Working time in the United Kingdom

Other reforms have included the 28 holiday minimum per year, 20 minute breaks for each six hours worked, and a maximum average of 8 hours work in a 24-hour period for night-workers (the average is usually calculated over 17 weeks, but it can be over a longer period of up to 52 weeks if the workers and the employer agree).

The maximum does not apply to anyone who is self-employed or who can set their own hours of work, as it is aimed to protect workers who possess less bargaining power and autonomy over the way they do their jobs.

[13] The same rules have developed as for the minimum wage, regarding "on call" time, so that people with jobs involving long periods where they must make themselves available, but not necessarily be active, are regarded as working if they are bound to remain awake and close to their workplace.

[14] This created a significant problem for junior doctors, where the culture has typically been in all European countries that very long hours are expected.

The European Court of Justice's decision in Landeshauptstadt Kiel v Jaegar[15] that junior doctors' on call time was working time led a number of countries to exercise the same "opt out" derogation as the UK, albeit limited to medical practice.