Do I have to pay travel time for a registrar’s educational release?

This is a common question asked by practices. There are a number of factors relevant to working out the answer appropriate to your circumstances. Generally speaking if the registrar is rostered to work and is attending educational release for the full day then their travel to and from educational release would be the same as their travel to and from work – unpaid.

If however a registrar travels to work unpaid, then leaves from work to travel to the educational release location, then this travel time would be paid as part of their normal payment for that day. It would not be paid in addition to their normal paid day, rather it would be part of their usual pay.

What if my registrar works nine-hour days but the educational release is seven hours? Do I pay them for seven or nine hours?

If the educational release were nine hours then you would pay them for nine hours, but in this scenario it is not. You are only required to pay a registrar for educational release they actually attend and only if they would normally be rostered to work then. So should the educational release be seven hours the registrar will need to decide to either reduce their working hours on these days, or in the alternate return to work and complete the additional time (two hours) noting that part of this time will be consumed by travel time between the practice location and the educational release.