Hourly Rate :
The minimum hourly rate depends on the age of people.
The current rates for the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage are :
-25 and over : £7.20
-21 to 24: £6.70
-18 to 20: £5.30
-Under 18: £3.87
Working time regulations
Workers over 18 are usually entitled to 3 types of break :
♦ Rest breaks at work : Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than 6 hours a day.
The break doesn’t have to be paid (it depends on their employment contract).
♦ Daily rest : Workers have the right to 11 hours rest between working days.
♦ Weekly rest : Workers have the right to either
-an uninterrupted 24 hours without any work each week
-an uninterrupted 48 hours without any work each fortnight
⇒ There is no statutory right to cigarette breaks
They don’t need to work more than 48 hours in a week and they are entitled to 5.6 weeks paid leave per year. Their employer can choose to include public holidays in this total.
Special working conditions for young people
If you are 14 or 15, there are restrictions :
- You won’t be able to work in places like factories or in most pubs or betting shops
- In the summer holidays, you can work for up to 35 hours a week; or eight hours a day
- If you work for more than four hours in a day you must take a rest break of one hour
- You need to take two consecutive weeks of holiday a year, during the school holidays
- You can’t do a job which might be harmful to your health
Christmas
Large shops (over 280 square metres) in England, Wales and Scotland are not allowed to open on Christmas Day. This is regardless of which day of the week it falls on. This means that if you work in one of these shops, you must be given Christmas Day off. However, whether or not you will be paid will depend on your contract of employment.
⇒ We can see that most of the rights and working conditions are almost the same as in France. The largest difference is the hourly rate which depends on the age of people
⊗ Opening hours particularity in Scotland :
Big shops usually open at 9am and close around 5-6pm depending on the day. But small shops open around 8 am and close at 11pm. Workers in shops must be at work 30 minutes before the shop opens because they have to make sure all the stocks are fine, count the money and clean. They leave 30 minutes after the shops close because they have to clean and restock.
