Our duty of care to our Bank Members includes providing a safe and healthy working environment. This includes the monitoring of the number of hours worked by individuals.
The law on working time (The Working Time Regulations 1998, also known as the Working Time Directive) sets rules for:
- The maximum weekly working hours, and how someone can work more hours if they choose
- Rest during the working day, week and year
- Young workers' maximum working hours and rest breaks
- Night work
- Special arrangements when there's an emergency or if someone is not able to take their rest
- Holiday entitlement
If you are booked into a shift that would put you in breach of the working time directive, most e-roster systems will automatically cancel your shift. We legally and morally can't allow you to work a shift that could put you, a colleague, or a patient at risk. The Working Time Directive applies to:
- Employees
- Workers
- Agency workers
- Apprentices
- Casual and seasonal workers
- Doctors in training
- Zero-hours workers
To ensure you don't have issues further down the line, it is important to remember the following when choosing your shifts:
- The maximum working week under the Working Time Regulations 1998 is an average of 48 hours. You can only go above this if you opt out.
- Working time doesn't include:
- Travelling between home and work
- Lunch breaks
- Other rest breaks
- The average weekly working time is normally calculated over 17 weeks.
- The average weekly working time is the number of hours worked divided by the number of weeks over which the average working week is calculated. Usually this is 17 weeks for example 17.
- You're entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when your daily working time is more than 6 hours. You shouldn't take the break either at the start or the end of the working day. A rest or lunch break does not count as working time and is not paid.
- You must take an 11 hour break in every 24 hours
- You must take a rest period of no less than 24 hours in each seven-day period or 48 hours in each fourteen-day period in which you work. This is in addition to the 11-hour daily rest period.
- The ‘normal’ hours of night workers should not exceed an average of 8 hours in 24 hours over a 17 week period.
- Night-time is the period between 11pm and 6am. A Trust or Client Services may choose a different period. If they do it must be at least seven hours long and include the period from midnight to 5 am.
If you have any queries relating to the WTD, please use the 'Need More Help?' Contact Form below this and every article. We recommend logging in to see all available options on our Contact Form. Choosing the most appropriate option for you will ensure your query always goes through the the correct team. For more information, see our article How do I login to my NHSP:Online account?
