Your basic rights at work

There is a legal framework for many aspects of your terms and conditions of employment. This article gives some general guidelines about your statutory rights.

When you start work, you and your employer must reach agreement on :

• your hours
• your pay rate, which must be at least the National Minimum Wage
• your right to time off.

 Not all workers have all these statutory rights. Those who may not include:

• self-employed, agency or freelance workers
• certain employees in the transport, shipping or fishing industries
• the armed services and the police. 

Your statutory rights include the following.

A statement of conditions of employment

A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and an employee. It is binding on both. It can be written, verbal, implied or a mixture of all three.

Even if you do not have a written contract, your employer must give you a written statement of your terms and conditions of employment within two months of your start date.

It should include the following information:

• pay, hours of work, place of work and holidays
• job title or a brief job description
• notice period, sick leave and pay
• pensions and pension schemes
• the organisation's grievance and disciplinary procedures
• any collective agreements which affect your terms and conditions of employment.

If you do not get a written statement, you should speak to your trade union representative and make a formal complaint to your employer.

Detailed pay statement

You are entitled to an individual, itemised, written pay statement (pay slip), at or before the time you are paid. The statement must show: 

• gross pay, before deductions
• amounts and reasons for all deductions such as income tax, National Insurance, pension scheme, union subscriptions
• take-home pay after deductions. 

The pay slip may also show how much you have earned and how much tax you have paid in the current financial year.

All pay deductions must be authorised in law (such as income tax and National Insurance), in your contract (such as your pension) or by your own written consent (such as your union dues). 

Each year your employer should give you a P60, an annual statement of the total amount of income tax and National Insurance deducted from your pay.

Hours of work

There are legal limits on the hours you can work.

• You cannot be made to work more than 48 hours a week, normally averaged over 17 weeks. (With two exceptions: some workers in the transport industry; doctors in training, whose working time limit is 56 hours until August 2009, when it becomes 48 hours).
• You can agree to work longer hours by signing an 'opt-out' agreement. Your employer cannot make you sign this, and cannot penalise you for refusing to do so. You can cancel an opt-out agreement by giving your employer at least 7 days’ notice.
• If you are a night worker (working, usually, between 11pm and 6am) you should not work more than 8 hours daily on average. You are entitled to free health assessments.
• If you are a Young Worker (under 18) you may not normally work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, and you should not work at night at all, except in certain circumstances.
• On-call time is classed as working time if you have to be at your workplace. If, when on-call, you can be away from the workplace, it is not working time.

Breaks and time off

• If you work more than 6 hours at a stretch, you are entitled to a rest break (not necessarily paid) of 20 minutes.
• You are entitled to a rest period of 11 hours between each working day.
• You are entitled to one whole day (24 hours) off a week, in addition to paid annual leave. This can be averaged out to two days (48 hours) a fortnight. 
• If you are a Young Worker you must have a rest break of 30 minutes after working 4.5 hours at a stretch. You are entitled to a rest period of 12 uninterrupted hours in each 24 hour period you work. You must have two days (48 hours) off each week.

Annual leave and public holidays

• You are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ (28 days) paid annual leave if you work full time.
• If you work part time you get holiday in proportion - for a 3 day working week, you would get 16.8 days’ annual leave.
• This may or may not include public holidays - whether you have time off on public holidays depends on your contract with your employer.
• You must tell your employer in good time when you plan to take leave, and your employer can insist you take it at a certain time.

Required notice when leaving

If you are not given proper notice, you may be able to ask for payment in lieu of notice.

If you wish to leave a job you have been in continuously for one month or more, you must give your employer at least one week’s notice (unless you are on a fixed-term contract).