Right to switch off

The UK has no legal right to disconnect from work, as of October 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not include one, and the government’s implementation timeline does not list one. The working time rules still apply: a 48-hour average weekly limit unless you opt out, 11 hours’ rest between working days, and a weekly rest period. Beyond that, how often you are contacted out of hours depends on your contract, any on-call arrangements and your employer’s policies.

The current legal position

A right to switch off was discussed before the Employment Rights Act 2025 was drafted, but it did not make it into the Act. The Department for Business and Trade’s timeline of measures coming into force through 2027 contains no right to disconnect. Introducing one would need new legislation or a statutory code.

Your employer is allowed to contact you outside your hours. The useful questions are whether you have to respond, and whether time spent responding counts as work.

What the working time rules already give you

The Working Time Regulations 1998 apply to employees and workers. In outline:

Rule	What it means
Weekly limit	Average 48 hours a week over 17 weeks, unless you opt out in writing
Daily rest	11 hours’ rest between working days
Weekly rest	24 hours off each week, or 48 hours each fortnight
Rest break	20 minutes if you work more than 6 hours
Night work	Average no more than 8 hours in 24

Answering emails, taking calls or doing tasks at home is working time if you are working, at your employer’s disposal and carrying out your duties. Regular out-of-hours work can eat into your rest periods and add to your weekly average. Our guide to rest breaks and working time has the full rules.

On call and standby

Many public sector staff are formally on call, including doctors, some nurses and allied health professionals, social workers on emergency duty teams, estates staff and some council officers. On call is different from being casually contactable. It should be agreed in your contract, and it is paid or compensated under national or local agreements.

Whether on-call time counts as working time depends on how much it restricts you. If you have to stay at the workplace, it usually counts in full. If you can be at home and only need to respond within a reasonable time, it may only count when you are actually called.

If you are not on call and not paid for availability, your employer cannot normally require you to be contactable.

Public sector policies

Several public employers have adopted out-of-hours email and messaging guidance, especially since remote working became common. The approaches vary:

• Some schools and academy trusts have workload charters or staff wellbeing policies that set times when emails should not be sent or expected to be answered.
• Some NHS trusts and councils set expectations in their agile or hybrid working policies.
• Some employers, including some Civil Service teams, encourage scheduled sending and email signatures saying no reply is expected outside the recipient’s working hours.

These are policies, and they can be changed. They are still useful when you raise a concern, because your employer is expected to follow its own.

Teachers in England have a specific framework. Directed time is capped at 1,265 hours over 195 days for full-time classroom teachers, though work outside directed time is still expected. See teacher workload.

How to set limits

If out-of-hours contact is a problem, there are practical steps:

1. Check your contract, job description and any on-call agreement to see what you have actually agreed to.
2. Turn off notifications outside your hours and set an out-of-office message if needed.
3. Raise it with your manager, ideally with examples, and ask for agreed expectations for the team.
4. If it continues, put it in writing and refer to your employer’s wellbeing or workload policy.
5. Involve your union rep if several colleagues are affected.

If you regularly work beyond your contracted hours, a flexible working request can formalise a pattern that works for you. If the volume of work is making you unwell, ask for an occupational health referral and a stress risk assessment.

Stress and burnout

Constant availability is a known contributor to stress. Your employer has a duty to assess the risk of work-related stress like any other health and safety risk. If out-of-hours demands are affecting your health, speak to your GP and occupational health. Our guide to burnout in public sector jobs covers the signs and where to get support.

If the rules on rest or weekly hours are being breached and your employer will not deal with it, ACAS can explain your options, and your union can raise it as a health and safety or working time issue. Future changes to employment law will appear on the government timeline, and our Employment Rights Act 2025 guide is kept up to date with it.