6. What are an employer's record-keeping obligations under the Working Time Regulations 1998?

Under reg.4(2) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), an employer is obliged to retain up-to-date records of workers who have agreed to opt out of the 48-hour working week. Employers should maintain a list of the names of such workers, and a copy of the opt-out agreements.

Regulation 9 requires employers to keep records that are adequate to show that:

working time, including overtime, for workers who have not opted out, does not exceed an average of 48 hours for any seven-day period (reg.4(1));
young workers' working time does not exceed eight hours per day, or 40 hours per week (reg.5A(1));
night workers' normal hours of work do not exceed an average of eight hours in any 24-hour period (reg.6(1)) or, where the work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, night workers do not work for more than eight hours in any 24-hour period (reg.6(7));
no young worker works between 10pm and 6am, or between 11pm and 7am if the contract requires them to work after 10pm (reg.6A);
night workers (including young workers) have the opportunity of a free health assessment before commencing night work, and throughout employment as a night worker (reg.7).

What are an employer's record-keeping obligations under the Working Time Regulations 1998?

These records must be maintained for each applicable worker for two years from the date on which they were made. A failure to keep such records is an offence for which the penalty in England and Wales is an unlimited fine.

The Regulations confirm that employers do not need to record each worker's daily working hours, provided that they can demonstrate compliance with the limits listed above without doing so.

From 6 April 2026, employers also have a duty to keep records to show that they are complying with their statutory annual leave obligations under the Working Time Regulations 1998. These records must be kept for at least six years, in any format the employer reasonably thinks fit.