Is there a Break entitlement law?

[bencawley]

If someone was to work 8 hours, say 9 till 5, how long should the their lunch break be? And should they receive any other breaks throughout the day? Is it usually the company that sets these break entitlements? Or is there a law?

[chijiki]

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (which may or may not apply to your workplace) state (in part) :

Rest Breaks At Work
Entitlement - an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when daily working time is over 6 hours. It should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end, of a working day.
The regs do not comment on whether the break should be paid or not.

Young or adolescent workers
If a young worker is required to work more than four and a half-hours at a time, then they are entitled to a break of 30 minutes.

[atolhurst]

the law stipulates a 20 minute break every 6 hours is a legal requirement. That could be any kind of break.

There's no law as such about lunch specific breaks but it is best practice to have one.

[madham]

What if though you work on a VDU constantly, doesn't the law state you should take a 15 minutes break after 2 hours constant use (or is it recommended guidelines), my company would be sen to hell if this is the case.

[Sammy Snake]

Regards the VDU work, you should take breaks but it doesn't mean a break as in a tea break, it means you have to move away from the VDU, so you could do filing or the post or something.

[madham]

Sammy Snake - Oh well worth a try