Who is entitled to rest breaks?
The regulations offer protection to ‘workers’, not just employees. Truly self-employed workers who are undertaking an activity on their own account fall outside that definition, but it does cover the majority of the UK working population. Certain workers (such as transport workers) are currently subject to special rules. What rest periods are workers entitled to under the regulations? Each worker is entitled to: • at least 11 hours off between each working day • at least one complete day (24 hours) off each week, or two days off each fortnight • a 20-minute break in any shift of six hours or more. Young workers (aged under 18 but over the compulsory school age) are entitled to shift breaks of 30 minutes when working a shift in excess of four and a half hours, a daily rest period of 12 hours and a weekly rest period of 48 hours. When should a worker be given compensatory rest? In essence, where the employer prevents the worker from taking a rest period or rest break or interrupts a peri
