I work for a welfare to work charity and have done for 6 years.

The project I work for is coming to an end and I expect to be made redundant on or before 6 months time.

Lots of staff have left and I am being expected to travel to outreach offices and this is now over 500 miles a week (in 4 days), they do pay travel.

I have always driven for work but I am nearly 60 years old and am finding it tiring and stressful,

the company's answer is that there isn't anyone else or enough work in my area.

My question is, please, is this unreasonable?

I feel I can't keep this up for 6 months but obviously I would like to collect my redundancy money.

Are there any steps I can take?

My contract obviously has the usual 'extra duties as necessary' clauses.

Many thanks for any advice.

500 miles per 4 day week works out at 62.5 miles each direction. If this distance can be traveled in under 90 minutes in normal traffic conditions, then the DWP would consider this reasonable. As the company is paying travel (presumably, a reasonable mileage rate), then you'd struggle to claim it is not financially viable.

If you are in a union, I'd suggest sitting down with the union rep and the employer to negotiate an acceptable compromise.

Thanks for reply. I have had to go to one location today and it was a 4 hour round trip. I am with a union and I am waiting for them to get back to me.

You still get redundancy if you are off sick for a while, so if the driving makes you ill, you shouldn't be going to work because unfit for duties...

Nuff said

Thanks for replies. Hopefully a better end to this, had a meeting where I told Manager how I feel and we have agreed to get rid of one location completely and visit the others every other week staggering them and give telephone advice the other days. I feel I can manage this and give it a go. Thanks, again.

That sounds positive, well done. And thank you for coming back to tell us.

HB