For HR professionals and employees alike, understanding what counts as full-time work is essential. Weekly hours shape pay, benefits, rota design and compliance obligations. Yet, there is no single statutory definition. Instead, UK employment law provides parameters and protections while leaving each business to define full-time hours in contracts.
This article sets out how full-time employment works in practice and explains where law and policy intersect. It also shows how Kelio combines time and attendance software, HRIS and access control to help HR teams track time, schedule fairly and report with confidence.
Key takeaways
- Full-time work in the UK is usually 35-40 hours per week, but the employment contract sets the exact figure.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998 limit average weekly working time to 48 hours and set minimum rules on rest and night work.
- Full-time employees receive paid annual leave, sick pay, pensions, and family leave rights.
- Kelio helps HR teams plan rotas, track full-time hours, manage overtime and create an audit trail aligned with UK law.
What is the legal definition of full-time work in the UK?
Is there a fixed number of hours?
There is no single legal threshold that defines full-time. The law focuses on maximum limits and minimum rest rather than a mandatory weekly figure. Employers define full-time work in the contract, in line with the Working Time Regulations 1998 and related guidance.
In practice, for many organisations, full-time hours fall between 35 and 40 hours per week. This range reflects sector customs, collective agreements and operational needs.
Legal limits and common sector norms
There isn’t a fixed number, but the rules are clear: schedules must not breach the 48-hour average maximum, or the required breaks and daily/weekly rest. Key rules include:
- 48-hour cap: measured as an average over a 17-week reference period, unless the worker has opted out in writing.
- At least 11 consecutive hours’ rest every 24 hours.
- 20 minutes of rest when a working day exceeds six hours.
- Additional protections for night work and young workers.
Sector practice varies. The NHS commonly uses 37.5 hours for full-time work (with NHS Scotland now reducing Agenda for Change (AfC) staff to 37 hours). Many retail and hospitality employers operate at or near 40 hours.
How full-time compares to part-time and zero-hours
It helps to contrast full-time employment with other patterns.
UK law sets no fixed number of hours. Full-time staff typically work 35-40 hours; part-time employees work fewer. Both groups are entitled to the same rights, but pay, holiday and pension are pro rata for part-time staff.
In comparison, a zero-hours contract guarantees no set hours. Shifts are offered as needed and the worker can accept or decline. It isn’t full-time or part-time by default; status depends on the hours actually worked. Exclusivity clauses are banned; workers can take work elsewhere.
How many hours per week is considered full-time work?
Common thresholds (35-40 hours)
Most UK employers regard 35+ hours as full-time. The threshold balances business capacity with employee wellbeing and supports eligibility for benefits connected to full-time work.
Role of employment contracts
When HR professionals are asked to define full-time hours for a role, the employment contract provides the authoritative answer. To ensure clarity and compliance, contracts should specify:
- Weekly hours and working patterns: whether hours are fixed, rotating, annualised, or otherwise structured
- Breaks: whether rest breaks are paid or unpaid, and how they are recorded
- Overtime: how overtime must be authorised, how it will be calculated, and the method of compensation
- Flexible and remote work: processes for requesting and managing flexible arrangements within a full-time role
A modern HRIS solution helps centralise contracts, manage versions and keep working-time policies consistent across the workforce.
Kelio’s time and attendance software and HRIS solution simplifies full-time employment, boosts productivity and strengthens compliance.
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37.5 hours vs 40 hours in practice
The gap between 37.5 and 40 hours usually comes down to whether breaks are paid.
Paid hours equal time on shift minus any unpaid breaks. For example, a 09:00-17:30 shift is 8.5 hours on site: with a 1-hour unpaid lunch, that’s 7.5 paid hours/day (37.5/week), but with a 30-minute unpaid break, it’s 8 paid hours/day (40/week). A 09:00-17:00 day reaches 40 only if the 1-hour lunch is paid. These distinctions affect holiday accrual, overtime, salary benchmarking, and productivity.
