Working Time Regulations 1998
What this means for your business
- Applies to
- United Kingdom
- On this page
- 18 compliance obligations, 4 practical guides across 2 topics
What you must do
18 compliance obligations under this legislation — 2 can result in imprisonment.
Risk assessment 1
Provide free health assessments for night‑workers and transfer them if advised
You must give a free medical check‑up to any adult or young employee before you put them on night‑shift (or a restricted‑period shift) and repeat the check at suitable intervals. If a doctor says a night‑worker’s health is being harmed by night work and you can move them to day work, you must do so. All health information must stay confidential.
Management duties 10
Allow workers to take statutory rest/leave and pay any entitlements
You must not stop employees from exercising any of their Working Time Regulation rights – such as daily or weekly rest, rest breaks or annual leave – and you must pay any amounts they are owed under those rights (e.g., holiday pay, overtime). If a tribunal finds you have refused a right or failed to pay, you may be ordered to pay compensation. Keep your leave and payroll records up‑to‑date to show compliance.
Calculate annual leave for irregular‑hours staff on sick or statutory leave
If you have irregular‑hours or part‑year employees who are off sick or on statutory leave, you must still build up their holiday. Work out their average weekly hours over the previous 52 weeks (ignoring weeks they were already on leave), apply 12.07% to get weekly holiday hours, then multiply by the number of weeks of leave in the current pay period. This gives the correct holiday entitlement while they are absent.
Give workers the most favourable rest, break or holiday entitlement
If an employee’s contract or another law gives them a right to rest, a break or annual leave that overlaps with the entitlement under the Working Time Regulations, you must not give them both. Instead, you must provide the option that is more favourable to the employee. This means you need to check contracts and any other applicable rules before deciding what to award.
Limit night workers’ hours to 8 hrs per 24 hrs and control special‑hazard shifts
If you employ night workers you must keep their normal working hours to an average of no more than eight hours in each 24‑hour day (calculated over the relevant reference period, normally up to 17 weeks). Where a night worker’s role involves special hazards or heavy physical/mental strain, you must ensure they never work more than eight hours in any 24‑hour period. This means you need to monitor schedules, record hours and check risk assessments or agreements that identify higher‑risk night work.
Limit working hours for young workers to 8 hrs/day and 40 hrs/week
If you employ a young person, you must ensure they never work more than eight hours in a single day or forty hours in a week. When a young worker has more than one job, you must add together the hours they do for all employers and stay within those limits. You need to keep a record of their hours and stop any scheduling that would breach the limits.
Prevent young workers from doing night work
If you employ anyone under 18, you must make sure they are never scheduled to work during the night (the restricted period defined by the Working Time Regulations). This means checking rotas, rearranging shift patterns and monitoring actual working hours to keep young staff out of night shifts.
Provide adequate rest breaks when work pattern risks health
If the way you organise work – for example, very repetitive tasks or a fixed, fast work‑rate – could endanger a employee’s health, you must give that employee sufficient rest breaks. This means you need to plan break times that protect workers from fatigue and monotony.
Provide minimum daily rest for workers
You must make sure every employee gets at least 11 consecutive hours off each day (12 hours for workers under 18). Your shift patterns and rosters must be set up so that this uninterrupted rest period is always respected, except for brief split‑up work allowed for young workers.
Provide rest breaks for employees working over six hours
If any of your staff work more than six hours in a day you must give them an uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes, and they should be able to leave their workstation. For workers under 18 the threshold is 4½ hours and the break must be at least 30 minutes, preferably in one go. The exact length and any extra conditions can be set by a collective or workforce agreement, but you cannot go below the statutory minimum.
Provide weekly rest periods for workers
You must give every employee at least one uninterrupted 24‑hour rest each week (or, if you choose, two 24‑hour rests in a 14‑day period or one 48‑hour rest in a 14‑day period). For workers under 18 the entitlement is a minimum of 48 hours each week (or at least 36 hours if it has to be reduced). The week normally starts at midnight on Monday unless a workplace agreement says otherwise.
Payments and fees 2
Pay compensation for untaken annual leave on termination
If you end an employee’s contract during their leave year, you must pay them for any annual leave they have not taken when the leave they have taken is less than the part of the year that has passed, or for any untaken leave carried forward from previous years. The amount is calculated using any agreed terms or the statutory formula and must be paid as part of the employee’s final settlement.
Pay rolled‑up holiday uplift and show it on payslips
If you have workers who have irregular hours or only work part of the year, you must add a 12.07% holiday uplift to their normal pay each time you pay them, and you must show that uplift as a separate line on their item‑issued payslip. When such a worker goes on sick leave or other statutory leave, you must keep paying a holiday amount each pay period, calculated as the average holiday uplift they received in the previous 52 weeks (or the shorter period they have been paid this way).
