Working Time Regulations 1998: A Plain Guide for UK Employers

The Working Time Regulations 1998 are the UK law that limits working hours and sets minimum rest and holiday. A worker can't work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, unless they opt out in writing. Workers also get a 20 minute break when they work more than 6 hours, 11 hours' rest between working days, a weekly rest period and 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year.

This is general information for employers in Great Britain, not legal advice. We read each rule below on legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 3 November 2026. Some jobs have their own exceptions and the rules change, so check the current guidance or ask an employment adviser before you rely on it.

What do the Working Time Regulations cover?

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) set limits on hours and rights to rest for almost everyone classed as a worker. Here is the short version for adults and for young workers (above school leaving age and under 18):

A contract can give more than these minimums. The regulations apply in England, Wales and Scotland. The sections below explain each rule and what an employer has to record.

Is the working time directive the same as the Working Time Regulations?

They are closely linked, but in the UK the regulations are the law you follow. GOV.UK notes that the 48-hour rule is "sometimes called the 'working time directive' or 'working time regulations'". The explanatory note to the 1998 regulations says they implement Council Directive 93/104/EC, the EU's working time directive, plus the working time parts of a directive on young people at work.

So when a UK manager searches for the working time directive, the rules that apply to their staff are in the Working Time Regulations 1998, as amended since. Changes that took effect on 1 January 2024 covered record keeping and holiday.

What is the 48 hour working week?

Regulation 4 says a worker's working time can't exceed an average of 48 hours for each 7 days, unless the worker has agreed in writing to work more. It is an average, so one long week is fine as long as the average over the reference period stays at 48 hours or below.

• The reference period is normally any 17 weeks of employment. A relevant agreement, such as a collective agreement, can fix successive 17-week periods or extend the period up to 52 weeks.
• New starters who have worked for you for less than 17 weeks are averaged over the time since they started.
• Leave doesn't lower the average. Days of annual leave, sick leave and maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave are excluded. You replace them with the same number of working days straight after the reference period.

A worked example: over 17 weeks with no leave, a worker logs 782 hours. 782 divided by 17 is 46 hours a week, which is within the limit even if a few of those weeks went past 48.

What counts as working time?

GOV.UK lists what counts towards the 48 hours and what doesn't:

A worker with two jobs should stay within 48 hours on average across both. Some jobs fall outside the 48-hour limit, including the armed forces, emergency services and police, jobs that need 24-hour staffing, domestic servants in a private household, and roles where working time isn't measured and the worker controls it, such as a managing executive.

What are the maximum working hours in the UK?

For most adults, the maximum is an average of 48 hours a week. The regulations set no fixed daily cap for adults, but the 11 hours of daily rest limit how long a working day can run.

Under 18s are different. Regulation 5A limits a young worker to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with no averaging. If they work for more than one employer, the hours are added together.

How does the working time regulations opt out work?

A worker aged 18 or over can agree to work more than 48 hours a week on average. GOV.UK and regulation 5 set the terms:

1. It must be voluntary and in writing

   You can ask a worker to opt out, but you can't dismiss them or treat them unfairly for saying no.

2. It can be for a set period or open-ended

   The agreement can cover a fixed period or apply indefinitely.

3. The worker can cancel it

   They give at least 7 days' notice in writing, or longer if the agreement says so, up to 3 months. You can't force a worker to cancel an opt out either.

4. You keep a record

   Regulation 4(2) requires up-to-date records of every worker who has opted out.

Some workers can't opt out at all, including airline staff, workers on ships or boats, many road transport workers and security guards on vehicles carrying high-value goods. Nobody can opt out of the night work limit.

What rest breaks do the regulations give?

Workers aged 18 and over usually get three kinds of rest:

• A rest break at work: when the working day is longer than 6 hours, one uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes, which the worker can spend away from their workstation (regulation 12). It doesn't have to be paid; that depends on the contract.
• Daily rest: at least 11 hours in a row in each 24 hours (regulation 10). Finish at 8pm, and the next start is 7am at the earliest.
• Weekly rest: an uninterrupted 24 hours each week, or, if the employer decides, two 24-hour periods or one 48-hour period each fortnight (regulation 11).

Young workers get a 30 minute break after 4.5 hours, 12 hours of daily rest and 48 hours of weekly rest. A collective or workforce agreement can change the details of breaks for adults, and some jobs have exceptions with compensatory rest instead.

What are the rules for night workers?

A night worker is someone who regularly works at least 3 hours during the night period, which is 11pm to 6am unless you agree a different 7-hour period in writing that includes midnight to 5am.

• Night workers' normal hours can't average more than 8 hours in each 24, normally over 17 weeks (regulation 6).
• Where the work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, the limit is a flat 8 hours in any 24 with no averaging.
• Workers can't opt out of the night work limit.
• You must keep records of night workers' hours that show the limits are met, for at least 2 years.

How much holiday do the Working Time Regulations give?

Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. Under the regulations this is 4 weeks (regulation 13) plus 1.6 weeks (regulation 13A), capped at 28 days in total.

• Full time: someone working a 5-day week gets at least 28 days. Someone working 6 days a week still gets 28, because of the cap.
• Part time: a worker on 3 days a week gets at least 16.8 days (3 × 5.6).
• Bank holidays: you don't have to give them as paid leave, and you can count them as part of the 28 days.
• Irregular hours and part-year workers: for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, they build up leave based on the hours they have worked.
• Carrying leave over: a worker who couldn't take the 4 weeks because they were off sick can carry it into the next leave year, and must take it within 18 months of the end of the year it came from.

Tracking requests and balances in one place makes these rules easier to apply. Our staff holiday planner shows how Staffic records leave requests, approvals and each person's allowance.

What records do employers have to keep?

Regulation 9 asks employers to keep records that are adequate to show they have complied with the weekly limit, the limits for young workers and the night work rules, and to keep them for two years from the date they were made. Since 1 January 2024 the regulation also says:

• You can keep the records in any manner and format you reasonably think fit.
• You don't have to record each worker's daily working hours if you can show compliance without them.

On top of that, you keep the up-to-date list of workers who have opted out of the 48-hour week. In practice, a record of the hours each person actually works is the simplest way to show the average, and it also answers questions about rest between working days.

How can time tracking help you check working hours?

A time tracker gives you the hours behind the averages. In Staffic, members start a timer in the desktop app, and only that tracked time, plus any manual time added with a reason, counts. Time with the timer off, such as a lunch break, isn't counted, and tracking stops after 5 minutes without keyboard or mouse input.

• The 17-week average: in the Time & activity report, pick a date range of 17 weeks (ranges go up to 366 days) and one or more members. The report shows time worked per member per day and exports to PDF or Excel, so you can divide each person's total by 17, after adjusting for any leave as described above.
• Daily rest: Clock in / out turns each day's first and last tracked session into a clock-in and a clock-out time. Reading one day's clock-out against the next day's clock-in shows the gap between working days. Our clocking in system page shows how it works without a separate punch.
• Holiday and absence: members apply for leave with a date range and a reason, admins approve or reject it, and the Balances tab shows days taken and available for each member. A request counts every calendar day in its range, weekends included. See absence management software for how past absences are recorded with a reason.

In short: the Working Time Regulations cap the average working week at 48 hours unless a worker opts out, guarantee breaks, daily and weekly rest and 5.6 weeks' holiday, and ask you to keep records that show the limits are met. Write the rules into your attendance policy, keep an honest record of hours, and use our guide on how to calculate hours worked if you add them up by hand.