Paid holidays

Regulations 13 and 13A create a right to paid annual leave of 28 days, expressed as "four weeks" and an additional "1.6 weeks" (including bank holidays and public holidays).^[4][5] In the Working Time Directive article 7 refers to paid annual leave of "at least four weeks", and under article 5 states that the "weekly rest period" means a "seven-day period". When the Directive was implemented in the UK, regulation 13 originally stated "four weeks" but many employers only gave their workers four five-day periods of leave (i.e. 20 days). In response the UK government amended the regulations in 2007 to add the further 1.6 week period,^[6] bringing the minimum in line with the European Union requirement for four full weeks (i.e. 28 days).^[7] However, this confusion led to the argument that the UK had gone beyond the minimum standards required by the Working Time Directive 2003, even though no country in the EU has a right to fewer holidays than 28 days.

Rest periods

Regulation 10 creates the right to a minimum period of rest of 20 minutes in any shift lasting over 6 hours. Under 18's are entitled to a 30 minute break for every 4.5 hours worked.

Weekly working time

Regulations 4-5 set a default rule that workers may work no more than 48 hours per week and employers are required to do everything reasonable to ensure limits are not broken.

There are however, numerous exceptions to the universal rule. It does not apply to some limited specific sectors. Moreover, “autonomous workers”, which according to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, following European Union interpretation and case law, are defined as those with “total control” of both the duration and scheduling of work, are also excluded.^[8] Any individual can also voluntarily opt out of the Health and Safety Protection of the maximum working week.

ECJ case law has confirmed that statutory holiday will continue to accrue during career breaks or sabbaticals.^[9]