Once upon a time my Company might have called me on a standby to say 'xxxx has gone sick - could you fly in the right hand seat to help us out' - no problem as the CAA in its infinite wisdom (sic) allows me to do that as PNF with a couple of circuits in the sim every six months and a LVP once every three years. However, every winter I find myself rostered to fly on an ever increasing basis in the rhs, not to help the Company out at short notice but to keep down costs and allow less pilots to be employed; I'm referred to as a Captain in the summer and a pilot in the winter - spot the subtle difference ?. OK in reality when we double up, skippers tend to swap seats for return sector so no big deal there BUT the CAA and indeed BALPA seem to accept the status quo on this one - I don't think this should be the way we operate, some agree some don't - do you ?????