How is compliance with WTD measured?
Measurement and monitoring of the 48 hour working week should be over a reference period of 26 weeks for doctors (unless a local collective agreement has lengthened this period for doctors other than junior doctors in training). The reference period is 17 weeks for most other workers. For junior doctors in training it is a fixed 26 weeks. Employers need to take reasonable steps to ensure that the working hours of all medical staff are compliant over the agreed reference period. It is generally accepted that continuous monitoring is not an achievable method of assessing compliance, except for individual cases. For junior doctors in training, employers already take snapshot data to measure both WTD and New Deal compliance, by diary-carding over a two week period twice a year. This should measure not only hours worked but that rest breaks are being achieved, and/or adequate compensatory rest provided. The publication “How many hours do your workers work?” by the Department for Business En
