Council staff paid for lift rides

Rochdale Council's 'Black Box' Municipal Offices.

Some workers at Rochdale Council are given more than two days pay per year for standing in a lift that takes them to the correct floor at the 'Black Box' Council office building.

The Council pays its employees at the Municipal Official a 'lift allowance' for the time it takes them to get from the ground floor to the floor that they work on.

The outdated ruling came into force 20 years ago when employees had to wait for the old elevator for up to ten minutes - meaning they arrived at work on time, but clocked in late because of the wait for the lift.

The payments still exist but the modern lifts mean there is hardly any waiting time to get to the correct floor.

Each day employees on floors 10 and 11 are given a five minute lift allowance, which equates to around 20 hours pay a year, while colleagues on other floors get between four and two minutes.

Executives at the Council are looking into scrapping the system as part of the current Pay and Grading review.