Is The Betting Industry Heading For A Staffing Crisis?

Following Betfred’s recent announcement that from October, all shops in the South division will open until 10pm, 7 days a week, we’ve received countless emails from members reporting concerns.

In addition to the obvious implications for staff safety (which we reported on in our last newsletter), it’s clear that extending working hours will have a significant detrimental impact on a workforce that’s already stretched.

With staff shortages in many shops, existing staff will be under pressure to work longer hours. Most members don’t want to work longer hours, but don’t feel they have any other choice if they want to keep their jobs. Members have told us that they’re already looking for other jobs with more social hours.

Virtually all members have questioned the logic of opening on a Sunday evening until 10pm. As one member put it:

“One question that we are all asking ourselves is why open until 10pm on a Sunday? No sport takes place late on a Sunday… are they doing this to upset us?”

Forcing staff to work even more unsocial hours will no doubt drive people out of the industry and compound the staff shortage issues further.

Significantly, members have reported a growing pressure not to take sufficient rest breaks during the day to ensure the shops remain open. With a lack of proper facilities in some shops, some staff end up eating at their cash desks whilst continuing to serve customers. Not only is it unprofessional; it’s simply unreasonable to expect staff to work in such conditions. And forcing people to skip breaks is unlawful.

Working Time And Rest Breaks: Do You Know Your Rights?

Here’s a reminder of the law on working time and rest breaks; if you have any concerns about the hours you’re expected to work, contact our Advice Team 01234 716005. Lines are open Monday to Friday, from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm.

The law governing working hours is in the Working Time Regulations 1998 which sets out certain requirements around working time and rest breaks that employers have to stick to. Whilst the law in this area can be complex, we thought it would be useful to give members a reminder about the key entitlements.

Working Time

Working time is any time where someone is working at the employer’s disposal and carrying out the employer’s activities or duties. It does not usually include the time that an employee spends travelling to work or rest breaks.

The law sets a maximum working week of 48 hours (on average), although employees can choose to opt out of this and agree to work longer hours. If you are working more than 48 hours per week on a regular basis but you do not think you have opted out of working more than 48 hours, please contact the Union’s Advice Team using the contact details provided below.

Rest Periods

The law also says that employees have the right to the following rest periods:

A 20 minute rest break if employees are expected to work more than 6 hours during the day. The rest break must have a clear beginning and end and during that time, the employee should not be subject to being recalled to the employer; it has to be a proper break. The rests need to be planned in advance and taken during the day (not at the start or end of the day).

In some cases, employers have made separate agreements with staff to give longer rest breaks; if those agreements are in place then they must not be broken by employers.

Between working days, employees must have a rest of 11 hours or more between finishing work and starting work again.

Between working weeks, employees must have a 24 hour rest period every 7 working days or 48 hours every 14 working days.

Sometimes, a situation might arise where an employee has to work through a rest period, but this should not be something that happens on a regular basis and there must be a valid reason for the missed break. In these circumstances, the employee must always get compensatory rest to make up for the missed break.

What You Need To Do If You Think Your Employer Is In Breach Of The Law

If you think your employer is in breach of the law, you should contact our Advice Team straight away so we can advise you on what action you can take. Do not do anything else or discuss the issue with anyone at work.

Our team can be contacted from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday on 01234 716005. Alternatively you can email us at 24hours@workaffinity.co.uk. Remember we are completely independent of the employers with whom we deal and anything you tell us is entirely confidential.

It will help us greatly if you make sure that you have a copy of your employment contract; indeed we can’t advise you fully without seeing it. If you do not have a copy you should request one from your line manager or your employer’s HR department. If you need help obtaining your contract for any reason, the Advice Team will be happy to assist.

Next Steps

Having raised our concerns about the working environment in betting shops with the Gambling Commission, it’s clear that the regulator has little interest in the matter, conveniently many would say it says such issues are not its responsibility. How betting shops treat their staff is a good indicator of a chain’s overall culture, including its attitude to customer welfare and the Gambling Commission should get up off its collective backside and start to regulate the people it is supposed to be regulating.

Affinity will be raising this issue directly with MPs; we’ll update members on our campaign in our next newsletter.

In the meantime, if there’s any other information you want to share with us, please do email us at in.confidence@workaffinity.co.uk.