Weekly rest period (hours)

The uninterrupted hours off a worker gets in every seven-day period, unless the employer swaps it for a fortnightly pattern.

24hours

Primary source only Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 1998-10-01

Checked against its sources: statute verified 2026-09-21

Scope: 24 uninterrupted hours a week, and paragraph (1) is "subject to paragraph (2)": if the employer so determines, the worker takes either two such periods in a 14-day period or one uninterrupted 48 hours in the same 14 days instead — an alternative to this entitlement, not an addition to it, and neither figure is this record. A young worker's 48 hours in every SEVEN days is a different provision again (reg 11(3), Young workers: weekly rest period (hours)), and regulation 11(7) says the weekly rest does not include any part of a daily rest period except where that is justified.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/made (SI 1998/1833 reg 11(1) as made: "Subject to paragraph (2), an adult worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each seven-day period during which he works for his employer"; in force 1 October 1998, reg 1(1))

retrieved 2026-09-11

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
24	1998-10-01	—	Primary source only	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/made (SI 1998/1833 reg 11(1) as made: "Subject to paragraph (2), an adult worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each seven-day period during which he works for his employer"; in force 1 October 1998, reg 1(1)) retrieved 2026-09-11

Receipt

Everything above is reproducible and independently checkable — no trust in this site required (how verification works).

Figure ID: employment.working_time.rest_period_weekly_hours
Name in the API: Weekly rest period: uninterrupted hours
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·hours·GB·single_source_A
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:5f1eee4af841e4d553cada3bd452784123d8e3888668a084d0130b5d98dcac1a
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:702d61bf3f06765266766b01fd082464b0d0750526f6a1d8019d63ab3a2c9c26
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.working_time.rest_period_weekly_hours"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.rest_period_weekly_hours · current only: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.rest_period_weekly_hours/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014), and a HOST-STATES one under D18 §2: SI 2002/3128 reg 12 substituted "an adult worker" with "a worker" in paragraphs (1), (2) and (7), and its located span prints no part of the 24 hours, so the amendment touched other words of the provision and not the value. The locator carries paragraph (1)'s own seven-day period because paragraph (2)(a) offers "two uninterrupted rest periods each of not less than 24 hours in each 14-day period" — the same number, a different entitlement, and a token reading only "24 hours" would be evidence about neither.