Drivers' hours
New EU drivers' hours rules - weekly rest
Background
A new European regulation (Regulation 561/2006) replaces Council Regulation 3820/85 on drivers' hours from 11 April 2007. Many areas of the rules, including the scope, definitions, liabilities, responsibilities as well as the hours rules themselves are changing. Full details of all the changes can be found in the FTA EU drivers' hours changes compliance guide. This briefing note aims to cover the interpretation of a very specific change to the rules on weekly rest.
The new rules on weekly rest
| 1 | A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period |
| 2 | In any two consecutive weeks* a driver shall take at least: |
| 3 | A weekly rest period that falls in two weeks may be counted in either week*, but not in both |
| 4 | Any reductions shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest taken en bloc before the end of the third week* following the week* in which the reduction occurred. Rest taken as compensation shall be attached to another rest period of at least nine hours |
* Note: a week is defined as the period of time between 00.00 on Monday and 24.00 on Sunday
Although all the rules above must be complied with, rule number 2 represents the most significant change in relation to the long-term planning of drivers' rotas. When looking at certain shift patterns, this rule together with rule 3 can cause confusion, and this note aims to explain how the two rules must be viewed together.
Examples
The issue of looking at rules 2 and 3 together needs to be especially considered when looking at certain rotas and this is shown in the following examples.
Example 1 6-on, 2-off - Illegal
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In the example above, a driver works a 6-days-on, 2-days-off rota. The days off are shown in red and the weekly rest always starts at 3pm the day before and finishes at 6am the day after. The final two columns in the table above show a check to ensure that rule 2 has been complied with - that the driver has taken at least two weekly rests in any two consecutive weeks. Two columns are needed to check these rules as it must be done on a rolling basis.
Although the driver takes a weekly rest of 63 hours every eight days, the shift pattern falls into difficulties when considering the two consecutive week period of weeks 6 and 7, followed by the two-weekly period of weeks 8 and 9 (week 9 being a repeat of week 1). Weekly rest G is a rest period which starts in week 7 and finishes in week 8 and may be counted in either of those weeks, but not in both. When looking for a minimum of two weekly rests in weeks 6 and 7 (in the final column), weekly rests F and G satisfy this rule. However, when looking at weeks 8 and 9, because rest G has already been counted in week 7, it may not be counted in week 8. This means that, when looking at the two-weekly period of weeks 8 and 9, only one weekly rest (rest H) can be counted.
Example 2 6-on, 2-off - Legal
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In the example above, the illegal rota of example 3 has been rectified by adding an extra weekly rest of 39 hours in week 8 (rest H). This 6-hour reduction is immediately compensated in weekly rest I.
Weekly rest H is shown as reduced weekly rest of 39 hours' long. This six-hour reduction must be compensated en bloc by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduction occurred. The compensation must be added to another period of rest of at least nine hours' long. This compensation occurs in rest I, which is 63 hours' long (57 hours of rest plus six hours of compensation).
Example 3 Sunday off - Illegal
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In this example above, although there are always two weekly rest periods in each consecutive two-weekly period, the difficulty occurs when looking for one of those weekly rests to be at least 45 hours' long.
For weeks 1 and 2, weekly rest B has been counted in week 2, which means that when looking at weeks 3 and 4 it cannot also be counted in week 3. This only leaves rests C and D for weeks 3 and 4, neither of which are a minimum of 45 hours.
An example of a solution to this problem is shown in example 4 below.
Example 4 Sunday off - Legal
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In this example above, the example 3 pattern has been re-arranged to use the usual Sunday off to form the basis of the rota, without the need to double-count any weekly rests. However, the disadvantage of this pattern is that the days off are not spread across the week - they are always either on a Monday or Saturday.
Weekly rests A, C, E and G are shown as reduced weekly rests (less than 45 hours' long). These reductions must be compensated en bloc by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduction occurred. The compensation must be added to another period of rest of at least nine hours' long.
Example 5 below shows another possible solution to the problem in example 3.
Example 5 Sunday off - Legal
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The above pattern is a variation on example 4 - spreading the days off more evenly over the week. This provides a more flexible pattern option when scheduling rota-based drivers.
Weekly rests A, C, E, F, H, J, L, M and O are shown as reduced weekly rests (less than 45 hours' long). These reductions must be compensated en bloc by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduction occurred. The compensation must be added to another period of rest of at least nine hours' long.
Rest periods of at least 69 hours' long
The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed the view that periods of at least 69 hours of uninterrupted rest may be counted as two qualifying rest periods (for example, 45 hours plus 24 hours), provided the driver in question does not exceed six days work either before or after the rest period and all other conditions are met.
Further information
For further help and advice, member of FTA should contact the Member Advice Centre on 0870 60 50 000.
© January 2007
