Young workers: rest break (minutes)

The break a worker under 18 gets once the working day passes four and a half hours.

30minutes

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

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

Scope: 30 minutes after four and a half hours, against the adult's 20 minutes after six (reg 12(3), a separate figure) — a longer break at a lower threshold. "Consecutive if possible" is weaker than the adult's "uninterrupted". Regulation 27A(4)(b) gives an equivalent period of compensatory rest where the night-work exceptions require a young worker to work through what would have been a break.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/made (SI 1998/1833 reg 12(4) as made: "Where a young worker's daily working time is more than four and a half hours, he is entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes, which shall be consecutive if possible, and he is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one"; in force 1 October 1998, reg 1(1))

retrieved 2026-09-11

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
30	1998-10-01	—	Primary source only	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/made (SI 1998/1833 reg 12(4) as made: "Where a young worker's daily working time is more than four and a half hours, he is entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes, which shall be consecutive if possible, and he is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one"; 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.young_worker.rest_break_minutes
Name in the API: Young worker: minimum rest break (minutes)
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·minutes·GB·single_source_A
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:5f41208ea7032923a3d6920359d3994a636d3bdc9f065b8844d3378f1e8bf631
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:702d61bf3f06765266766b01fd082464b0d0750526f6a1d8019d63ab3a2c9c26
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.working_time.young_worker.rest_break_minutes"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.young_worker.rest_break_minutes · current only: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.young_worker.rest_break_minutes/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014), and a HOST-STATES one: SI 2002/3128 reg 13 touched regulation 12's paragraphs (1) and (2) only, so nothing has amended paragraph (4) and the 1998 Regulations state the value by their own words. Both documents are hashed into this record and the verdict recomputed at Gate 2. No archived GOV.UK page states it, so the record is single_source_A by design.