20 minute break in 12 hour shift!

[MillyMollyMonday]

My DD has just started a new job in adult social care ( in a nursing home).

They are expected to do 12.5 hour shift with only a 20 minute break after 6 hours.

ACAS website confirms that this is legal.

AIBU to not know how people are expected to manage without food for over six hours? I could only last that long without food if I’d had an absolutely enormous meal before a shift (this would need to be before 7am, in my DD’s case).

My blood sugar would be through the floor after 6 hours and I’d be lucky not to faint!

What do you think of this law?

YANBU: the law on this does not do enough to take basic human needs into account.

YABU: I am just being a wimp- most people manage fine without food for over six hours.

Oh and those of you who do this regularly, how on earth do you cope?

I'm not sure that is legal. I work 12 hour shifts and we get 10 mins morning, 30 mins lunch and 30 mins tea time.

I've not infrequently gone 12 hours without food at work when all hell has been breaking loose. The real problem is if you've had no sleep and no food. I remember back in the day doing Friday morning to Monday lunchtime as one shift. If you got neither sleep nor food the first night the rest of the weekend was tricky.

It is legal (10 mins for every six hours worked) but it's hard going.

I guess it isn't so much as what I think of the law as what I think of the employers allowing only the absolute bare minimum

I work in a similar setting and we get 2 x10 minute breaks and a 20 minute dinner.

It sucks and its one of the reasons staff are exhausted and leaving to work in Tesco.

I work a 12 1/2 hour shift in which we have 1 hours worth of break. So 11 1/2 hours of actual work and payment.

20 mins break legal in all that time? Really? I’d double check that somewhere.

Here's the U.K. law

www.acas.org.uk/rest-breaks

That is very unusual - at the home I work at you get 2 x 15 minutes break - morning and afternoon plus an hour for lunch. For a night shift you get an hour and a half to be taken sometime between midnight and 5am. I would honestly look for work elsewhere with those conditions - everywhere is understaffed so it's relatively easy to get another job - and not worth putting up with poor conditions!

Unfortunately it's perfectly legal. You're only entitled to one 20 minute break once you've worked six hours. Any other breaks are at the discretion of your employer.

From ACAS:

An employee has the right to an uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes if they work more than 6 hours in a day.

The employee has the right to take this break:
-away from their workstation (for example, away from their desk)
-at a time that's not the very start or end of the working day

It's up to the employer whether they offer longer or extra breaks in the working day.

www.acas.org.uk/rest-breaks

@BoredOfLooking I just hope that she gets a second 20 minute break as she is over 12 hours…

First proper shift is today so we shall see.

@nocoolnamesleft in what industry?!

For me, doing this (and doing back to back 3 long shifts like this) the answer was to bring in sweets/chocolate/tins of pop or bottles of water for the nurses station for everyone to share and to grab on the way past.

found that actually, most days, I didn’t bother to have any fluids because it meant that I would need a wee and I didn’t have time for that.

Its very very tough. You kind of get used to it though.
Ots s young persons game!

Medicine.

@thelobsterquadrille so she should get 40 minutes as she works 12.5 hours, yes?

Not that I think it's a good idea. I think people work better if they have time to eat, drink, use the loo, sleep...but it's amazing what humans can do when they have to.

12hr shifts are not good for staff and therefore not good for patients either.

they should be scrapped.

This is the legal minimum of course and for under 18s it's much more strict
It's unpaid break unless contract stipulates otherwise

Whether the employer wants to just provide legal minimum break period is another matter, because 12 hour shifts are exhausting and one 20 min break isn't much to recharge

No. It’s 20 mins total if you work more than 6 hours. Not 20 mins per 6 hours.

AIBU is completely the wrong board for employment law advice.

@nocoolnamesleft horrific for you but I’m gobsmacked that a rota like that would be drawn up in the first place! How on earth is that conducive to patient safety? What is the rationale, I wonder

You get used to it.

It's enough time to run for a pee and shovel something quick to eat down.

It's not healthy though.

Breaks are planned on but patients don’t always adhere to them.

@OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide I’m finding this thread useful and interesting so 🤷‍♀️

I agree with PP, you should ask for this to be moved to Employment issues as you'll get more knowledgable replies on there. Unless you just want a moan on AIBU in which case, I think most of us would say yes that's ridiculous long shift with very little break, can't imagine their staff are working their best like that.

It’s not useful when people tell you what they think the law is.

Staff in my care home work 13 hour shifts and are entitled to 2 x 15 minute and 1 x 30 minute break per day. I think it's disgusting and another reason there's such a shortage of staff because they are treated like the lowest of the low

No, she's entitled to one break of 20 minutes once she's worked for six hours - it's not 20 minutes break per six hours worked.