Understand how to manage issues relating to pay and working time lawfully.

About this package

This package examines how to manage pay, leave and working time within employment law. It connects statutory entitlements with practical decisions about hours, absence, pay calculations and changes to working arrangements. Learners distinguish between rights that protect workers more broadly and those that depend on employee status, qualifying service or other eligibility conditions. The legal content focuses on Great Britain, with separate Northern Ireland provisions noted where relevant. The working time content covers adult working hours, rest breaks, daily and weekly rest, night work, minimum annual leave and additional protections for young workers. It explains why working time and hours counted for minimum-wage purposes are not always the same, and how reference periods affect calculations. Holiday pay is considered alongside working patterns and normal earnings, followed by the effects of short- and long-term sickness on leave accrual and carry-over. Relevant cases help learners examine breaches, enforcement routes and remedies. Family-related rights are explored by separating entitlement to leave from entitlement to statutory pay. Learners compare maternity, paternity and adoption arrangements, then examine how shared parental leave is created, who qualifies and how leave is booked. The package also covers agreed work during family leave through keeping in touch and shared parental leave in touch days. Antenatal care content distinguishes paid time off for the pregnant employee from limited unpaid time off for an eligible accompanying person. The family leave and pay sections use 2025/26 rules for standard birth and domestic-adoption routes. The final part addresses paid and unpaid time off, contractual shift patterns, weekend and bank holiday attendance, and flexible working requests. It explains the difference between a right to request a change and a right to receive it. Learners assess eligibility, required procedures and permitted reasons for refusal, including requests connected with religious observance or caring responsibilities. Particular attention is given to the distinction between a procedurally valid refusal and one that may still amount to unlawful discrimination.

Who it’s for

Suitable for HR practitioners, line managers and learners studying employment law who need to interpret and apply statutory pay, leave and working time rights. It is particularly relevant to those handling workplace requests, checking entitlements or reviewing employment decisions.

What’s covered

1. Working Time Regulations: hours, rest and annual leave

   Examines the scope of working time protection, including worker status, adult hours, rest breaks, daily and weekly rest, night work and minimum annual leave. It also distinguishes adult entitlements from the stricter protections for young workers.

2. Working time calculations and reference periods

   Distinguishes working time for health and safety purposes from hours counted in minimum-wage calculations. Explores relevant reference periods, qualifying remuneration and hours, and protections applying to different workers.

3. Calculating statutory holiday pay

   Explains how a statutory week's pay is established and how working patterns and normal earnings affect holiday pay. It considers why the correct calculation depends on more than an hourly rate.

4. Sickness and statutory annual leave

   Explores how short- and long-term sickness affect annual leave accrual, holiday pay and the carry-over of unused entitlement. It explains why paid holiday rights can continue even when sick pay has ended.

5. Working time and holiday rights: cases and remedies

   Uses relevant case law, including decisions on compulsory workplace attendance during on-call periods, to assess potential breaches. It distinguishes enforcement routes, compensation and recovery of unpaid holiday pay.

6. Maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay

   Compares statutory leave and pay, including eligibility, qualifying service and employment protections. The content addresses standard birth and domestic-adoption routes in Great Britain using 2025/26 rules.

7. Shared parental leave and pay

   Explains how shared parental leave is created from maternity or adoption leave rather than added to it. Covers separate eligibility tests for each parent, curtailment of existing leave and booking arrangements.

8. Work during family leave and antenatal appointments

   Covers agreed keeping in touch and shared parental leave in touch days, including how these interact with leave and statutory pay. It then distinguishes paid antenatal appointments from unpaid accompaniment rights, including qualifying conditions for employees and agency workers.

9. Paid and unpaid time off

   Examines statutory rights to particular absences during working hours, including trade union duties and activities. Learners consider the qualifying purpose, service requirements and whether the absence must be paid.

10. Shift patterns, weekend work and bank holidays

    Explains how contractual terms establish obligations to work particular hours or days. It considers shift arrangements, weekend and bank holiday attendance, and statutory protections for eligible Sunday workers.

11. The statutory right to request flexible working

    Covers eligibility, qualifying service and the procedure for requesting changes to hours, working times or place of work. It distinguishes proper consideration of a request from an automatic entitlement to the proposed arrangement.

12. Refusing flexible working requests

    Examines the eight permitted statutory grounds for refusal, procedural requirements and available remedies. It also considers discrimination protections, including how refusals may affect requests connected with religion or caring responsibilities.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Explain statutory limits on working hours, rest breaks, daily and weekly rest, night work and minimum annual leave, distinguishing between adult and young workers.
• Apply statutory rules and relevant reference periods to calculate working time for pay purposes, annual leave entitlement and holiday pay in practical employment scenarios.
• Analyse how short- and long-term sickness affect statutory annual leave entitlement, holiday pay and the carry-over of unused leave.
• Interpret relevant case law to determine breaches of statutory working time and annual leave rights and identify available enforcement routes and remedies.
• Compare statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave and pay, distinguishing eligibility requirements, qualifying service and employment protections.
• Apply statutory provisions on antenatal appointments, keeping in touch days and shared parental leave in touch days to determine employees' entitlements and employers' obligations.
• Classify statutory rights to paid and unpaid time off during working hours, explaining the eligibility conditions and qualifying service requirements for each.
• Analyse statutory and contractual rights relating to shift, weekend and bank holiday working to determine employers' obligations in workplace scenarios.
• Explain eligibility for requesting flexible working and the statutory procedure employers must follow, including requests connected with religious observance or caring responsibilities.
• Evaluate decisions to refuse flexible working requests against permitted statutory grounds, procedural requirements and discrimination protections, identifying remedies where rights have been breached.

Frequently asked questions

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