Why many employers use 37.5 as a standard
Historically, 37.5 hours has been a pragmatic UK standard for full-time work. It aligns with 7.5-hour day models, simplifies payroll and can support better work-life balance while maintaining coverage.
What rights do full-time employees have in the UK?
Full-time employees benefit from a broad set of statutory protections. HR teams should embed these in policy and systems to ensure consistent treatment and reliable evidence.
Working time regulations
- Maximum weekly hours: An average cap of 48 hours unless there is a signed opt-out; young workers have tighter limits.
- Rest breaks: Minimum 20 minutes when working 6+ hours; at least 11 hours’ daily rest; and weekly rest of 24 hours every 7 days or 48 hours every 14 days.
- Night work: Generally, an average limit of 8 hours in any 24-hour period, measured over 17 weeks.
Accurate time records are essential. In the event of inspection or dispute, HR must be able to provide evidence for full-time hours, overtime, breaks, and opt-out agreements (e.g. clock-in/out logs).
Paid leave, sick pay and family leave
- Annual leave: 5.6 weeks (28 days for a 5-day worker). Employers may count bank holidays within this.
- Sick pay: Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) applies when eligibility criteria are met; many employers enhance this.
- Family leave: Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave apply.
Pension, benefits and contractual terms
Auto-enrolment into a workplace pension is mandatory for eligible employees. Employers may also offer benefits such as private healthcare, life assurance, paid volunteering days, or additional leave.
At a glance: key rights for full-time work
| Right | Entitlement |
|---|---|
| Weekly hours cap | 48 hours on average (opt-out available) |
| Rest breaks | 20 minutes at 6+ hours; daily and weekly rest |
| Night work | ~8 hours average in 24h (over 17 weeks) |
| Annual leave | 5.6 weeks (28 days for a 5-day worker); employers may count bank holidays within this |
| Sick pay | SSP if eligible (employer may enhance) |
| Family leave | Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave |
| Pension | Auto-enrolment if eligible |
How should HR teams manage full-time work effectively?
Managing full-time hours effectively boosts compliance, wellbeing and operational efficiency. The biggest risks include:
- fragmented scheduling
- manual timesheets
- unclear rules about overtime and breaks
Planning shifts and ensuring compliance
Rostering full-time employees across multiple sites or roles can make it hard to respect the 48-hour average as well as rest requirements. Kelio’s scheduling module helps planners assign shifts, apply working-time rules automatically and see conflicts before publishing rotas. HR can lock required rest, restrict consecutive night shifts and ensure full-time work patterns remain compliant.
Monitoring attendance and working-hour caps
Manual spreadsheets miss exceptions and invite errors. Kelio provides real-time dashboards and alerts to flag when an employee nears daily or weekly limits, or when overtime would breach policy. Managers can intervene early, protecting the employee, the business, and the integrity of full-time hours data.
Supporting flexible full-time schedules
Even within full-time employment, flexibility matters. Hybrid arrangements, compressed weeks and staggered start times help with coverage and wellbeing. With Kelio, HR can manage standard full-time employment and flexible working patterns side by side, calculate pro-rated entitlements correctly and keep payroll aligned.
Reporting, audits and record-keeping
Keep records that demonstrate compliance with hours, breaks and any opt-outs. Within Kelio, you can access an auditable history of full-time hours, overtime approvals, leave decisions and any opt-out documentation. Customisable reports help HR respond quickly to internal audits, board queries, or regulator requests. Contract, policy, and people data can be centralised in Kelio’s HRIS solution for a single source of truth.
Kelio made full-time tracking simpler and more reliable. Alerts helped us prevent overtime spikes and improved planning accuracy.
Defining full-time hours in the UK is less about a single figure and more about clear contracts, robust systems, and consistent application of working-time rules. Workforce management software such as Kelio equips HR teams to plan rotas that respect legal safeguards for full-time employees.
Kelio’s time and attendance software and HRIS solution simplifies full-time employment, boosts productivity and strengthens compliance.
