Hours, rest breaks and the working week

This guide will help you understand the maximum hours your employees can work and what rest breaks and rest periods you must offer them.

It explains the special rules that apply to young workers, when your workers can agree to waive or vary the rules, and the sectors that are exempt.

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Working hours in a week

Unless the worker has an opt out agreement, or an exemption applies, workers aged 18 or over cannot be forced to work for more than 48 hours a week on average. The average is calculated by adding up all the working time over the reference period. For information on reference periods and exemptions see the page in this guide on exemptions for workers who choose their hours.

You must keep records of your workers’ hours to show you’re complying with the Working Time Regulations. It’s also good practice.

Calculating average hours

Workers’ hours are usually calculated as an average over 17 weeks. In this, make sure you should include:

• work-related training
• travel as part of a worker’s duties
• working lunches

Working time does not include travelling between home and work, lunch breaks, evening classes or day-release courses.

Through a workforce or collective agreement, your workers can agree to a longer period over which to average their working hours – up to 52 weeks.

Opting out

By signing a written agreement, most workers can agree to work longer than the 48-hour limit. They can cancel this opt-out agreement whenever they want as long as they give their employer at least seven days’ notice.

Mobile workers in the road transport industry cannot ‘opt-out’ of the weekly working time limits. There are similar restrictions concerning crews on vessels, and aircraft. For more information, see our guide to working time rules for mobile workers.

Young workers

Special rules apply to young workers under the age of 18 and these differ according to their age. Our guide, employing young people, sets out the rules that apply to young workers.

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Rest breaks

Your workers are entitled to regular breaks in the working day. Workers aged 18 or over should be offered a minimum 20-minute break for every shift lasting more than six hours.

You can decide when your workers take their break, but it mustn’t be at the beginning or end of a shift. You must also allow your workers any breaks they need as a result of any health condition or disability.

View a summary of workers’ rights for working hours, rest breaks and rest periods on the GOV website [opens in a new window].

Rest periods between working days

Your workers are entitled to regular rest periods between working days – in addition to any holiday entitlement.

Workers aged 18 and over should have a minimum 11 hours’ rest between each working day, and shouldn’t be forced to work more than six days in every seven, or 12 days in every 14.

Exceptions can be made for:

• busy periods
• emergencies
• people working away from home

In these cases, rest periods can be compensated for and taken later.

When organising rest periods you need also to consider the maximum average working week which is normally 48 hours.

Young workers

Workers aged 16 and 17 should take at least 30 minutes’ break if they work more than four and a half hours. If they also work for another employer, the time worked in total must be considered when calculating entitlement to breaks.

Only in exceptional circumstances can young workers miss their breaks – and then they should receive compensatory rest within three weeks.

Between working days, they must have two days off every week, normally two consecutive days. Only in exceptional circumstances can these rules be changed.

For more information, see our guide on employing young people.

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Exemptions for workers who choose their hours

Certain workers who choose their hours are exempt from the rules for:

• the maximum average hours a worker can work each week
• rest breaks
• rest periods

A worker falls into this category if they can decide when and how long they work for.

They may have an element of their working time measured or pre-determined, but otherwise they decide how long they work. This exception would not apply to workers who are:

• paid hourly
• claiming paid overtime
• working under close supervision
• implicitly required to work

Nobody can be forced to work more than an average of 48 hours a week against their will and this exception does not remove this protection.

Check if special exemptions apply to your business

There are exceptions to the rules about working hours, rest breaks and rest periods if your workers:

• work a long way from where they live
• have to travel to different places for work

There are also exceptions to cover:

• security or surveillance work
• jobs that require round-the-clock staffing
• some employees working in rail transport
• exceptionally busy periods
• emergencies

In all these cases:

• you should average workers’ hours over 26 weeks, rather than 17 weeks, to find their average working week
• your workers are entitled to accumulate their rest periods and take them at a later date – called compensatory rest

Your workers may be covered by other rules if your business is in one of the following sectors:

• air, road, or sea transport
• inland waterways and lakes
• sea fishing

There are also special rules for mobile workers. 

See our guide on working time rules for mobile workers.

Young workers

If you are employing young people, you should remember that there are no exemptions in these industries from the regulations for workers aged under 18. See our guide on employing young people.

Night workers

A night worker normally works between 23.00 and 06.00 and works at least three hours at night. Night workers should not work for more than eight hours daily. A night worker cannot opt-out of the night work limit, the night work can be calculated over the 17 week reference period, but can be longer in some circumstances. Young workers should not normally work at night, although certain exceptions allow for this.

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Here’s how I manage staff hours and rest breaks

AI Digital is a multi-award winning digital agency providing internet marketing services to a wide range of multi-national and national organisations. The company is based in Brighton and has grown at between 36 and 88 per cent year since 2002. Here managing director Jason Woodford explains how the company handles working hours to ensure the well-being of its 34 staff in a challenging business environment.

WHAT I DID

Put an employment manual which covers well-being in place

“We implemented an improved company-wide employment manual which covers health and safety, working hours, work-life balance, flexible working and anything else that might affect the overall well-being of our employees.

“Our approach takes account of the requirements of the Working Time Directive. However, I would say that while the regulations are something we are aware of and abide by, they don’t dictate the overall content of the employment manual, which is much wider-ranging than just ticking the legal boxes.

“We make sure we communicate the policies within the employment manual to all employees at induction and reinforce it at team meetings. We work in an extremely fast-paced, client-centred industry, so we have to be realistic about requirements to work unsociable hours from time to time. We include these requirements in our contracts, but we also compensate by offering time off in lieu and a whole range of flexible working options, including homeworking, to help balance out working hours.”

Keep proper records

“All employees keep comprehensive time-sheets of their working hours, broken down by days of the week and client. We also use an online time-tracking system, which produces reports and management information at the touch of a button, and incorporates things like annual leave and maternity leave.

“Having good records and information helps us to check that employees aren’t working silly hours, and also improves forward planning for the business.

“There’s a lot of mutual trust involved in recording employee hours, which is part of our company ethos. We give employees as much control as possible, while they trust managers to put their personal well-being on a par with the business’s.”

Appoint someone to monitor hours

“We have recently appointed a dedicated resourcing manager to handle scheduling of employee’s hours. For example, which teams have spare capacity for new business and which don’t, who’s going to work on which projects and for how long, whether additional resources are needed to enable employees to cope, and so on. This is both to better satisfy client demands and to help us manage working hours for the benefit of our employees.

“As part of her remit, our resourcing manager keeps a close eye on the time each individual spends working, ensuring that no-one overdoes it and that people are taking regular breaks and holidays, even during our busiest periods.

“While it may sound expensive to employ someone solely to produce schedules and plan hours, we calculate that we have saved over 100 hours per week in other parts of the business, so the appointment more than pays for itself. Without someone taking specific responsibility, it would be all too easy to let monitoring and planning slide at those times when we’re run off our feet.”

What I’d do differently

Bring in a manager sooner

“While we still place great emphasis on giving employees flexibility and ownership of their working week, we’re so pleased with the outcome of appointing a dedicated resourcing manager that we wish we’d done it sooner!”