39 hours a week (but all over the place..legal?)

Hi there

The missus started work as a full time/permanent home support worked (all a newly qualified physio can get these days) with her contract stating that she is contracted to work 39 hours a week, it was advertised as shift work 7 days a week with the service operating between 8am and 11pm.

She got her time table and is working all over the place one client could be say 9-10am the next 11.30-12.30 then the next 3.30-4.30 and then 6.30-8.30. so she techinacally starts her working day at 9am and finished at 8.30 (going to different homes) that makes it11.5 hours but employer only counts this as 5 hours. Is this right??? I mean what is she supposed to do with an hour or two off here and there? Is this legal.

Also is there a minimum amount of time an employer must give you your rota say a week/month in advance at the moment the missus only gets about 2 days notice so we can't plan anything.

Rota schedule ; nothing illegal there ...

Maybe she needs to discuss travel time with employer, as it takes up a lot of time, but nothing in her contract seems out of order ...

If that's not illegal it should be.

Welcome to the bottom of the ladder. When I started in my business I wasn't lucky enough to be on an hourly rate but a weekly rate, the week consisted of working any hours that were required or that came up. I often worked 16 hour days. Thankfully after a year things dramatically improved and it made it all worth while.

Just curious - Is this a HSE post, or a private agency?

I think its a private agency Rehab care but as far as I know they are funded throuth the HSE. The missus only got her timetable yesterday for next week 2 days notice of working hours , which are all over the place, and this is a fulltime post not agency work. If this keeps up we'd be better moving back to England. How can anyone plan a live around this?