who pays?

I'm a HCA at a GP surgery, I get sent to somewhere far for my training and the cost is double my travel cost to the GP surgery. I cant quit because I kept getting rejected from everywhere and have struggled to get this job. I have been there 7 weeks and haven't been given a contract. According to my pay cheque I don't believe I get paid for the training days, but they don't even pay for my travel. On the first like two weeks I don't think I got paid because I was just watching/shadowing, but they could at least pay for my travel, it costs £20 a day to get there and back. To the training its like £40-£50. Shouldn't the employer at least pay the difference?

First thing you should have done was ask the GP practice manager or the practice partners about whether they are paying for your travel expenses or are you to pay it yourself...???
Next thing is that they are paying for your training costs so they might say that it's up to you to get there and back regardless.....
All GP practices are given a budget from the NHS national budget and then it's up to the individual GP practices to spend it how they feel.
Don't quit the job because of the travel costs okay....... Speak to them asap and put your case over on it.
Have you got a car ( presuming you can drive) then at worst they might suggest paying you milage costs ( unfortunately they will have a rough idea of the distance to and from there so all you have to do is note down starting milage and finishing milage at start and finishing time each day and then hand it into your practice manager to sort out for you ( keep a copy of that).

First thing you should have done was ask the GP practice manager or the practice partners about whether they are paying for your travel expenses or are you to pay it yourself...???
Next thing is that they are paying for your training costs so they might say that it's up to you to get there and back regardless.....
All GP practices are given a budget from the NHS national budget and then it's up to the individual GP practices to spend it how they feel.
Don't quit the job because of the travel costs okay....... Speak to them asap and put your case over on it.
Have you got a car ( presuming you can drive) then at worst they might suggest paying you milage costs ( unfortunately they will have a rough idea of the distance to and from there so all you have to do is note down starting milage and finishing milage at start and finishing time each day and then hand it into your practice manager to sort out for you ( keep a copy of that).

I agree

Hey, I wasn't aware that I was not going to be paid for the first few weeks until i saw my pay cheque. Nothing like that was mentioned to be when I had my initial meeting with the manger, and she even told me the date that everyone's salary comes so I assumed I was getting paid. Also in the second week I remember I had online training which finished 20 mins before my finishing time and the deputy manager goes that 've got 20 minutes so I can do some online training, knowing it takes me 1.5 hours to get home so I assumed they are not letting me go early because I'm getting paid, ngl if I knew i would have just left. I was not aware of this training either. I failed my last driving test so get the train and bus. The training its self is free, one of the trainers even said its free for the GP practices and none of the GP practices pay for it.

Yeah that's what I would have done in there situation what I wrote to them about.
Hope everyone is ok with you Emma

I would be quering your pay issue with the practice management as you should be paid from day 1 of employment.
Just wondering if you started during the month prior to the payday then that could explain reasons why you weren't paid for first few weeks as majority of all NHS staff & GP practices pay monthly in arrears and if you miss the cut of point for being paid in a particular month then it won't be paid until the following month.
Although they are not paying for the training they will probably still be getting reimbursed for your wages while you are on the course...?? As training is part of your condition of your job description as HCA.
You should be paid for the whole day whether you are finished early or not as that's up to whoever doing the training course with you to decide if you get away early or not.
Obviously they can argue with you about transport issues as you are responsible for your own travelling arrangements regardless of your problems in the time it takes you to get to the GP practice.
I know you should have been told everything regarding your terms and can and what holidays you get a year plus your how much you are paid per annum broken into monthly pay before reduction of tax, national insurance etc.

Yeah i am fine. How are you?

Thanks for the reply

Hi
Good to hear that you are okay 😊 😊 👍
I'm fine thanks 🙏 🙏 I'm currently on holiday in sunny and hot Melbourne as still have a few more weeks before back home 😔 😔

Oh right i see. Glad you are ok.
Wish i was on holiday. Its done nothing but rain here. You should have taken me in your suitcase and left me there, haha.

Yeah I'm okay thanks 🙏 🙏
Awww I feel for you not being on holiday Emma, unfortunately if you were in my suitcase I would probably be over my KG weight limit plus you might be caught at customs in random checks. Apologies for leaving you in UK with horrible weather ☁️ ☁️ ( I think Scotland North east areas has been getting hammered badly with rain as flooding I heard up there. ). You would actually love a holiday in Australia like but expensive in some places.
Weather actually be mixture of absolutely scorching and heavy rain showers but majority of the time has been dry 😕 😕, temperature been as high as mid 40's but apart from that few days it's been around the late 20's degrees up to around 37 degrees during the day time with night night temperatures around the 20 degrees......
At times been struggling to find shade.
The problem here is the current 11 hours time difference that Melbourne is ahead of the UK. And it's there summertime
I'm here at my big sister request as staying at hers along with parents.
Unfortunately I think I will be coming back home to wet and windy condition and cold temperatures... Back in Scotland on the 24th February and back to work nightshift 25th Feb...

Oh right i see. I like it warm, but then there is too warm.
It has been dry today (well it has been here in the midlands). But due to have some rain showers again tomorrow.
I can cope with the cold (as long as it is dry). It is all the rain that is doing my head in.

Yeah I agree with you on being warm and to warm but it's better than cold and rain... I'm coping with the heat as today's so far it's hitting 18 degrees almost ( at 7 am Melbourne time - about 8pm UK time Wednesday night. ).
I think UK weather is too gett bit warmer over the coming days with double digits temperature for February.
Oh I know the rain has been horrendous in UK over the last month or so and I feel for those who have been affected by flooding because of it. . All the rain would do my head in as well.
I think you would enjoy Australia as a holiday if you pick the right time when temperatures are lower than summer months but you'll still have daily temperature of around 22 degrees in there autumn and spring season plus winter weather can be wet but warm apparently.

Yeah it has been a bit warmer today (Saturday). It has been double digits. And mostly dry (apart from raining for an hour or so this afternoon).
Yeah Australia is one place id like to go to.

Wow good to see some better weather in UK.
Doubt digit's for late February is good as normally they are under 10 degrees and build up in March - depending on part of the UK that people lives in.
Don't get me wrong Emma weather majority of the time in Melbourne has been hot and dry but there has been some very heavy rain showers as well ( mostly due to the high temp).
Yeah put Australia on your bucket list to do...... I did about a week in those places - Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and gold coast, Sydney between mid December 2023 and mid February 2024 whilst staying in Melbourne ( I took 3 months holidays back then to do that and it was absolutely amazing) - I did it in the summer period.
Obviously very expensive trip due to the time of year ( there summer season) but worth it.
Hope you are ok otherwise x

Yeah i can imagine it being expensive, but worth it.
Yeah its meant to be better weather this week. Some days dry, and others with the odd showers. But in double digits anyway.

Hi
Apologies for late response back due to organising things for coming home ( back home now)
Yes it is very expensive but worth every penny especially if you were doing a once in a lifetime trip there as you would make it worthwhile. Lucky for me I had only flights to pay for with staying with sister in Melbourne as hotels would be expensive at this time of year due to it being there current summer season heading into autumn.
Hope the weather has been good recently, been raining and windy up in Glasgow since got back 😭😭😭 think I need to go back to Australia haha.
This coming week seems mix of dry days and wet ones.

The weather has been not to bad this week actually. Some dry days with sunny spells. Just needs to warm up.
Still some rainy days though.