Working Time Regulations UK: hours, rest and records

The normal adult limit is an average of 48 hours a week, usually calculated over 17 weeks. Some workers can choose to opt out of that limit, while some roles have different rules.

Do not treat an opt-out as permission to ignore rest or other working-time protections. Workers under 18 have separate limits, generally eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. Check the actual role and category before applying a standard rota rule.

Adult workers are usually entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute break when working more than six hours. Whether that break is paid depends on the contract.

The usual daily rest is 11 hours between working days. Weekly rest is normally an uninterrupted 24 hours each week or 48 hours each fortnight. Exceptions and compensatory-rest rules can apply in certain work, so check the relevant guidance instead of assuming the standard pattern covers every sector.

Look at the end of one shift and the start of the next, especially when cover is arranged at short notice. A rota can look reasonable one day at a time while leaving too little recovery time across the week.

Keep the working-time records required for the arrangement and check night-worker rules separately. A 48-hour opt-out does not remove the separate average night-work limit. Build a review step into shift swaps rather than checking only the original rota.