Compressed Hours Contract UK: Guide for Employers

What this document is

A compressed hours employment contract is a written agreement where an employee works their contractual weekly hours across fewer working days than the standard five. A typical example is someone working 37.5 hours across four longer days instead of five shorter ones, or a nine-day fortnight where they get every other Friday off.

The total paid hours stay the same, and so does the salary. It is a form of flexible working, not a reduction in hours or pay. Like any contract of employment in England and Wales, it has to meet the written statement requirements in section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which sets out what terms must be given to the employee on or before day one.

It also needs to work alongside the Working Time Regulations 1998, which govern daily rest, weekly rest, and maximum weekly hours. The distinctive feature is the working pattern clause, which sets out exactly which days are worked, the start and finish times, and how breaks fit around longer shifts. Everything else, holiday, notice, sick pay, conduct, tends to mirror a standard employment contract.

How to use this document

1. Work out the weekly hours and how they will be distributed. Before drafting anything, decide how many total hours the role requires each week and which days the employee will work. A 40-hour week compressed into four days means ten-hour days, which has knock-on effects for rest breaks and energy levels. Map the pattern on paper first and check it works operationally.
2. Check the pattern against the Working Time Regulations. Employees are entitled to 11 hours of uninterrupted rest between working days and at least one full day off per week. Longer shifts also trigger longer in-shift rest breaks. If the compressed pattern pushes close to these limits, adjust the schedule before you put it in writing rather than after.
3. Draft the written statement and working pattern clause. Prepare the section 1 written statement covering job title, pay, hours, holiday, notice, place of work and the rest. Add a specific working pattern clause that spells out the compressed schedule in detail, including what happens on bank holidays that fall on a non-working day and how overtime is treated.
4. Recalculate holiday entitlement in hours, not days. This is where many employers slip up. If someone works four ten-hour days, a day of annual leave uses ten hours of entitlement, not eight. Converting the statutory 5.6 weeks into hours avoids arguments later and keeps the arithmetic clean when the pattern changes or the person leaves.
5. Issue the contract, get it signed, and diarise a review. Give the employee the contract before or on their first day and keep a signed copy. Set a review point, often three to six months in, to check the pattern is working for both sides. Compressed hours look great on paper but can be tiring in practice, so an honest check-in helps catch problems early.

Common questions