Working hours and breaks 


The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) enforce the Working Time Directive in the UK and limit the length of the working day and the working week. 


The purpose of the Working Time Directive is to protect workers’ health, safety and welfare. There are many European Court decisions emphasising the importance of worker safety in this context. Most recently, in Federacion de Servicios Privados del Sindicato Comisiones Obreras v Tyco Integrated Security s.l. [2015] EUEJC C-266/14, the ECJ confirmed that the objectives of the Working Time Directive “cannot be subordinated to purely economic considerations”. 


The WTR cover workers, not just employees (see Chapter 2: Categories of worker). They state that in general, a worker should work no more than 48 hours in a week, averaged over what is called a reference period. This is normally 17 weeks, but is 26 weeks in the special cases listed in regulation 21. These include, for example, those working in security and surveillance, care services and at docks and airports. The reference period is 52 weeks in the offshore oil and gas sector and can be extended to 52 weeks by collective or workforce agreement in other sectors. Employers cannot force workers to work more than these hours (Barber v RJB Mining [1999] IRLR 308). 


The regulations do not apply to senior managers and others whose working time is not predetermined and who can exercise control over it. Junior doctors were initially excluded, but are now covered by the regulations, as are transport workers unless covered by a more specific set of regulations, such as the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005.


“Working time” is defined by regulation 2(1) of the WTR as any period during which a worker is working, at their employer’s disposal and carrying out their activities or duties, as well as any period during which they are receiving relevant training and any additional period treated as working time under a relevant agreement. 


In Edwards & Another v Encirc Ltd [2015] UKEAT/0367/14/DM, the EAT confirmed that in a workplace where a union is recognised, time spent in union meetings in the workplace with the employer’s consent, engaged in union duties, such as health and safety duties or considering a pay offer, is working time. A recognition agreement can be a relevant agreement on working time (see Chapter 5).


Collective or workplace agreements can be entered into to modify the rules on daily and weekly rest breaks, maximum weekly working hours and night work. The rules are stricter for young workers (see Chapter 2).