into that category because whilst there is training required on the job it is a job that is open to just about anyone. That's not saying that just about anyone can do it well, just as not everyone can be a good checkout person, or a good cleaner.

I personally don't use the term much as it does sound rather derogatory.

So we've no comeback on the breakdown of this .80p per hour that's confused us all to high heaven then?

i think the 80p per hour is probably becuase she is on a set salary per week and obviously works copious amounts of extra hours for no extra pay, there divide the salary by the number of hours worked to get it and hence the 80 p. I have not read any answer as to whether that was gross or net and whether such deductions are made for uniform, accomodation costs etc..i would assume that they are before the worker gets their... ahem...."wage".

My first ever job, when i was a wipper snapper of 14, was in a chicken farm collecting and grading eggs and i earned £1 an hour back then and i thought i was SO rich!!! ( and that was well over 20 years ago!!)

Rob's daughter earned more an hour as a 15 year old pot washer in the local pub....

I find what Heva2015 said on way back on page two of this discussion interesting.

interviewed for Thomson a few weeks ago and was basically told that I was too intelligent and had too much experience to be a holiday rep. To be honest though I had lost interest after they told us we would be making £250 before tax PER MONTH! I know that I would have got room and board and stuff but I would much rather that they paid me a decent wage and let me work out my accomodation myself.

So even on a 40 hour week this would mean pay is around a £1.42 an hour before tax. So its quite easy to see how 80p an hour can be reached if your working more hours and no overtime is payed. Looks to me that the tour operators are screwing both us the paying customer, and the reps.

How can they get away with that, they are blatantly paying under the minimum wage - or do they get around that by saying food/accommodation is the rest of the hourly rate?

Well I can answer my own question really, they get away with it because it's a 'desirable' job and for every person who decides they don't want to do it there will be 3 who do.

Brit5Alpha.....does your daughter have to pay National Insurance Contributions?

If so, THIS is an Income Tax and National Insurance Calculator.

I assume your daughter recieves a Payslip? I assume this payslip will state clearly what her GROSS Hourly Rate is, and if there are any premiums for working nights, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Although I am a bit confused as it does not appear to have been clarified whether or not your daughter is paid locally into a local Bank Account, or in the UK in a UK Bank Account. If this has been mentioned, I apologise for missing it.

But using the calculator in the above link, if your daughter receives a Payslip which I assume she does, she can then work out what her NET Income should be if her payslip shows her WEEKLY or MONTHLY Gross pay and if she knows her Income Tax Code. I would also assume that if deductions are made at source for accomodation, food, Uniform (Does she have to pay for her uniform?) and other 'out of pocket' expenses, then these will be also be shown on her payslip. I believe it is illegal to deduct money from your salary without stating why that money has been deducted and for how much.

I think many of us are actually gastaflabbed by the fact that she is paid only .80p per hour. We are not disputing that, at least I do not think we are, but it would help maybe if, withouit going into too many personal details, she could list what her GROSS hourly rate is and what other items are deducted at source from her Gross Pay. I assume she does not contribute towards a Pension Scheme?

i wouldn't have thought anyone would have stayed with the firm long enough to have ever recieved the benefits of a pension scheme...or long enough to have built up any nest egg that was worth transferring to a new pension scheme when they left the employ.

Val, I agree with you totally. I mentioned a Pension Sceme so that a Full 'picture' of Brit5Alpha's daughters total pay and total deductions could be seen, which would hopefully clarify this .80p per hour thingy of which I am sure many of us are shocked about.

Having read a careers document on repping it appears that not too many do it for more than a couple of years due to the demands of the job. Its poorly paid but reps can gain a lot of useful skills that stand them in good stead for persuing other careers.

In our local Thomsons Holiday shop there is an Employee who used to be a Thomsons Holiday Rep. This was when the Thomsons Holiday Shops were known as Lunn Poly and Lunn Poly Staff had a different Uniform to Thomson Holiday reps, so she stuck out like a sore thumb. Now of course Thomsons is part of the TUI Group so their uniforms are identical, as are Brittania, now ThomsonFly Flight Attendants.

I may get around to calling in one day and ask her why she is no longer a Rep but now works in the UK in a Travel Agent. The staff in there know me very well as I never go anywhere else to book my Hols, I am sure what she will tell me will be very interesting.

hey just to let you know my monthly pay is 430 before ni and tax i do not pay into a pension.
my accomodation is not paid for by my company as it is provided for free by one of the hotels. i live with the entertainment team.

just so everyone knows benidorm and sanji i here where your coming from in the care work industry my parents and my sister also work in the care of the elderly field. it is a hard job and i commend you on doing it as i personally could not clean someones muck because they are incontinent. we are both in the care field if you have seen people who have been rapped, mugged, seriously ill, broken bones, a little girl floating in a pool while her parents are out getting drunk, someone in a coma due to taking an overdose...... i know what its like to look after my guests.

also i see people disputing my love for my job, let me make this clear.... i have seen things a lot of people will never see in there entire life and no matter what happens i know my job as a manager in a top bank would never let me see the things i have. Also i see people saying maybe next year i will be placed in a better place... i chose this country for the culture, language the hospitible people who live here and i would probaly come back again but not in a resort full of 5-7 star hotels.

any questions guys let me know im printing off most of your comments for all the other reps to see. and we are all enjoyin each and every one of them.

hey just to let you know my monthly pay is 430 before ni and tax i do not pay into a pension.

So you are paid 'monthly' not 'four weekly'? I know that sounds odd, but some months have five weeks in them meaing you have to wait five long weeks before you get paid at the end of a five week month. If you are paid four weekly you actually receive 13 paydays every year. If you are paid montly you recieve only 12 paydays each year.

How many 'contracted hours' are you susposed to do to achieve that £430? Do you have a contract which states that your 'minimum', or maybe even your 'maximum' weekly hours are X amount of hours per week.

Is there anything in writing that states you will be expected to work more than your contracted hours in order to meet the needs of the Company?

Once again, many thanks for posting your reply.

£ 430.00 per month does not sound a lot. The £ 0.80 per hour you quoted, is that what you take home each hour, or is that your gross wage per hour and how did you work that out?

I presume as your accomodation and meals are 'paid' for, the £ 430.00 a month can be interpreted as pocket money so to speak?

Mark