Fears Britain will tear up 48-hour working week limit

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Fears Britain will tear up 48-hour working week limit in post-Brexit shake-up of regulations for lunch breaks, overtime and holiday pay entitlements

  • Requirement of businesses to report working hours could save up to £1billion
  • Many Tory MPs are likely to welcome the shake-up of the ‘working time directive’
  • But Labour, unions and ‘Red Wall’ voters may not be happy with any changes 
  • Business Secretary has insisted they’re not planning to ‘lower’ workers’ rights 

By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

British workers’ rights enshrined in the EU’s labour market rules could be ripped up including the scrapping of the symbolic 48-hour limit on the working week historically demanded by Brussels, it emerged today.

Other post-Brexit changes may include tweaking the rules slightly around breaks and not including overtime pay when calculating some holiday pay entitlements that guarantee most people 25 days a year. 

The Financial Times also reported the government wants to remove the requirement of businesses to report working hours, in a bid to save an estimated £1billion, and business leaders are said to have been consulted.

The business department is putting together the package of measures with the approval of Downing Street, which if approved could lead to a war with Brussels of Eurocrats believe it breaches the terms of the new post-Brexit trade treaty.

No ministers have signed off on the plans yet and the proposals have not been but to Cabinet. But a number of business leaders have been sounded out on the proposals.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said today: ‘We are not going to lower workers’ rights. We will continue to protect and enhance workers rights now we have left the EU. That is not something that is going to change.  We have one of the best workers’ rights records in the world.’

The government is looking at ways of ‘stimulating’ business but ‘that would never be at the expense of workers’ rights’, the spokesman added.

Commuters head to London as it emerged the Government is looking at changes to working rules it might bring in after leaving the EU

What have ministers discussed reforming after Brexit

48-hour limit on the working week 

By law an employee cannot work more than an average 48 hours a week as one of the EU’s core ‘level playing field’ rules.

Brussels has spent years trying to make it mandatory but many EU members, including Britain before it left, had an opt out.   

By UK law an employee cannot work more than an average 48 hours a week, unless they agree to work more hours by signing a waiver.   

Breaks 

An employee has the right to an uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes if they work more than 6 hours in a day. 

In some cases, an employee might have to take this break in different ways. This could be if something happens at work that’s unexpected and outside of the employer’s control, such as an accident. For example, the break could be taken as 2 separate 10-minute breaks.

Overtime/paid holiday 

A 2017 ruling on overtime and holiday pay means the four weeks of annual leave is a minimum requirement under the Working Time Regulations.

UK overtime holiday pay law grants workers and employees additional time.

The Working Time Regulations are British law that includes entitlement to an extra 1.6 weeks—that makes 5.6 weeks as a minimum.

Many Tory MPs are likely to welcome the shake-up of the ‘working time directive’ although any move to do so is likely to infuriate trade union leaders and could risk alienating working class voters, especially in the ‘Red Wall’ seats the party won in the 2019 election.

The government has made clear that there was no intention of ‘lowering workers’ rights’.

The business department told the newspaper: ‘The U.K. has one of the best workers’ rights records in the world. Leaving the EU allows us to continue to be a standard setter and protect and enhance UK workers’ rights.’

Ed Miliband, Labour’s business secretary, said: ‘In the midst of the worst economic crisis in three centuries, ministers are preparing to tear up their promises to the British people and taking a sledgehammer to workers’ rights.

‘These proposals are not about cutting red tape for businesses but ripping up vital rights for workers. They should not even be up for discussion.’   

After today’s FT story was published, business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has insisted ministers are not planning to ‘lower’ workers’ rights amid reports they are preparing to tear up key protections enshrined in EU law. 

Labour described the reported plan as a ‘disgrace’ and warned it would fight any such moves ‘tooth and nail’.

However, Mr Kwarteng insisted that the Government wanted to improve workplace protections – not reduce them.

‘We are not going to lower the standards of workers’ rights,’ he tweeted.

‘The UK has one of the best workers’ rights records in the world – going further than the EU in many areas.

‘We want to protect and enhance workers’ rights going forward, not row back on them.’

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said labour market policy was kept under ‘regular review’ to ensure businesses had the ‘appropriate freedoms and flexibility to innovate and grow’ while safeguarding protections for workers.

It said in the 2019 Queen’s Speech, the Government committed to introduce an employment Bill to strike ‘the right balance between the flexibility that the economy needs and the security that workers deserve’.