Working Time Regulations explained

The 48-hour week

Most workers must not work more than 48 hours a week on average. The average is usually taken over 17 weeks. Some jobs use a longer period. The count is working time, not time spent at home waiting with nothing to do. Travel that is part of the job, and working lunches, can count. Commuting to a fixed workplace usually does not.

An adult can opt out of the 48-hour limit in writing. The opt-out is their choice. You cannot force it as a condition of a job in the ordinary case, and you cannot punish someone for refusing or for cancelling it. A young worker, under 18 and over school-leaving age, cannot opt out. Their limit is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, and it is not an average.

Breaks and rest

If a worker’s daily working time is more than 6 hours, they get a rest break of at least 20 minutes. That break is uninterrupted, and it is taken during the shift, not at the start or the end. The law does not say the 20 minutes must be paid. A contract, or a habit you have always paid, can say that it is.

Workers are also entitled to 11 hours’ rest between working days, and to an uninterrupted 24 hours without work each week, or 48 hours each fortnight. A young worker’s daily rest is 12 hours, and their break is 30 minutes if they work more than 4.5 hours.

Saving a shift in Shiftbrook warns when the 48-hour average, the 11-hour rest, or the weekly break would be broken. The warning does not refuse the save. You still decide. The check uses the shifts on the rota, not a lawyer’s reading of every exception in the regulations.

Night work

A night worker regularly works at least 3 hours during night time. Night time is usually 11pm to 6am, unless the contract sets a different 7-hour window that includes midnight to 5am. Night workers should not work more than an average of 8 hours in each 24, and the work should not be especially hazardous on that average if a limit applies.

You must offer a free health assessment before someone becomes a night worker, and repeat it regularly. A young person should not ordinarily work at night. The detail is on the GOV.UK night working page linked below. A night premium is a contract question, not a requirement of these regulations. The hours themselves belong on the rota.

What the regulations do not do

They do not set a wage. They do not say a Sunday is worth more than a Tuesday. They do not design your pattern. A four-on, four-off pattern can comply, and it can also break the 11-hour gap if the changeover is too tight. Check the actual times, not the name of the pattern.

There are special rules for some jobs, including where continuity of service matters, and for mobile workers in transport. If your sector has its own regime, read that regime. This page is the general rule for a shift team, written against the GOV.UK guidance, and it is not a substitute for advice on a particular contract.