Working time under the WTR Regulations


Working time is defined as:


• any period during which a worker is working, at the employer’s disposal and carrying out his or her activities or duties;


• any period during which s/he is receiving relevant training; and


• any additional period which is to be treated as working time under a relevant agreement (which can include a contract of employment).


Working time includes travelling time where it is part of the job. It does not usually include travelling between home and work, lunch breaks, evening classes or day-release courses. However, in September 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that time spent travelling to and from the first and last appointments by mobile workers should be regarded as working time.


The case, Federación de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) v Tyco Integrated Security SL, Tyco Integrated Fire & Security Corporation Servicios SACase No. C-266/14, was brought by a Spanish trade union on behalf of workers at a fire and security equipment company. The company was not counting journeys workers made from their homes to customers’ premises that were taking up to as much as 15 hours a week. The Court said that, where workers do not have a fixed or habitual place of work, the time spent by those workers travelling each day between their homes and the premises of the first and last customers designated by their employer constitutes working time within the meaning of the Working Time Directive. Workers in such a situation are carrying out their activity or duties over the whole duration of those journeys.


The ruling is likely to have a significant impact in the UK in sectors such as social care. It affects workers with no “fixed or habitual”place of work and requires a worker’s travel time between home and their first and last customer appointments in a working day to be considered in relation to the 48-hour maximum working week under the Working Time Directive. However, it does not affect people’s daily commute to their normal place of work.