[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

[catherine.attwood@trinityhouse.co.uk]

Hello Angela

We don’t have a problem specifically with grandchildren, but the wording in our Residents’ Handbook covers all overnight guests, which would include grandchildren (or any children). In case it’s helpful, the wording in our Handbook is as follows:

1. The Charity’s staff must be informed of any overnight guests for safety and security reasons.
2. An occasional visit of up to seven nights by a relative or friend does not require prior permission from the General Manager. If you wish to have a guest stay for more than seven nights, prior permission must be sought from the General Manager.
3. An application for any proposed extended visit must be made in writing and in advance to the General Manager, who will refer your request to the Secretary to determine the maximum period for such occupation and any other conditions.
4 . In all circumstances, visitors and overnight guests are expected to abide by the same rules which apply to residents and to respect the privacy of other residents during their visit.

Kind regards

Catherine Attwood
General Manager
The Trinity House Maritime Charity

[catherine.attwood@trinityhouse.co.uk]

Hello Rob

In case this is of interest…

Five years ago, we made a conscious decision in our electrical safety policy to include residents’ own portable appliances in our annual PAT testing of charity-owned appliances. We publicise this to residents as a ‘benefit’ to them, provided by the charity. Our residents really appreciate this extra service.

Given that some residents purchase second-hand electrical equipment, and/or have some quite old electrical appliances, PAT testing of resident-owned appliances is also a great benefit to the charity, as by doing so it reduces the risk of a faulty electrical appliance causing fire in our almshouses.

Kind regards

Catherine Attwood
General Manager
The Trinity House Maritime Charity

[catherine.attwood@trinityhouse.co.uk]

Good morning Katherine

We have extensive (and very lovely) formal gardens and grounds here at Trinity Homes. We contract an external gardens and grounds maintenance company to look after our gardens and grounds. They provide four man-days of labour per week from April to October, which reduces to two man-days in November and March, and one man-day of labour in December, January and February.

Kind regards

Catherine Attwood
General Manager
The Trinity House Maritime Charity

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