Work rotas law in the UK is mostly working-time law: the limits on hours and the rights to rest that a rota has to be written around, plus whatever the person's contract says about their hours and notice. This page is written for the employer writing the rota, not for a dispute about one, and it quotes the figures from GOV.UK with the date they were read rather than paraphrasing the rule. It covers the maximum hours allowed to work in a day uk employers actually have to work to, which is a rest rule rather than a daily cap, the weekly limit and its averaging period, the breaks a shift has to contain, and what an unfair rota at work usually turns out to mean in practice.
The weekly limit: 48 hours on average, over 17 weeks
GOV.UK states that a worker cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, and that a worker can choose to opt out of the 48 hour week. For the rota that means the number to watch is the average over the reference period, not one heavy week, and the way to watch it is to read the hours per person every week and keep the running figure. Workers under 18 cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, which is a hard daily and weekly cap rather than an average. The free work rota template on this site returns the average hours per person and the headroom under 48.
Rest: the daily rest, the weekly rest and the break in a shift
There is no general maximum hours allowed to work in a day for adult workers in the GOV.UK guidance; the daily limit comes from the rest rule. Workers have the right to 11 hours of rest between working days, so a shift finishing at 8pm should not be followed by one starting before 7am; to either an uninterrupted 24 hours off each week or 48 hours off each fortnight; and to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break in a working day of more than 6 hours, which does not have to be paid. A rota that puts a late close before an early open, or seven working days with no clear day off, breaches those rights whatever the contract says.
What an unfair rota usually means, and what the employer can do about it
Unfair rota at work is what people search when the pattern is lawful but the burden is not shared: one person gets every Saturday, the same person gets every night, or the rota changes at short notice every week. The law's answer is mostly in the contract and in how the rota is run; the employer's answer is a rota with a stated cycle, published on a regular day, with the weekends and nights shared by arithmetic and every change recorded against a named person. That record is what shows the rota was fair when someone says it was not. Whether a particular rota breaches a particular contract is a question for Acas or a solicitor, and this site does not answer it.
Questions people ask about work rotas law
What is the maximum hours a UK worker can be rota'd in a week?
GOV.UK gives 48 hours a week on average, normally over 17 weeks, unless the worker has opted out. Under 18s cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Read the average per person on the rota every week, not just the one you are writing.
Is there a maximum number of hours in a day?
For adults GOV.UK sets the daily limit through rest rather than a cap: 11 hours of rest between working days, and a 20 minute break in a day over 6 hours. For under 18s the cap is 8 hours a day.
How much notice do I have to give of a rota change?
The GOV.UK working-time pages quoted here set the hours and rest rules, not a single notice period; the contract and any agreed policy decide notice. Publish on a regular day, record every change, and check the contract before changing a published week.