ShiftLens

Rest between shifts: the 11-hour rule (12 hours for under-18s)

Adult workers have the right to 11 hours' rest in a row between working days. Under-18s should get 12. So if someone finishes at 11pm, they shouldn't start again before 10am the next day, or 11am if they're under 18.

ShiftLens provides guidance, not legal advice. This guide is a summary for England, Scotland and Wales. Some rules have exceptions, and contracts or workforce agreements can change some of the details. For advice on your situation, contact Acas or an employment solicitor.

The rule

gov.uk puts it simply: workers have the right to 11 hours' rest between working days. For example, if they finish work at 8pm, they shouldn't start work again until 7am the next day.

The regulations themselves say a worker is entitled to at least 11 consecutive hours' rest “in each 24-hour period” in which they work. For most rotas, the two ways of putting it give the same answer.

Under-18s are entitled to 12 hours in a row. Their 12 hours can be broken up when their work is split up over the day or is of short duration.

Close, then open

The rule most often bites on a close followed by an open, sometimes called a “clopen”:

  • Close at 11:30pm, open at 7am. That's 7 hours 30 minutes of rest, well short of 11.
  • Close at 11pm, start at 10am. Exactly 11 hours, which is enough for an adult but not for an under-18.
  • On the night the clocks change. Count the actual hours. When the clocks go back in October, a 10pm finish and a 9am start is 12 hours of rest, not 11.

Exceptions for adults

The 11-hour rule doesn't always apply to adults. For example:

  • shift workers changing shift who can't take their full rest between the end of one shift and the start of the next
  • work that's split up over the day, as can be the case for cleaning staff
  • some special cases, such as a foreseeable surge of activity in tourism
  • people who decide their own working hours, such as some managers
  • a collective or workforce agreement that changes the rule

Where one of these applies, the employer should usually allow the same amount of rest later on instead (“compensatory rest”). If you're not sure whether an exception applies to your business, Acas can help.

How ShiftLens checks this

ShiftLens groups each person's shifts into working days, by the date each shift starts, and measures the gap from the end of one working day to the start of the next.

  • An adult gap under 11 hours is marked “Check this”.
  • An under-18 gap under 12 hours is marked “Action needed”, or “Check this” if one of the days is a split shift.

Two shifts on the same day, such as a lunch and an evening service, count as one working day, so the gap between them isn't checked. A very long single day is checked for breaks and weekly totals, not for rest between days. A rota can't show the exceptions above, or rest given later to make up for a short gap.

Check your rota for this

ShiftLens measures the gap between every pair of working days and shows any that are too short, with the earliest restart time that would fix it. It's free, there's no sign-up, and your rota never leaves your browser.

Check your rota

Sources

gov.uk: rest breaks at work; gov.uk: compensatory rest; gov.uk: rest breaks for young workers; Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 10; regulation 22; regulation 21; regulation 24