Enforcement



Enforcement of the WTR is split between different authorities. The restrictions on the maximum working week, night work and work patterns impose obligations on employers and are enforceable by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or local authority environmental health officers, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and Office for Road and Rail (ORR).


Any employer who fails to keep to the regulations is breaking the law and can be prosecuted. Statutory rights to daily and weekly rest periods, rest breaks, compensatory rest and annual leave are enforceable by workers at employment tribunals. However, prosecutions for breach of the WTR are rare.



A claim for failure to limit weekly or night working time or to ensure rest breaks is now subject to an employment tribunal fee. A claim under the WTR was re-designated as a more expensive Type B claim, attracting the higher level of issue fee (£250) and hearing fee of £950 (following the Courts and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2014). The size of the fee is irrespective of the financial value or health and safety implications of the claim. Tribunal fees have resulted in a severe decline in the number of claims of this type.