Action plan Small businesses should: 11 Identify staff most affected

24th June 2004, Page 37

24th June 2004

Page 37

Page 37, 24th June 2004 — Action plan Small businesses should: 11 Identify staff most affected

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by the working time regulations O Clarify what impact it will have on their availability ' Work out if extra staff or vehicles will be needed • Assess what the costs of that will be • Explain to customers how the Directive affects your business • Start negotiating for rate rises Key issues: II Owner-drivers are exempt until 2009, unless they work for a single contractor, in which case they must comply from next March • Definitions of working time and periods of availability have yet to be finalised • Firms can calculate the average 48-hour week using a "rolling reference period" or a "fixed reference period". A maximum 60 hours can be worked in any one week • Rolling reference means calculating times from one week to the next on a rolling four-month basis, referring back to the past four months at all times IN Fixed reference means calculating over a set four-month period and then starting again (the four-month reference period can be extended to six months by agreement with the workforce) • Also by agreement, night workers can work more than 10 hours in any 24-hour period. For HGV drivers the night is calculated as shifts that begin between midnight and 4am • Employers must keep working time records for two years