Few questions for guards and negotiations

[MrFace]

Good Day everyone

Soon i will be starting as a guard and doing my 6 month training; but due to personal circumstances it would have a huge impact to my life if i was to cross the £29,000 line during training To my knowledge i will be about £1000-2000 a year short, which would work out about £83-166 pound a month short.

During training i am assuming theirs no options for overtime; and i'm aware i'm not allowed to do anything outside of work to possibly bridge the gap. What i wanted to ask; does anyone know if SWR are open to negotiations for example lowering pay after training, to raising slightly during training. I'm a little worried about asking directly as i don't want to risk the job.

Reason i need to cross the line : I'm married to a foreigner and have a kid[baby], and it will never make any sense to bring my child here without my wife. Currently i would need to earn 29k a year to bring them here [Proven over a 6 month period], however, i know the government are possibly likely to increase that number all the way up to 39k. So the slight nudge now would avoid a scenario that i'm always playing catch-up with the government. 6 months to see my kid vs potentially never

any advise would be appreciated

 

[greatkingrat]

Sorry, the salary is the salary, and there is zero chance of you negotiating about it.

 

[MrFace]

Sorry, the salary is the salary, and there is zero chance of you negotiating about it.

Thank you

 

[bunnahabhain]

Good Day everyone

Soon i will be starting as a guard and doing my 6 month training; but due to personal circumstances it would have a huge impact to my life if i was to cross the £29,000 line during training To my knowledge i will be about £1000-2000 a year short, which would work out about £83-166 pound a month short.

During training i am assuming theirs no options for overtime; and i'm aware i'm not allowed to do anything outside of work to possibly bridge the gap. What i wanted to ask; does anyone know if SWR are open to negotiations for example lowering pay after training, to raising slightly during training. I'm a little worried about asking directly as i don't want to risk the job.

Reason i need to cross the line : I'm married to a foreigner and have a kid[baby], and it will never make any sense to bring my child here without my wife. Currently i would need to earn 29k a year to bring them here [Proven over a 6 month period], however, i know the government are possibly likely to increase that number all the way up to 39k. So the slight nudge now would avoid a scenario that i'm always playing catch-up with the government. 6 months to see my kid vs potentially never

any advise would be appreciated

You won't be able to negotiate the salary due to collective bargaining. However it's probably worth asking when your salary lifts from training to full. You'll also be able to work overtime once fully qualified.

 

[Horizon22]

There's a lots of ifs and buts here.

There is no firm number as to what the government will put the new threshold up to for the partner visas, if indeed they will at all (although likely). Also I presume they are not currently here so you are not currently earning enough in your current role anyway? Why "never"? You may make the new threshold in time. What is the salary after training?

You can get a secondary source of income however a) this is not normally advised during training (or much at all with shift work), b) it would need to be approved by the company. Given your circumstances, this might be given some thought by SWR but I wouldn't hold your hopes out.

 

[scrapy]

Yes definitely worth asking when the salary increases, at some tocs this is as soon as the first route is signed so possibly 3-4 months. Depending on the depot you are based at and where you do your training you may your get travel time paid. I don't know what SWRs policy on this is but this would usually be paid as overtime and may increase your earnings to put you over the 29k threshold.

A second job would not usually be recommend, although as said above may be allowed by SWR given your circumstances. A few hours a week on a Saturday night doing casual work may be enough to get you over 29k. The problem is anything like this would likely have to be approved by a few levels of management plus HR and this could take several weeks.

 

[Kite159]

Yes definitely worth asking when the salary increases, at some tocs this is as soon as the first route is signed so possibly 3-4 months. Depending on the depot you are based at and where you do your training you may your get travel time paid. I don't know what SWRs policy on this is but this would usually be paid as overtime and may increase your earnings to put you over the 29k threshold.

For SWR, the salary increases once you finish training and turn 'productive'. Then it's 6 months at 75% of the full salary and 6 months at 90% salary. Pretty sure they don't pay for time spent commuting to the training campus at Basingstoke.

Potentially the OP can have a second job at weekends during training assuming it's approved by HR etc but probably wouldn't be able to have one once they turn productive due to the shift pattern.

 

[MrFace]

There's a lots of ifs and buts here.

There is no firm number as to what the government will put the new threshold up to for the partner visas, if indeed they will at all (although likely). Also I presume they are not currently here so you are not currently earning enough in your current role anyway? Why "never"? You may make the new threshold in time. What is the salary after training?

You can get a secondary source of income however a) this is not normally advised during training (or much at all with shift work), b) it would need to be approved by the company. Given your circumstances, this might be given some thought by SWR but I wouldn't hold your hopes out.

Their is a large amount of ifs and butts i admit, and trying work out ways to neutralize. You are correct they are not currently here. In terms of why never. SWR I think it goes to 32 or 33 after training then after 15 months i think 36. + Regional Allowance. Government wont count any month i'm under specific number, even if overall in the year i cross the line. So if it goes up within 1 year after training to either the 35 or 39 my 6 month timer basically resets. Then Say i go to full money and it goes up again to 39 my 6 months timer resets and i would be under the threshold once more.

During my interview stage; i'm quite sure they mentioned another form of employment [Weekend job] isn't permitted during training, and up to my Depo manger after training. My biggest fear at the moment is the 39k number that is floating about which would likely come into effect the 11th April 2026. Which might give me a very tight window.

I do thank everyone for the help, giving me a greater understanding of options. I don't think my travel to and from training is paid in overtime but that would be a pleasant surprise.

Think i won't push the envelope and focus on overtime options after training.

 

[Undiscovered]

A word of caution- don't be too quick to take on overtime once you've passed out and are working trains solo. Take time to get used to being fully alone on the job- find your own cab routine and get settled into the routes and shifts properly.

For at least the first year, you want to be as under the radar as possible, until you do your final sign off (usually a year after initial pass out). Having an incident in the first couple of months going solo will put you under more scrutiny.

I do appreciate though, that you're in a tricky situation.

 

[185]

Unless it's at your local station, you might get paid a little extra if asked to travel to / from the training course. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the salary rise to bring in a partner using the FLR(M) route to residency. That said, you could quietly work alongside a weekend or two extra to pass the threshold in a side job with your employers permission.

The Tory imposed threshold rise to £29K by Johnson was deeply unfair and squarely aimed at the country's less well off (who do the real jobs holding this country together).