Summary of the Working Time Regulations

Working Time Regulations are overlooked by many small business owners but are an important part of legislation that should be observed by all employers. Here is a brief summary to help employers to strike the right balance between a healthy workforce, legal compliance and serving customers.

Scope

The Working Time Regulations were introduced to limit the amount of time an employer can require their employees to work by law. They apply equally to both full and part time workers, and in many cases agency workers and freelancers, although there are a number of exemptions. The regulations set limits for:

• Number of hours worked in the working week
• Minimum entitlement for paid leave
• Night working, young workers and health assessments

Summary

The Working Time Regulations give the employee the following rights:

1. To work no more than 48 hours per week on an average week (note that employees can choose to opt out of this)
2. An entitlement to at east 5.6 weeks’ of paid leave per year, being 28 days for a full time employee (the same calculation is made for part time workers, for example for someone who works 3 days per week their holiday is calculated as 3 x 5.6 = 16.8 days)
3. At least a 20 minute rest break if an employee’s working day is longer than 6 hours
4. At least 11 consecutive hours of rest during any one 24 hour period
5. At least 1 rest day per week
6. For night workers to work no more than 8 hours in any 24 hour period on average
7. An entitlement for night workers to receive regular health assessments

Also a number of special regulations apply for young workers. ACAS provide a helpful and exhaustive 60-page information booklet detailing everything an employer needs to know about the Working Time Regulations. Click here to download a free copy.

For an example employment agreement detailing all the typical terms of employment, you can download an employment contract template on our website for just £5.99.