Hours, rest breaks and the working week

Unless the worker has an opt-out agreement or an exemption applies, workers aged 18 years or over cannot be forced to work for more than 48 hours a week on average. The average is calculated by adding all the working time over the reference period. Read more on exemptions for workers who choose their hours.

You must keep records of your workers' hours to show you comply with the Working Time Regulations. You must retain these records for two years from the date on which they were made.

Calculating average working hours

Workers' hours are usually calculated as an average over a reference period of 17 weeks. In this, you should make sure to include:

• work-related training
• travel as part of a worker's duties
• working lunches

Working time does not include travelling between home and work (if you have a fixed place of work), lunch breaks, tea breaks, evening classes, or day-release courses unrelated to work.

Under certain circumstances, the reference period may be extended to 26 weeks. Through a workforce or collective agreement, your workers can also agree to a longer period over which to average their working hours - up to 52 weeks.

Opting out of the 48-hour working limit

By signing a written agreement, most workers can agree to work longer than the 48-hour limit. They can cancel this opt-out agreement whenever they want, as long as they give their employer at least seven days' notice in writing or a longer notice period (up to three months) if one has been agreed upon between the employer and the worker.

Under the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, mobile workers in the road transport industry cannot opt out of the weekly working time limits. There are similar restrictions concerning crews on vessels and aircraft. Read more on exemptions for workers who choose their hours.

Young workers and working hours

Special rules apply to working hours for young people under 18 years old, and these differ according to their age. For further information, see employing children and young people.

Your workers are entitled to regular rest breaks when working. Workers aged 18 years or over should be offered a minimum 20-minute uninterrupted break for every shift lasting more than six hours. This can be unpaid unless the employment contract provides for the rest break to be paid.

You can decide when your workers take their rest breaks, but breaks must not be at the beginning or end of a shift. Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest breaks. You must also allow your workers any rest breaks they need due to any health condition or disability.

Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016.

Rest periods between working days

Your workers are entitled to regular rest periods between working days, in addition to any holiday entitlement. See know how much holiday to give your staff.

Workers aged 18 years old and over should have a minimum of 11 hours rest between each working day, and shouldn't be forced to work more than six days in every seven, or 12 days in every 14.

Exceptions for rest periods

Exceptions can be made for:

• exceptionally busy periods, based on objective grounds, eg, Christmas for retail businesses may be a valid reason
• emergencies
• people working away from home

In these cases, rest periods can be compensated for and taken later. However, compensatory rest should be given immediately after the work period, where possible.

The Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 give all workers the right to 90 hours’ rest in a week. This is the sum of their entitlement to daily and weekly rest periods (6 x 11 hours daily rest and 1 x 24 hours weekly rest). The exceptions allow workers to take rest in a different pattern than that set out in the regulations. The principle is that everyone gets their entitlement of 90 hours of rest in a week on average, although some rest may come slightly later than normal.

When organising rest periods, you also need to consider the maximum average working week, which is normally 48 hours.

Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest.

Young workers and breaks

Workers aged 16 and 17 years old are entitled to at least 30 minutes' breaks, uninterrupted if possible, if they work more than four and a half hours. This can be unpaid unless the employment contract provides for the break to be paid. If they also work for another employer, the time worked in total on any day must be considered when calculating entitlement to breaks.

Only in exceptional circumstances can young workers miss their breaks - and then they should receive compensatory rest within three weeks.

Young workers are entitled to have a minimum of 12 hours of consecutive rest between working days; they must also have two days off every week, normally two consecutive days, and this cannot be averaged over a two-week period. Only in exceptional circumstances can these rules be changed.

Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest.

Read more on employing children and young people.

Certain workers who choose their hours are exempt from the rules for:

• the maximum average hours a worker can work each week
• rest breaks
• rest periods

A worker falls into this category if they can decide when and how long they work.

They may have an element of their working time measured or pre-determined, but otherwise, they decide how long they work. A test, set out in the regulations, states that a worker falls into this category if 'on account of the specific characteristics of the activity in which the worker is engaged, the duration of the worker’s working time is not measured or predetermined, or can be determined by the worker.'

An employer needs to consider whether a worker passes this test. Workers such as senior managers, who can decide when to do their work and how long they work, are likely to pass the test. Those without this freedom to choose are not.

This exception would not apply to workers who are:

• paid hourly
• claiming paid overtime
• working under close supervision
• implicitly required to work

Nobody can be forced to work more than an average of 48 hours a week against their will and this exception does not remove this protection.

Check if special exemptions apply to your business

There are exceptions to the rules about working hours, rest breaks, and rest periods if your workers:

• work a long way from where they live
• have to travel to different places for work

There are also exceptions to cover:

• security or surveillance work to protect property or individuals
• jobs that require round-the-clock staffing, for example in hospitals, residential institutions, and prisons
• some employees working in rail transport
• exceptionally busy periods, based on objective grounds, eg, Christmas for retail businesses
• emergencies

In all these cases:

• you should average workers' hours over 26 weeks, rather than 17 weeks, to find their average working week
• your workers are entitled to accumulate their rest periods and take them at a later date - called compensatory rest

Your workers may be covered by other rules if your business is in one of the following sectors:

• air, road, or sea transport
• inland waterways and lakes
• sea fishing

Mobile workers

There are also special rules for mobile workers under the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.

Mobile workers include:

• drivers - including employed drivers, own-account drivers, and agency drivers
• members of the vehicle crew, eg, a second driver on a coach
• anyone else who is part of the travelling staff, eg, a bus conductor, a drayman, a trainee or apprentice, or a security guard aboard a vehicle carrying high-value goods

Workers who only occasionally carry out activities are not covered by these rules. These 'occasional mobile workers' will need to follow the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 instead.

Mobile workers must not exceed:

• an average of 48 hours per week
• 60 hours in any single week
• ten hours in any 24-hour period, if working at night

Young workers

If you are employing young people, you should remember that there are no exemptions in these industries from the regulations for workers aged under 18 years old.

Read more on employing children and young people.

Night workers

A night worker normally works between 11pm and 6am and works at least three hours at night. Night workers should not work for more than an average of eight hours in each 24-hour period. A night worker cannot opt out of the night work limit; the night work can be calculated over the 17-week reference period, but can be longer in some circumstances. Young workers should not normally work at night, although certain exceptions allow for this.

Where a night worker’s work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, there is an absolute limit of 8 hours on the worker’s working time each day - this is not an average.

Night workers must be offered a free health assessment before they start working nights and regularly after that. Workers do not have to take the opportunity to have a health assessment, but it must be offered by the employer.