Does the Working Time requirement to provide rest breaks apply to all workers?

The right to take rest breaks

Under the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998, adult workers whose daily working time is more than six hours are entitled to a rest break, e.g. a meal break. If the duration and terms on which the rest break is to be taken are not otherwise defined in a collective or workplace agreement, the break must be for an uninterrupted period of not less than 20 minutes. Young workers (under age 18) whose daily working time is more than four and a half hours are entitled to a rest break of not less than 30 minutes. The break should be uninterrupted "if possible". Both adult and young workers are entitled to spend the break away from their workstations, if they use them.

There is no requirement imposed by the Regulations for the rest break to be paid. Payment is a contractual matter between the employer and workers.

Collective and workforce agreements

The entitlement to rest breaks for adult workers (but not young workers) may be amended or excluded by collective or workforce agreements. A collective agreement is one made between one or more independent trade unions and one or more employers or employers' associations. A workforce agreement is one made between an employer and the whole workforce or certain groups of workers, in circumstances where there cannot be a collective agreement. Representatives of the workers must be elected specifically for the purpose of making such an agreement.

The Regulations allow collective and workforce agreements to change the length of the rest breaks and the terms on which they are provided, or exclude the requirement altogether. However, if as a result of a collective or workforce agreement, workers are required to work during a period that would otherwise have been a rest period or rest break, they must be permitted to take an equivalent period of "compensatory rest". Such a period of rest should be the same length of time off to which the worker would otherwise have been entitled. Exceptionally, if such "time in lieu" cannot be taken, the employer is required to take whatever action is appropriate to safeguard the worker's health and safety.

Excluded groups of workers

The requirement in the Working Time Regulations 1998 to provide rest breaks does not apply to:

• workers in certain business sectors, including workers in inland waterways, sea fishermen, seafarers and civil aviation mobile staff (although these sectors have their own rules for rest breaks defined in separate regulations)
  
  
• employment where characteristics peculiar to certain specific services, such as the armed forces or the police, or to certain specific activities in the civil protection services, inevitably conflict with the provisions of these Regulations.
  
  
• workers whose working time is not measured or predetermined, or can be determined by the worker personally, such as managing executives or other persons with autonomous decision-taking powers.

Rest breaks are an entitlement and some workers may choose not to take them. However, the provisions are a health and safety matter and employers should ensure that all workers have the opportunity to take advantage of their entitlements. The employer does not have to force workers to take rest breaks, but it must not be the fault of the employer if a worker does not take them.

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