Night and shift work



A 2016 analysis of Labour Force Survey figures by the TUC found that the number of people working night shifts had increased by 9% over the previous five years. It found an additional 275,000 people working nights and that Britain’s growing army of 3.14 million night workers now accounts for one in eight employees. The TUC predicted that the numbers will continue to grow as a result of developments including the Night Tube in London and proposals for a seven-day NHS.


The analysis also found that women are fuelling the increase, accounting for more than two-thirds (69%) of new night workers since 2011. Most female night workers are in care work and nursing, while most male night workers are in protective services and road transport.


Many research studies have found that working at night is linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. It can also have an impact on home life and relationships and a 2013 Danish survey suggested a possible link between night shifts and a raised risk of miscarriage. NHS advice is that since the evidence of a raised risk of miscarriage is comparatively weak and limited, they do not recommend a mandatory change to shift patterns. Instead, any change to working patterns should depend on the needs of the individual woman.
Night work can also disrupt successful breastfeeding.



A 2017 Oxford University study concluding that “night shift work, including long-term shift work, has little or no effect on breast cancer incidence” was dismissed as “bad science” by the safety campaign journal, Hazards. After consulting a number of expert epidemiologists, it said that the cancer all-clear was flawed and pointed out that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, has ranked night work as a “probable” cause of breast cancer in women.


Meanwhile, a 2017 survey of more than 1,100 doctors carried out on behalf of the BBC found that more than a third of doctors have fallen asleep while driving home from night shift work, with junior doctors most at risk.


A night worker is defined as someone who works at least three hours of their daily working time during the night time “as a normal course” (Regulation 6). Night time is a period of at least seven hours, including the period between midnight and 5am, as laid down in an agreement or contract or, in the absence of such an agreement, the period between 11pm and 6am (Regulation 6). A night worker must not normally work more than eight hours in each 24-hour period when averaged over any period of 17 weeks (the reference period).



If the length of night work is altered or excluded by a collective or workforce agreement, compensatory rest must be made available. Mobile workers are excluded from the night work limits. Instead, they are entitled to “adequate rest”.



The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2002 changed the definition of night working hours to include all overtime (rather than just guaranteed overtime) in the calculation of average night working limits.



Some sectors (including hospitals, agriculture, retail trading, hotels and catering businesses, bakeries, fisheries and postal and newspaper deliveries) are exempted from the night working restrictions because of their particular operational needs. Work in bars and restaurants is also exempted.



Young workers may not ordinarily work at night between 10pm and 6am (or between 11pm and 7am where the contract of employment allows for work after 10pm).