How to create a staff rota (UK): step by step, with the Working Time rules

02

The checks every rota must pass (Great Britain)

• Weekly hours: no more than an average of 48, including overtime, over 17 weeks — unless the worker has agreed in writing to work more. Keep an up-to-date record of who has opted out (regulation 4).
• Daily rest: at least 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period (regulation 10).
• Weekly rest: 24 uninterrupted hours in each 7 days — or, if you decide so, two 24-hour periods or one 48-hour period in each 14 days (regulation 11).
• Breaks: when the working day is more than six hours, an uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes, which the worker may spend away from their workstation, unless a collective or workforce agreement sets other terms (regulation 12).
• Night work: unless an agreement sets it, night time is 23:00 to 06:00, and a night worker is someone who normally works at least three hours of their day in it. Night workers’ normal hours must not average more than 8 in 24 over 17 weeks, and where the work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, they may not work more than 8 hours in any 24 hours in which they work at night (regulations 2 and 6).

03

Workers under 18

• No more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week — counting work for every employer they have (regulation 5A).
• At least 12 consecutive hours of rest in each 24 hours (regulation 10) and 48 hours of rest in each 7 days (regulation 11).
• A break of at least 30 minutes when they work more than four and a half hours (regulation 12).

04

Holiday on the rota

• Workers with regular hours: 4 weeks’ annual leave plus 1.6 weeks of additional leave, up to a maximum of 28 days (regulations 13 and 13A).
• Irregular-hours and part-year workers, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024: holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, up to 28 days a year (regulation 15B).
• Plan holiday cover into the rota rather than finding it later: with 5.6 weeks off, each full-time person is on the rota for about 46 weeks a year.

05

Records to keep

Keep records that show you have met the 48-hour average, the limits for under-18s and the night-work limits, and keep them for two years (regulation 9). The published rota, with swaps and changes kept up to date, is the base of those records; any format that shows compliance will do.

06

A worked example: a restaurant open 7 days

Open 11:00–23:00, two people on the floor at all times. Two shifts: open 10:30–16:30 (6 hours) and close 16:30–23:30 (7 hours). That is 4 shifts a day, 28 a week, 182 hours.

• The close is longer than six hours, so it carries a 20-minute break; the 6-hour open does not reach the threshold.
• A close followed by the next day’s open leaves exactly 11 hours (23:30 to 10:30). That passes, but any late finish breaks it — avoid putting the same person on close then open.
• Six people cover it: four on 5 shifts (about 32 hours each) and two part-timers on 4 shifts — 28 shifts in all, before holiday cover.

07

A spreadsheet or rota software

• For a handful of people a spreadsheet works; the checks above are what it will not do for you.
• In 365shift you save a week’s shifts as a template, or copy a week, a month or (in the custom view) any range of days and paste it, with or without the same people.
• The minimum-rest rule (11 hours by default) warns on every shift that breaks it, and the maximum-weekly-hours rule blocks shifts above the cap you set.