UK rest break rules: what breaks are staff entitled to?
The in-shift, daily and weekly rest workers are entitled to under the Working Time Regulations, the different rules for under-18s, and whether breaks must be paid.
Short answer: under the Working Time Regulations, an adult working more than 6 hours is entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute rest break, 11 hours’ rest between working days, and at least 24 hours off a week. Under-18s get more: a 30-minute break after 4.5 hours, 12 hours’ daily rest and 48 hours off a week. Breaks don’t have to be paid.
The three kinds of rest
The Working Time Regulations 1998 give workers three separate entitlements. It’s easy to think only about the lunch break and forget the other two.
- In-shift rest break. An adult (18+) working more than 6 hours gets one uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes.
- Daily rest. 11 consecutive hours of rest in every 24-hour period — i.e. between the end of one shift and the start of the next.
- Weekly rest. Either 24 hours off in each 7-day period, or 48 hours off in each 14-day period.
You can check what a given shift length entitles someone to with our rest break calculator.
Young workers get more
Workers under 18 have stronger protections: a 30-minute break once they work more than 4.5 hours, 12 hours’ daily rest, and 48 hours (two days) off each week. They also normally can’t work more than 8 hours a day or 40 a week. Worth flagging in your head whenever you roster a 16- or 17-year-old.
Do breaks have to be paid?
No. The statutory 20-minute rest break does not have to be paid — whether breaks are paid is down to the contract. Two conditions still apply: the break must be a genuine one away from the workstation, and it can’t be tacked onto the very start or end of the shift to tick a box.
The sector exceptions
Some jobs have special arrangements — security, care, transport and shift work that can’t easily be interrupted. Where a break is interrupted or can’t be taken, “compensatory rest” of equivalent length usually has to be given instead. If you’re in one of those sectors, check the specific rules rather than assuming the defaults.
Where rotas go wrong
Two scheduling traps cause most break breaches:
- Long shifts with no break built in. A 9-hour shift scheduled straight through.
- Not enough gap between shifts. A late finish and an early start that breaks the 11-hour daily-rest rule — common when someone closes up and opens the next morning.
Both are easy to miss on a busy rota and easy to catch if your scheduling tool checks for them.
The faster way
WagePilot’s rota builder flags shifts that run long without a break and clashes that would breach daily rest, so compliance is built into scheduling rather than discovered after a complaint. New to building rotas? Start with our step-by-step rota guide.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check GOV.UK or a qualified adviser for your situation. WagePilot handles the tracking automatically, but you remain responsible for your own compliance.