Young workers: maximum weekly hours

The hours a worker under 18 may not work beyond in a statutory week running Monday to Sunday, with no opt-out.

40hours

Primary source only Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 2003-04-06

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

Scope: 40 hours a week for a young worker, with no individual opt-out, and the two limbs of regulation 5A(1) bind independently: a young worker kept to eight hours a day may still not exceed 40 in the week. Regulation 27A(1) is the only relief. The daily limb is Young workers: maximum daily hours; the adult's 48-hour average is Maximum average weekly working hours, a different rule measured a different way.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3128/made (SI 2002/3128 reg 6: "The following regulation shall be inserted after regulation 5-" a new regulation 5A whose paragraph (1) reads "A young worker's working time shall not exceed- (a) eight hours a day, or (b) 40 hours a week"; in force 6 April 2003, reg 1)

retrieved 2026-09-08

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
40	2003-04-06	—	Primary source only	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3128/made (SI 2002/3128 reg 6: "The following regulation shall be inserted after regulation 5-" a new regulation 5A whose paragraph (1) reads "A young worker's working time shall not exceed- (a) eight hours a day, or (b) 40 hours a week"; in force 6 April 2003, reg 1) retrieved 2026-09-08

Receipt

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

Figure ID: employment.working_time.young_worker.max_weekly_hours
Name in the API: Young worker: maximum weekly working time
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·hours·GB·single_source_A
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:dc74c81979cbe841f9d8c515de6c509bfb22630f2f659894f78268030f6e7177
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:b7ef578a6d4a447e923d4103be8af9747ce23a98382d5dd16d538d437d5d1ad0
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.working_time.young_worker.max_weekly_hours"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.young_worker.max_weekly_hours · current only: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.young_worker.max_weekly_hours/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014): the same block insertion as the daily limb — SI 2002/3128 reg 6 inserted regulation 5A whole. Recorded as its own figure rather than half of a mapping because regulation 5A(1)(a) and (b) are separate stated limbs in separate sub-paragraphs, and the probe locates a value in ONE provision: the continuous-employment precedent, and D17(g). Nothing preceded this value.