Summary
- A night worker is any worker who works at least 3 hours between 11 pm and 6 am, and employers must offer free health assessments before night work begins and at regular intervals thereafter, regardless of whether the worker is full-time, part-time or casual.
- Night workers are subject to the standard 48-hour weekly working limit unless they have opted out in writing, and are entitled to a 20-minute rest break in any shift of 6 hours or more, though exceptions apply in certain industries and specific circumstances such as emergencies or peak periods.
- Workers under 18 cannot generally work between 10 pm and 6 am, though exceptions exist in specific industries including hospitality, retail, healthcare and agriculture, provided rest break entitlements are still met.
- This article is a plain-English guide to employer obligations for night workers in England and Wales, written by LegalVision’s business lawyers.
- LegalVision specialises in advising clients on employment law, worker entitlements and workplace compliance in the UK.
Tips for Businesses
Keep a written record of every health assessment offer, including the date, whether the worker accepted and the outcome. Check any collective agreements in place, as these may define night workers more broadly than the statutory definition. If you employ workers under 18 on night shifts under an industry exception, confirm their rest break entitlements are still being met before the shift pattern begins.
Night work is a category of employment regulated under the Working Time Regulations 1998, which set out specific obligations for employers whose staff regularly work at least 3 hours between 11 pm and 6 am. The Health and Safety Executive oversees compliance, and the regulations cover maximum weekly hours, rest entitlements and mandatory health assessments. Employers across sectors including retail, hospitality, healthcare and logistics are directly affected. This article explains your legal obligations as an employer to your night workers to ensure they receive their entitlements.
What is a Night Worker?
A night worker is any person who works:
- between 11 pm and 6 am (the ‘night period’); and
- for a minimum of 3 hours.
A night worker can include your full-time, part-time and casual workers. However, you might also have a collective agreement in place that defines some of your staff as night workers even if they do not work during the ‘night period’. For this reason, it is essential to check any collective agreements you have in place to decide whether you owe your night work staff additional entitlements.
Working Hours for Night Work
Similar to other staff, night workers are entitled to the standard limits on working hours and rest breaks.
Therefore, night workers should:
- not work for more than 48 hours a week unless they have opted out of this limit by a written agreement;
- have a rest break of 20 minutes in any shift of 6 hours or more; and
- have a rest period between shifts, which is 24 hours on any 7-day work period and 48 hours on 14 14-day work period.
The 8-Hour Limit for Night Workers
Night workers have a separate limit on top of the standard 48-hour weekly cap. They must not work more than an average of 8 hours in each 24-hour period.
This average is calculated over a 17-week reference period by default, though a collective or workforce agreement can modify this.
Unlike the 48-hour weekly limit, workers cannot opt out of the 8-hour night work average by written agreement.
The rules are stricter where the work involves special hazards or heavy mental or physical strain. In those cases, the 8-hour limit becomes an absolute daily cap, not an average. No averaging applies at all.
You should check whether any roles in your business fall into this category. If they do, you cannot rely on averaging across the reference period to stay compliant. Keeping accurate records of hours worked is essential, as the Working Time Regulations 1998 require employers to maintain adequate records to demonstrate compliance.
Exceptions to the Maximum Number of Night Work Hours
There are exceptions to the rule regarding the number of hours your nighttime staff can work. However, whether these exceptions apply depends on your particular industry. For example, for domestic staff in a private house and those in the emergency services, the rule that limits their maximum weekly work does not apply.
Also, there are some occasions where the rules will not apply, such as:
- where an emergency or accident has occurred;
- where a busy peak period arises, which is standard in the industry;
- in a role where you require your staff to be on-site for 24 hours;
- where an agreement is in place which states otherwise; and
- for staff who work in varied places or travel far from home to work.