Offences and prohibitions 4
Cause another person to commit a working time offence
2 years imprisonmentIf someone breaches the Working Time Regulations (for example by working illegal overtime or night shifts) because of something you did or failed to do, you can be prosecuted as if you had committed the offence yourself. You may face the same penalty as the primary offender, which can include an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment. The case can be tried either in a Magistrates' Court or a Crown Court.
Corporate offence also makes directors personally liable
Unlimited fineIf your company breaches the Working Time Regulations and the breach was done with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager, secretary or any similar officer (or a member acting as a director), that person can be prosecuted as well as the company. They will face the same penalty that applies to the corporate offence.
Fail to comply with working‑time requirements
Unlimited fineIf you, as an employer, do not follow the Working Time Regulations – for example by exceeding weekly working hours, not providing rest breaks or night‑work limits – you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you may be fined (up to the statutory maximum on summary conviction and an unlimited fine on indictment) and the case can be tried either in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court.
Fail to comply with working time rules or obstruct inspector
2 years imprisonmentIf you, as an employer, do not follow the Working Time Regulations – for example by not providing required rest breaks, daily or weekly limits, or keeping required records – you commit a criminal offence. The same offence applies if you deliberately obstruct an inspector, ignore an improvement or prohibition notice, give false information, or disclose confidential information. Conviction can lead to an unlimited fine and up to two years’ imprisonment, and the case can be tried in either the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court.
Record keeping 1
Keep and retain working‑time records for two years
Unlimited fineYou must keep records that show you’re meeting the limits on working hours, rest breaks and night work set out in the Working Time Regulations, and you must retain those records for at least two years. You can keep the records in any reasonable format, and you don’t need to record every worker’s daily hours if you can still demonstrate compliance by other means.
Penalties for non-compliance
5 penalties under this legislation. 2 can result in imprisonment. 5 carry an unlimited fine.
Cause another person to commit a working time offence
Unlimited fine and/or 2 years imprisonment
Fail to comply with working time rules or obstruct inspector
Unlimited fine and/or 2 years imprisonment
Corporate offence also makes directors personally liable
Unlimited fine
Fail to comply with working‑time requirements
Unlimited fine
Keep and retain working‑time records for two years
Unlimited fine
Practical guidance
Our guides explain how to comply with the requirements above.
Working time: legal limits and rest breaks
Legal requirements for maximum working hours, rest breaks, and annual leave. Covers the 48-hour weekly limit, opt-out agreements, rest entitlements, …
The complete employment lifecycle: employer responsibilities from hire to exit
A comprehensive guide to employer responsibilities across every stage of the employment relationship, from lawful advertising and recruitment through onboarding, …
Holiday entitlement and pay
Understanding statutory holiday entitlement and holiday pay.
Working time and rest breaks in hospitality
Working Time Regulations explained for hospitality employers including maximum hours, rest break entitlements, split shift rules, night work limits, young …
Sections and provisions
67 classified provisions from this legislation.
Duties 16
- s.6 Length of night work
- s.7 Health assessment and transfer of night workers to day work person
- s.8 Pattern of work the employer
- s.9 Records
- s.10 Daily rest
- s.11 Weekly rest period
- s.12 Rest breaks
- s.14 Compensation related to entitlement to leave
- s.17 Entitlements under other provisions
- s.28 Enforcement Executive
- s.30 Remedies an employment tribunal
- s.37 Crown employment
- Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: ann Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: annual leave accrued while on sick or statutory leave
- Maximum working time for young workers Maximum working time for young workers s working time
- Night work by young workers Night work by young workers An employer
- Rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours workers Rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers
Offences and penalties 5
Powers 3
Definitions 2
Exemptions 25
- s.4 Maximum weekly working time
- s.13 Entitlement to annual leave
- s.15 Dates on which leave is taken
- s.16 Payment in respect of periods of leave
- s.18 Excluded sectors
- s.19 Domestic service
- s.20 Unmeasured working time
- s.21 Other special cases
- s.24 Compensatory rest
- s.25 Workers in the armed forces
- s.27 Young workers: force majeure
- s.31 Right not to suffer detriment
- s.35 Restrictions on contracting out
- s.38 Armed forces
- Doctors in training Doctors in training
- Entitlement to additional annual leave Entitlement to additional annual leave
- Entitlement to additional annual leave under a rel Entitlement to additional annual leave under a relevant agreement
- Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: com Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: compensation related to entitlement to leave
- Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: ent Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: entitlement to annual leave
- Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: rig Irregular hours workers and part-year workers: right to carry forward annual leave
- ... and 5 more exemptions