In a five hour shift walking, standing and lifting am I entitled to a paid sit down break?

[nearlybonkers]

In a five hour shift walking, standing and lifting am I entitled to a paid sit down break? I work for a county council, and the shift patterns are changing next week. In school holidays we sometimes staff public buildings alone or with just 2 people all day. We work with the public so dashing to the toilet is difficult. We are allowed to take water out to the public area. Anyone who talks to a union is considered an activist. Staff like the job, so are frightening to ask what their rights are?

get in contact with the relevant union straightaway, your boss does not need to know that you have been in touch with them. or, on one of your days off, if you can contact the local citizens advice bureau. i am pretty certain that you are entitled to at least 15 minutes paid break per 4-5hour shift. hth xxx

Over 4hrs and under 6 you're entitled to a 15 minute break iirc. I'm not sure what Union you need to talk to, Dh works for the council and is a member of Unison, but he said that it does depend what your role is HTH

Just being looking into it and apparently you're not entitled to a break until you've worked over 6 hours - see here That's a bit of a shocker tbh. I've never worked anywhere that hasn't given you a break over 4!

That's not quite right. If you are working for 6 hours or more the break can't be at the end of the shift it has to be somewhere in the middle.

I work from 9am - 8pm, we get a tea break (15 mins), hour lunch break but the afternoon do from 2pm to 8pm with a 15 minite break. It is legally fine but blinkin hard!

Sorry saggar yes, what I meant was that you have to be working over a shift over 6 hours long in order to get a break - not that you have to actually work the 6 hours first Badly worded by me , but clearer on the website.

extra 'over' snuck in there!