Warden occupancy

[clerk.sandbachAH@gmail.com]

Our Warden has a flat provided onsite and works 35 hours per week. Occupancy of the flat comes with the job and in their contract it states they must stay overnight in the flat during the working week (Mon-Thur) as they finish on Friday at 4.30 p.m. We have a careline call out system for out of hours.

Do you think it is unreasonable for the Warden to stay in their flat during the week as a) residents have the call system for out of hours and b) should we be paying an addition to the salary for being ‘on call’. Needless to say, the Warden has never been needed during a night yet. It just seems a little odd to expect the Warden to be on site as we pay for the careline.

I appreciate views, thanks.

Nicola

[Tina Collins]

We do not have direct experience of your situation, butwe had a warden who lived in the scheme, who we have now stopped using as a warden and reverted his residency to a license as this now brings the charity income and has reduced the warden costs.

[clerk.stjohnswilton]

Nicola

‘How long is a piece of string?’ came to mind when I saw your (very valid) questions.

In summary, what you do depends, mainly, I think, on what you can afford. Then on the health and capabilities of your residents.

I suggest you Google ‘does an almshouse charity need to have a full-time live-in warden’ and ask for an AI Mode answer. This will give you some helpful pointers on what you might do, what others do and what the drivers are in determining the best course of action.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Catherine Turner]

Hi Nicola
I am a warden and I do not live in at all. I am the first warden to not live in for over 300 years(!) however, I have been in post for 3 years now and, after some initial worries, the ladies (there are 25 cottages) are fully on board with it.
We do have an emergency call system which I have set up so that I am informed if one of them has pressed their buzzer so I have the option to attend if I feel it is necessary e.g. nearest relatives are away on holiday and there is a 3-4 hour delay for an ambulance!
I certainly wouldn’t see a problem in your warden being at home during the week!
Polly

[EwelmeWarden]

Hi Nicola. I have been a live in Warden twice and consider it part of my duties to be on call ‘out of hours’, which is why I have a flat provided. My onsite flat is my home. I certainly do not expect to be paid extra for being on call if I am on site – surely this is implicit in the type of role a Warden undertakes and low cost/free accommodation is provided to facilitate this. If the Warden is not expected to be on call, then surely there is no need to provide a flat.

Both sites I’ve worked at have had telecare systems for emergencies. However, a live-in Warden is there to provide reassurance and assistance in both property and people emergencies. As mentioned in a previous post, I’d hate for a resident to have called an ambulance and be sat on their own, in distress, until family/paramedics arrive. Also, at my current post the Almshouses are Grade I listed properties in a rural location and an on site presence in a property emergency, such as a fire, could be invaluable.

In my last post, when I left, the Warden position became a live-out role and the Warden’s flat became an income generating property. There does seem to be a move away from live-in Warden posts.

However, all of this is being said without knowing what the Warden’s contract states, if your Warden has another home to go at weekends/if the flat was not provided and whether their property is provided on site as an ‘essential requirement of the job’ based on them being an on-call for their job out of normal working hours (tax implications can be complicated around this).

Sam

[catherine.attwood@trinityhouse.co.uk]

Hello Nicola

We don’t have a live-in warden, and we’re not staffed 24/7, but we do have one Night Attendant (of a team of four) on duty on-site every night of the year, from 9pm to 7.30am. The duty Night Attendant sleeps in a staff flat and responds if the emergency call system is activated by a resident, in the same way that I respond when I am on duty and on-site during the day. They are employed for this reason, and are paid for every hour they are on-site at work, even if they are asleep. During the hours when no staff member is on-site, our emergency call system is diverted to an excellent remote monitoring centre.

When reading your original post, it prompted me to question whether there are any other ‘behaviours’ (for lack of a better word!) that you require your live-in warden to comply with while being required to sleep on-site Monday to Thursday. For example, must they avoid the consumption of alcohol during those hours? Must they be readily available by phone at all hours, or is it just in the event of an emergency? (I assume your remote monitoring centre would contact the warden in the event of an emergency during the night).

I don’t have an answer to your question, as I’m not a HR expert. But my gut feeling would be that HR advice should be sought if there are other restrictions/expectations on the warden’s behaviour while being required to sleep on-site, as the situation might stray into the territory of being required by law to pay the employee for being on-call.

I’ve probably raised more questions than answers here, but the nevertheless, I hope that’s helpful..

Kind regards

Catherine Attwood
General Manager
The Trinity House Maritime Charity

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