The short answer
A shift pays your hourly rate × the booked hours, plus any extra time you agree to. Gaffr Live has no way to claim travel, mileage, parking or kit on top. If a booking costs more to get to, a counter offer can ask the client for an extra amount. Gaffr doesn't choose PPE or who provides it. The booking shows what the client has said about it. HMRC explains which costs can count as expenses.
What does a shift pay?
Your Crew Member fee, and all of it. It's made up of:
- your rate × the hours the client booked
- your rate × any extra time you agree to with "Stay on"
- any extra amount agreed in a counter offer
Gaffr charges you nothing: every Opportunity shows "Fee charged to you by Gaffr" as £0.00. If the client ends the shift early, you're still paid for the booked hours. If Gaffr is told the shift wasn't worked in full, a person at Gaffr checks it before paying. How you get paid explains when the money arrives.
Can I claim travel, mileage or parking?
Not through Gaffr Live. Your pay is your Crew Member fee. Gaffr Live has no way to claim travel, mileage or parking on top. The booked hours are the hours of the shift, not the journey there and back.
That makes distance part of choosing which offers to take. An Opportunity shows the postcode and how far it is. It reads like "6 km from your home" or "4 km from where you are". Turning one down is free, and there's no minimum acceptance rate. Going live, and where your offers are measured from explains where the distance is measured from.
Can I ask the client for more to cover travel?
Yes, with a counter offer, where the Opportunity has a Counter button. You can send one counter each time a booking is offered to you. Press Counter and the sheet opens on your pay, for example "Your pay: £100 for 4 hours at £25/hr."
Below it is a box for an extra amount, in pounds. It starts empty, and Gaffr never suggests an amount. Gaffr Live explains that the extra is for the whole shift, not per hour: mileage, parking or an early start, for example. It isn't added again if the shift is extended. As you type, it adds it up: "£100 + £20 extra. You'd receive £120."
You can pick a reason if you like: "Short call", "Travel", "Anti-social timing" or "Other". The client sees it.
What happens next depends on the client's maximum, which you don't see:
- The client's budget covers it: you're booked straight away, with the extra.
- It doesn't: the client decides. Until they do, the booking stays open to other crew.
The extra is part of your Crew Member fee, so you're paid all of it. Gaffr's fee to the client doesn't rise with it. If the client cancels late, your share of the cancellation pay includes it. Setting your rate has more on your hourly rate.
Does Gaffr decide what kit a shift needs?
No. Gaffr doesn't choose PPE or who provides it. The client answers one question about it when they book, and Gaffr passes the answer on. What a shift needs is between you and the client.
What does a booking say about kit?
Before you accept, the Opportunity shows the client's answer to its health and safety question. If they listed PPE, it says who they said provides it:
- "PPE: hard hat, bring your own."
- "PPE: hard hat, provided on site."
It can also name a qualification the client asked for, like "Needs IPAF (MEWPs)."
It shows the client's "Where in the venue" note, if they wrote one.
Once you accept, the booking also shows the client's notes for crew, if they wrote any. If something isn't clear, it's worth checking with the client. Messages between clients and crew explains when you can message them. Health and safety covers the PPE question in full.
Can travel or kit costs count against tax?
That depends on your circumstances, and Gaffr doesn't decide it. This is general information from GOV.UK, not tax advice.
If you're self-employed, GOV.UK explains that allowable expenses can be taken off your income when working out your taxable profit. The same page says: "You cannot claim expenses if you use your £1,000 tax-free 'trading allowance'". GOV.UK has separate pages on car, van and travel expenses and clothing expenses.
Simplified expenses let you work out some business expenses using flat rates, instead of your actual costs. It adds: "You do not have to use simplified expenses."
HMRC or an accountant can tell you how the rules apply to you. Tax and Self Assessment covers what Gaffr reports to HMRC.
What does Earnings show?
Earnings in Gaffr Live lists each payment Gaffr sends you. Each one shows:
- what it's for and the date, like "Shift · Sat 27 Sep"
- "Your shift fee", "Fee charged to you by Gaffr" and "You receive"
- a payment reference, like "GAFFR-00001234"
- for a shift booked on a counter, what you asked for and why, like "Countered: £20 extra · Travel (offered £25/hr)"
At the top are totals for what's been paid and what's on its way. Earnings records your pay, not your costs. GOV.UK lists records of "all business expenses" among those to keep.