Is Training Paid?

[Sam]

I’m going on my basic skills 2 week course soon and wondering if we get paid while on courses??

Thanks 

[Noddy]

I’d hope so 

[Sam]

I’ve not been told yet, but I’ve booked the two weeks off work unpaid, so I’m hoping so 🙈

[Firestorm]

It's work, you get paid.

[Sam]

Thanks Firestorm 👌

[TandA]

Basic skills 2 week course?  Is that for on-call?  If so, you might want to know that if you are losing more from your main job than you get paid for the training at trainee firefighter rate then you should be entitled to claim the difference up to the pay rate of a station manager.  It’s in our conditions of service but not too many on-call firefighters or service managers are aware of it.  You will need to claim it and prove loss of earnings but that is easy enough.

[Sam]

Yeah that’s it TandA, basic skills for on call. 

Thanks a lot for that, I had no idea. 

[TandA]

In case you need to reference it, the claim for loss of earnings would be made under Grey Book Terms and Conditions, Part B - Pay, Para 15 which says “Where the employee incurs a loss of remuneration from his or her usual occupation that exceeds the amount payable under paragraph 14, he or she shall be paid the amount of such excess, subject to the total payment not exceeding the maximum basic weekly rate for a Station Manager.

Grey Book conditions are national minimum conditions of service and cover all on call firefighters as they work the Retained Duty System.

[Luminoki]

Ive heard of this but only for those who are self employed. I know of a lad tried to claim back 5 grand for three weeks as he was a club dj at the time. 

[TandA]

Absolutely no need to be self employed.  The crucial bit is you need to have suffered a loss of earnings.  If you take paid annual leave from your main job to do your training, like most of us who are employed probably do, then you have not suffered a loss of earnings, just a loss of annual leave.  Emily says she is taking unpaid leave in her original post so she will suffer a financial loss.  If that loss exceeds the pay she receives from her training then the difference can be claimed up to a maximum of the pay of a station manager.  Claiming £5k for 3 weeks would rightly fail as that is way more than a station manager pay, but I like his style.

[Sam]

5k is a ridiculous amount to claim for haha 🤣

Yeah I’ll have a small loss (not quite 5k sadly) I am self employed too but work for several companies. I’ll mention it tomorrow when I’m at the station. Thanks for the tips guys  

[Jono91]

Was just going to ask this myself. Pending my medical on Monday I start my courses november 4th for shropshire as a retained.

 

Thanks for clearing that one up!

[Sam]

Glad it helped someone else! 😊

I felt a bit silly asking but no one had confirmed it.

At least we know now 👌