Hours of work

In the UK there is a 48 hour week which applies for over 18’s. This is the normal maximum amount of hours you can work per week. As well as your regular duties the 48 hours include: As well as carrying out your normal duties, your working week includes:

• job-related training
• job-related travelling time, for example, if you are a sales rep
• working lunches, for example business lunches
• time spent working abroad, if you work for a UK-based company
• paid and some unpaid overtime
• time spent 'on-call' at the workplace

However the 48 hour week does not include:

• breaks when no work is done, such as lunch breaks
• normal travel to and from work
• time when you are 'on call' away from the workplace
• evening and day-release classes not related to work
• travelling outside of normal working hours
• unpaid overtime that you have volunteered for, so for example, staying late to finish something off
• paid or unpaid holiday

You are entitled to work over the 48 hours if you would like. The agreement to do this must be in writing i.e. a letter and given to your employer. Something like the example below is perfectly acceptable. If you would ever like to opt out of the agreement even if it is written in your contract you can give anywhere between 1 week and 3 months notice. If no amount of notice is stated then it is automatically 1 week.

Example
I (name) agree that I may work for more than an average of 48 hours a week. If I change my mind, I will give my employer (amount of time) notice in writing to end this agreement.
Signed……........................................
Dated………..................................

Rest Breaks
You are legally entitled to:

• at least a 20 minute break if you are working over a 6 hour period.
• 11 hours of uninterrupted break between each working day.
• Either an uninterrupted break of24 hours per week or 48 hours per fortnight.

The UK government website on working hours has a lot more information on working hours including night work and Sunday work.