Pursuant to Regulation 12 (1) of the WTR, workers are entitled to unpaid rest breaks of 20 minutes when working for more than 6 hours per day.

Whilst workers may be required to remain at work or in close proximity to their workplace while taking a rest break, they should not be required to perform any duties.

Where an employer has infringed a worker’s entitlements under the WTR, a worker is able to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal.  An Employment Tribunal must make a declaration that the worker’s entitlements have been infringed and may make an award of compensation where the complaint is well-founded.

The amount of compensation is such as the Tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances.

Injury to feelings awards have historically been made under discrimination legislation and have also been available in whistleblowing detriment claims. Conversely, compensation for unfair dismissal and breach of contract does not include compensation for injury to feelings.

The new rates for 2018/2019 are as follows:

Statutory payments for time off work:

Workplace absences can range from childcare responsibilities to work-related illness, however, according to a recent announcement by the Health and Safety Executive, the number of UK workers that suffered from mental health conditions which included work-related stress, depression and anxiety have risen by nearly 10% to 526,000 in the year 2016/2017.

What does this mean for businesses and the UK economy as a whole?

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that mental health conditions account for an annual average of 12.5 million working days lost; a cost to the UK economy of between £33-£42 billion.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, meaning that, in a workforce of 40 people, 10 individuals may experience a mental health condition.

In England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health condition such as anxiety and depression in any given week.

According to the statistics gathered by Mind, 7.8 people in 100 will suffer mixed anxiety and depression, whilst 5.9 in 100 people will suffer from a generalised anxiety disorder, and 3.3 in every 100 people will have to deal with an overall depressed state of being and mind.