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Rest Breaks
As stated, most night workers are entitled to the same number of rest breaks as other staff. Generally, your employees are entitled to a 20-minute rest break in any shift of 6 hours or more. However, there are exceptions depending on what industry you operate in. However, you might alternatively offer ‘compensatory rest’ to your night workers. Compensatory rest should be at least a period of time equal to the additional time spent working and not equal to the length of the interrupted rest period.
Health Assessments for Night Work
Additionally, you must offer your night workers a free health assessment before they perform night-time work.
A qualified professional should oversee this health assessment at regular intervals and could, for example, include a comprehensive questionnaire. You should keep a record of the date of each time you offer a health assessment.
While your staff are not obliged to take this assessment, you should provide it, given that stress levels tend to increase during night work.
For example, this could apply to pregnant women already working at night. In this case, you could mutually agree to remove their nighttime duties and offer a suitable alternative role with the same terms and conditions.
Paying Your Night Workers
Your night workers are entitled to the National Minimum Wage. However, employers will often pay their nighttime workers more to honour their efforts. Increased pay can increase employee satisfaction, particularly where nighttime work is more physically and mentally taxing than working during daytime hours.
Beyond monetary benefits, you should also consider offering a sleep-in shift. A sleep-in shift is where your staff spend time sleeping during their night shift with the sleeping facilities you provide. If they spend most of their time sleeping and only wake for specific tasks, you are obliged to pay them for the hours they are awake to perform them. However, you must pay them for all their shift hours where they spend most of the time working during a sleep-in shift, but can sleep between tasks.
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Younger Workers
Generally, young people who are over the compulsory school age but under 18 cannot work between 10 pm and 6 am. Where a worker is obliged to work after 10 pm, the period between 11 pm and 7 am applies instead. This means that, in general, young workers cannot be night workers. That being said, specific industries are an exception to this. For example, you may require a young worker to work a night shift when no adult can, and you require them to either
- help cover a sudden demand for a product or service; or
- ensure that the service or production can remain continuous, such as where filming occurs.
Some examples of industries this applies to are:
- agriculture;
- activities concerned with culture, sport, art or advertising;
- catering and the hotel industry;
- retail;
- hospital work; and
- delivery of post or newspapers.
Where the exception applies, and you ask young workers to work as night workers, you must ensure that you still comply with any rest break entitlements.
Key Takeaways
If any of your staff are night workers, they enjoy many of the same entitlements as your daytime staff in terms of hours worked and breaks. However, different rules will apply. For example, within 24 hours, night-time workers should not work for more than an average of 8 hours. While you are not obligated to pay your night workers more than the National Minimum Wage, their pay can vary if they are sleep-in shift night workers. In addition, the rules for night workers can vary depending on what industry they work in.
If you need help understanding night-time work in England and Wales, LegalVision provides ongoing legal support for businesses through our fixed-fee legal membership. Our experienced employment lawyers help businesses manage contracts, employment law, disputes, intellectual property, and more, with unlimited access to specialist lawyers for a fixed monthly fee. To learn more about LegalVision’s legal membership, call 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a night worker?
A night worker is a person who works for a minimum of 3 hours between 11 pm and 6 am. Additionally, workers can be considered to be night workers if they work night hours on a regular basis, such as working night hours on most days they work.
Do I have to offer a health assessment to my night workers?
As an employer, you must offer all your night workers free health assessments, which a qualified health professional should conduct. However, your staff are not obliged to take the assessment
Can young workers under 18 work night shifts?
Generally, workers under 18 cannot work between 10 pm and 6 am. However, exceptions apply in specific industries such as agriculture, hospitality, retail and hospital work, where a young worker may be required when no adult is available. Rest break entitlements still apply in these circumstances.
What are the rest break entitlements for night workers?
Night workers are entitled to a 20-minute rest break in any shift of 6 hours or more, plus a rest period of at least 24 hours in any 7-day period. Where exceptions apply, you may offer compensatory rest equal to the additional time worked rather than the interrupted rest period.
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