Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, workers are entitled to rest breaks during the working day (breaks during work ), rest periods between periods of work and weekly rest periods (rest between periods of work ). All of these requirements can be modified or excluded, in so far as they apply to adult workers, by a collective or workforce agreement. However, the workers must then be given an equivalent period of compensatory rest or, in exceptional cases where it is not possible for objective reasons to allow the workers compensatory rest, appropriate protection for their health and safety.
The Regulations also state that the worker must be given adequate rest breaks if the pattern by which the work is organised puts the worker's health and safety at risk. This covers in particular where the work is monotonous or the work-rate is predetermined.
If a worker's daily working time is more than six hours, he or she is entitled to a rest break during that period. This requirement could be met, for example, by giving the worker a meal break.
The length of the break and whether it is paid or unpaid can be set by a collective or workforce agreement (flexibility by agreement ). In the absence of an agreement, the worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest break of at least 20 minutes, which can be spent away from the workstation, if the worker has one. The Regulations do not require the rest break to be paid, although many workers have the right to be paid during rest breaks under their contracts of employment.
Workers under 18 are entitled to a 30-minute rest break if their total daily working time, for one or more employers, is more than four-and-a-half hours. An employer can ask a young worker to work during his or her rest break if no adult is available to do the work and it has to be performed immediately, it is temporary and it has arisen from unusual and unforeseeable circumstances or exceptional events. The young worker must be given an equivalent period of compensatory rest within the following three weeks.
Although the Working Time Regulations leave much of the detail of rest breaks to be set by agreement, it is worth noting that the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require employers to provide 'suitable and sufficient' rest facilities. Rest facilities for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers should be close to toilets and include the facility to lie down.
A worker is entitled to a rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period. This does not apply to shift workers when they change shift and cannot take 11 hours off between the end of one shift and the start of the next. Nor does it apply to workers whose work is split up over the day, such as cleaning staff. However, these workers must usually be given an equivalent period of compensatory rest. In exceptional cases where it is not possible for objective reasons to allow the workers compensatory rest, they must be given appropriate protection for their health and safety.
If a worker is under 18, he or she is entitled to daily rest of 12 consecutive hours. However, this rest period may be interrupted if the job involves periods of work that are short or split up over the day. An employer can also ask a young worker to work during the daily rest period if no adult worker is available to do the work and the work has to be performed immediately, is temporary and is due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances or exceptional events. The worker must be given an equivalent period of compensatory rest within the following three weeks.
An adult worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of at least 24 hours in each seven-day period. Alternatively, the employer can give two rest periods of 24 hours or one rest period of 48 hours in each 14-day period. Workers under 18 are entitled to 48 hours uninterrupted rest in each seven-day period.
The entitlement to a weekly rest period is additional to the entitlement to a daily rest break. However, for adult workers, the two may overlap if there is an objective or technical reason, or a reason concerning the organisation of work, that justifies them doing so. For workers under 18, the weekly rest period may be interrupted if their periods of work are short, or split up over the day. The length of their rest period may also be reduced, but only where this is justified for technical or organisational reasons, and the rest period does not fall below 36 hours.
Adult shift workers are not entitled to the weekly rest break when they are changing shift and cannot take a weekly rest period between the end of one shift and the start of the next. Adult workers whose work is split up over the day, such as cleaning staff, are also excluded from the weekly rest break entitlement. However, these workers must be given an equivalent period of compensatory rest or, in exceptional cases where it is not possible for objective reasons to allow the workers compensatory rest, appropriate protection for their health and safety.