Working Time Regulations 1998: the eight rules your rota has to follow

What the Working Time Regulations cover

The Working Time Regulations 1998 set the limits a rota in Great Britain has to respect: how many hours a week on average, how much rest between shifts, when a break is due, what is different at night and for under-18s, and the 5.6 weeks of paid holiday. They are the UK law that implemented the EU Working Time Directive, and they stayed in force after Brexit, so "the Working Time Directive" and "the Working Time Regulations" describe the same rules in a UK workplace. They apply to workers, not only employees, so zero hours and agency staff are covered.

Here are the rules in the order they bite when you build a week, with the numbers from gov.uk, and a rota checked against each one. Northern Ireland has its own, very similar, regulations. This is general information, not legal advice.

1. The 48-hour week is an average

A worker cannot be required to work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks. A 55-hour week in December is lawful if the 17-week average stays under 48.

Working time includes training, travel that is part of the job and working lunches. It does not include the commute, unpaid breaks, or time on call away from the workplace when the worker is free to do what they like.

The opt-out. A worker over 18 can agree to work more than the average. The agreement must be voluntary and in writing, can be for a set period or open-ended, and the employer must keep a record of it. The worker can cancel it at any time with at least 7 days' notice, or up to 3 months if the agreement says so. Nobody can be dismissed or treated unfairly for refusing to sign, and an employer cannot force a worker to cancel. Some groups cannot opt out at all: airline staff, ship and boat workers, road transport workers under EU drivers' hours rules, security guards on high-value goods vehicles.

Some jobs sit outside the 48-hour limit altogether: the armed forces, emergency services and police, domestic staff in private households, and roles where working time is not measured and the worker decides it, such as some managers.

2. 11 hours of rest between working days

Every worker is entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest in each 24-hour period. In rota terms: the gap between the end of one shift and the start of the next has to be at least 11 hours.

The rota mistake this catches is the close-then-open. Finish at 11pm, start at 8am: nine hours. Unlawful unless the worker is a shift worker changing shift pattern, or the business falls under an exception, and in both cases compensatory rest is owed later.

3. A day off a week, or two a fortnight

Workers get 24 uninterrupted hours without work each week, or, at the employer's choice, 48 uninterrupted hours each fortnight. This is on top of the 11 hours' daily rest, so a weekly rest day is in practice 35 hours off the rota.

4. 20 minutes when a shift is longer than 6 hours

A worker who works more than 6 hours in a day is entitled to one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break, taken during the shift, not at the start or the end. It does not have to be paid; whether it is paid is a contract matter. The worker must be able to leave their workstation. Being "on break" behind the till while serving anyone who walks in is not a break.

A 6-hour shift exactly earns no statutory break. Six hours and fifteen minutes does. The rest of the detail, including split shifts and what to write on the rota, is in UK rest breaks and your rota.

5. Night work: 8 hours in 24, on average

Night time is 11pm to 6am unless the employer and worker agree in writing on another 7-hour window that includes midnight to 5am. A night worker is someone who regularly works at least 3 hours in that window.

Night workers must not work more than an average of 8 hours in each 24-hour period, usually averaged over 17 weeks (up to 52 with a workforce agreement). Where the work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, 8 hours is an absolute limit for any 24-hour period, not an average. Night workers are entitled to a free health assessment before starting nights and at regular intervals afterwards.

6. Under-18s: tighter limits, no averaging

A worker aged 16 or 17 has separate limits, and none of them can be averaged or opted out of:

• 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, full stop.
• A 30-minute break once the shift is longer than 4.5 hours.
• 12 hours of daily rest and 48 hours of weekly rest.
• No work between midnight and 4am, and usually none between 10pm and 6am, with narrow sector exceptions.

For a retail or hospitality rota this means a 16-year-old cannot do the 4pm-to-close shift on a Saturday if close is after 10pm, and cannot do two 8-hour days with a 10-hour turnaround between them.

7. 5.6 weeks of paid holiday

Every worker accrues 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days for the statutory part. For staff on variable hours it accrues at 12.07% of hours worked each pay period: see zero hours contract holiday pay. Days and hours for any pattern: the holiday entitlement calculator.

8. Keep records

Employers must keep records that show the 48-hour limit and the night work limits are being complied with, and a record of every opt-out, for two years. The rota alone is not that record; a rota shows what was planned. The record of hours actually worked is what an inspector or a tribunal will ask for.

A rota checked against all eight

Take a shop open 9am to 9pm, and Sam, 24, full time, no opt-out signed:

Day	Shift	Check
Monday	9:00 to 17:30, 30 min break	8 h. Break due (over 6 h): yes.
Tuesday	12:30 to 21:00, 30 min break	8 h. Rest since Monday: 19 h.
Wednesday	off
Thursday	9:00 to 21:00, 60 min break	11 h. Break due: yes. Rest since Tuesday: 36 h.
Friday	12:30 to 21:00, 30 min break	8 h. Rest since Thursday: 15 h 30.
Saturday	8:00 to 16:30, 30 min break	8 h. Rest since Friday: 11 h, the minimum.
Sunday	off	Weekly rest: Saturday 16:30 to Monday 9:00, 40 h 30.

Week total: 43 hours. Under 48 on its own, and if the other 16 weeks look like this, the average is fine. Swap the Saturday start to 7:00 for a delivery and the Friday-to-Saturday gap drops to 10 hours: the rota is unlawful for that one change. That is the kind of edit a spreadsheet does not flag and a rota planner does.

The breaches that come up most

• Close-then-open turnarounds under 11 hours, especially in hospitality.
• Breaks not written on the rota, so nobody can show they were taken.
• Opt-outs assumed, not signed. A clause in the standard contract that the worker never saw is not a voluntary written agreement, and the worker can cancel it anyway.
• Under-18s on adult patterns, particularly late closes.
• Night workers with no health assessment offered.
• No record of actual hours, only the rota.

Every one of these is a rota problem before it is a legal one. The free rota templates add up the hours and show the turnaround gaps; the rota planner flags the 11 hours, the missing break and a week over 48 as you type. What each hour on that rota costs the business: the UK employee cost calculator. How extra hours are compensated when they do happen: time off in lieu and shift allowances.

*Sources: gov.uk, "Maximum weekly working hours"; gov.uk, "Rest breaks at work"; gov.uk, "Night working hours"; The Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833). Rules as published in September 2026.*