As everyone and his wife seem to feel they should be entitled to a discount on their Huel, how about me? A letter arrived in the post yesterday to tell me that my 9-hour long sleeping night shift at work will get a delightful paycut as of 1st Feb. Down from £67.50 to £40. As I do 13/month that gives me a pre-tax loss of £357.50/month. I’ve already had to give up my car and broadband in an attempt to “walk to work” my way out of poverty, and was looking forward to the £200/month predicted savings. In fact it was only the thought of that which made the at times scary walk to work in the dark through a very isolated and unlit park even remotely bareable. Not sure it’s worth the risk of gbh for £40. Now where are the food banks - or do I mean violins. Sigh 
Good luck hope things turn around
I’m wondering about constructive dismissal.
Oh Wendy, that’s terrible. I too hope things sort out for you soon 
Sorry to hear that Wendy, hope things work out for you
Thanks all, I shall have to tighten my belt - which won’t be difficult once I can no longer afford to eat!!
Count yourself lucky. I dont get paid anything for sleeping on the job.
Well! I expected better than that, from you.
I didn’t think I could lower people’s expectations any further.
Big love to you Wendy. Sorry to hear about that, that’s a huge cut. What is it you do? NHS?
No, I work for a (charity) company that provides 24-hour round the clock, in-home care for people with a range of disabilities. It’s OK, I’m not really after any sort of discount. I’ve looked into Universal Credit, and it appears that despite working 51 hours each week, because the sleeping night shifts will be so poorly paid as of next month, I actually qualify for a bit of help! My short term plan is to work an extra 8 hour day shift each week to make up the money (I currently do 3 day shifts and 3 night shifts) but long term I will have to look for a better paid job. It’s a shame because I have become very fond of the person I support.
This is horribly bad news all round. I really feel for you, Wendy, and for the people looked after by yourself and your colleagues. I take it the charity you work for is no longer getting the funding it needs. A real shame 
There was a big court case back in 2016, that an employee brought against Mencap to try to get sleeping night shifts paid at an hourly rate of at least minimum wage, rather than the flat rate, which I think in that case was around £30, which is what I was also originally getting. The case was upheld and slowly companies implemented the pay increase. The company I work for was slow to learn about this, as the pay increase only came a year later. However, Mencap appealed the decision, and their appeal was upheld. I believe that a further appeal is in the pipeline, so who knows how things will end. I’m not entirely sure, but I think that the local government funds the company (as it’s a charity) and that the company allocates the money as it sees fit. As the government have almost disregarded the whole issue, local govt haven’t provided extra funding to cover the previous pay increase.
When I started working there, we were only paid £30 for the sleeping shift. At that time, my son and his girlfriend were living with me, and contributing towards the household bills. But since then, they have moved out, so I have to cover all the bills myself, which is why the cut is so significant.
I see what you mean. A double whammy in your case then 
I am aware of that story, I think it was on the Jeremy Vine show at the end of last year. I used to be residential social worker and part of that involved sleeping night shifts, but due to the nature of my clients I was often awake for several hours most nights and that didn’t warrant extra pay. And it was before the times of internet so I couldn’t even amuse myself with that.
Local governments don’t have any money.
I am fortunate in that most of the time I am asleep for the majority of the night, but even if there was a fire or other emergency one night, the rate would be the same. The shift starts at 10pm and finishes at 7am, but of course you’re not asleep the whole time, and you always have to be keeping an ear out for your resident needing some sort of help. You clearly cannot leave the premises at any time under pain of instant job loss and being barred from similar work for life.