Holidays and hours at work - Working Hour Regulations

Workers cannot be forced to work more than 48 hours per week on average.
The average working time is normally calculated over 17 weeks.
Workers can agree to work beyond the 48 hour limit. This is referred to as opting-out.
Workers can cancel the opt-out agreement whenever they want, although they must give employers 7 days notice.
Young people (aged 16 or 17 years) cannot opt out of the 48 hour working limit and must ordinarily work no more than 8 hours a day 40 hours a week. There are also special arrangements for rest breaks. Information is given on the Young Persons page indexed opposite.
Night working is specifically dealt with, see indexed page opposite.
Employees are entitled to at least one whole day a week rest and must have at least 11 hours rest between working days, see Rest Breaks section indexed opposite..
Employees are entitled to at least 4 weeks paid holiday a year, see Holidays section indexed opposite..
An employee can make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal if the Regulations are not complied with.

In more detail:

Working Time Limits

The basic principle is that employees cannot be forced to work longer than 48 hours on average a week.

Workers can agree to work beyond the 48 hour limit but must do so in writing, such an agreement can be rescinded by giving 7 days notice.

Working Hours

Working time includes travelling where it is part of the job (but not travel from home to work) and job-related training. Rest breaks are not included.

On-call time is only included when the employee is required to attend their place of work when on-call. Otherwise if they are free to be away from the work place but on-call it is not included.

Calculating Average Hours

The number of hours worked each week should normally be averaged over 17 weeks.

Where an employee is absent on annual leave, special leave (e.g. maternity or paternity), or is off sick special arrangements apply. In those cases calculate the number of days leave/absence apply and use the hours worked in the same number of days at the beginning of the next 17 week reference period.

Opt-out Agreement

If employees agree to opting-out of the 48 hour week they should sign an agreement as follows:

I (name of employee) agree that I may work for more than an average of 48 hours a week. If I change my mind, I will give my employer ( amount of notice in time - up to 3 months) notice in writing to end this agreement.

In Practice

It is good practice to keep an accurate record of hours worked. For most small employers a manual record system with supervisory sign-off is sufficient.

Employers should identify those employees whose hours of work are likely to be near or exceed the 48 hour average. Approach them to establish if they are happy to opt-out.

If not then special record needs to be kept of their working hours. Instead of introducing more administration into the business some employers ask their employees to keep that special record and report if they are likely to exceed the 17 week average.

If good relations exist between employer and employees with give and take on both sides our view is that the effect of these Regulations should be minimal.