Factsheet: Working Time - Hours And Holidays - December 2005
UNISON Bargaining Support
In this document:
The trends
Basic hours
Holidays
Other leave enhancements
Government changes
The Working Time Regulations 1998, which took effect on 17 December 1999, introduced limitations on the length of the working day and working week and gave all workers the right to at least four weeks' paid leave (this can include bank holidays). The Regulations limit the working week to 48 hours (with some exclusions) but workers can voluntarily opt-out of this limit.
Recent successes in the European Court of Justice (in the 'Simap' and 'Jaeger' cases) strengthened the regulations by specifying that time spent by workers 'on call' at their workplace is included in the 48 hours, even if they are sleeping. (See the UNISON legal brief "Working Time Directive / Workers On Call"). In addition, the European Union is reviewing the UK opt-out from the 48-hour limit, but it is likely to be several years before this has an actual effect.
Despite the regulations, the number of employees working more than 48 hours a week has continued to rise, with 14 per cent of UK employees now working more than 48 hours per week. The UK is the only country in the European Union where working hours have increased over the last decade, and the evidence of widespread abuse of the opt-out has led the EU to conduct a review of it. The UK already works the longest hours in EU-15, but we are only 10th out of 15 in terms of productivity per hour , according to the Trade Union Congress. The most important point is that six out of ten (2.2 million) long hours workers do not receive any extra pay for the extra hours that they put in, and that unpaid hours are increasing while paid overtime is declining.
The Trends
A study by Incomes Data Services (IDS)[1] found that very few employers had cut working hours or improved holiday entitlement over the past year.
Basic hours
The IDS survey found that the overall average basic working week was 37.2 hours, which represents an average of just over 38.1 hours a week for manual staff and 36.7 hours for non-manual staff.
There remains a significant gap in the length of the basic working week between manual and white-collar employees: two-thirds of non-manual staff work 37 hours or less a week, whereas almost half of manuals work at least 39 hours a week. For manual workers, the most common working week is 39 hours a week. Manual workers do significantly better in organisations with harmonised hours. The basic working week is 37 or 37.5 hours in nearly two-thirds of organisations with harmonised hours.
The IDS study found that 27.4% of non-manual workers, but only 5.6% of manual workers now work a basic 35- hour week. In organisations with harmonised conditions where all employees have the same basic working hours, 8.5% of employees have a 35-hour week.
Average working hours varied significantly between industrial sectors. The lowest average hours are in the finance sector (35.2), with the highest in agriculture (38.8) and mining and quarrying (38.9). Average working hours in the public sector (36.6) fall in the middle of the range.
Energy and Water had average working hours of 36.9, and in the Not-for-profit sector they were 36.4 hours a week. The retail sector had average weekly hours of 37.9.
The main reasons for the changes in hours over the past decade has been harmonisation of white collar and manual hours. As most organisations have now achieved these reductions, the pace of change has slowed. IDS found just six organisations that had changed their hours over the last year, all of which involved cuts in hours for some or all employees. The changes include:
Under the Agenda for Change Agreement in the NHS staff are moving to a standard working week of 37.7 hours a week, excluding meal breaks. Those currently working more than 37.5 hours a week are having their hours reduced over a two-year period. Those working less than 37.5 will have their hours raised in phases over a number of years.
A 'workload' agreement for Teachers in England provides a reduced 'contact' hours and a limit on the number of hours that a teacher is required to cover for absent colleagues. From August 2004, contact time for primary school teachers was cut to 23.5 hours, bringing them in line with their secondary school colleagues. Next year the contact time will be cut to 22.5.
BT has reduced hours for management and personal contacts outside of London from 37 to 36 as of August 2005.
Reduced hours at Clarks International from 39 to 38 hours a week for all staff.
Hours at the National Audit Office for staff outside London reduced from 37 to 36 hours a week.
Holidays
The IDS study found that basic holiday entitlement averaged 25 days across all organisations and sectors.
Holiday entitlement for both manual staff averaged 23.9 days a year and for white-collar staff the average was 24.8. Employees on harmonised conditions averaged 25 days holiday a year.
There are wide variations in both hours and holidays between industrial sectors, from 26.2 in mining and quarrying to 22.9 in construction.
The IDS study found 10 examples of changes in holiday entitlement, including one reduction in annual leave. Examples of organisations increasing annual leave included:
Cabinet Office and Department of Trade and Industry - where staff have seen their holiday entitlement rise by one day taking their leave entitlement to 30 days a year as part of a general move to 30 days for all central government.
BT raised holiday entitlement for managers by one day to 25.
In the not-for-profit sector, Royal Institute for the Blind (RNIB) increased leave by three days to 24 days, and the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust Scottish Water brought leave for all staff up by five days to 26 days.
Level 1 staff at Nationwide Building Society received an additional day's, holiday in July 2005 bringing total leave entitlement to 23 days a year. This will rise to 24 days from January 2006
National Health Service staff have had their 20 different holiday arrangements harmonised as a result of the Agenda for Change agreement. All staff have been entitled to 27 days basic holiday from December 2004, rising to 29 days after five years and 33 days after ten. Staff are also entitled to 8 public holidays, which may be consolidated into annual leave, subject to local agreement.
Other leave enhancements
IDS found that more than half of organisations in their survey offered service-related leave on top of basic leave. Four organisations had added service-related leave for the first time in 2005.
A small number of organisations have formal arrangements for employees to buy or sell holidays or trade them for other benefits. BBC, for example, allows employees to buy or sell five days' holiday as part of their 'flexible rewards' scheme. Employees who cannot use up their holiday entitlement in the year are sometimes allowed to cash in or carry over leave, typically up to five days a year. Some companies allow employees to 'save up' holiday to take in a larger block at a future date. This is often used to allow employees to accumulate holiday for visits to families overseas.
Government changes
All workers are entitled by law to four weeks paid holiday. Because there is no statutory right to time off for public and bank holidays, some employers count them as part of annual leave entitlement. That means that some workers get as little as 12 days paid holiday a year.
In 2005 the government committed itself to implementing improvements to workers' rights agreed at the Warwick forum prior to the last election. On holidays, the government pledged to add bank holidays to the four weeks annual leave required by law.
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[1] Hours and holidays 2005, IDS Studies 808, October 2005
