Employee rights in the UK: A guide for migrant workers

This easy-to-use guide provides a detailed overview of UK employment law, covering all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship in the UK.

In the UK everyone has the right to be treated fairly in the workplace, but the legislation that ensures this can be difficult to navigate. Some employee rights require a minimum length of continuous employment before an employee qualifies for them, while the actual rights you’re entitled to vary.

There are different types of employment statuses in the UK. For example, if you’re a worker or an employee your rights will be different. All employees are workers, but not all workers are employees.

Before checking our definitive list of UK employee rights, you must understand what your ‘employment status’ is, as this will affect what employment rights you’re entitled to.

Employment Status: Workers and Employees

Workers
A worker is a professional who has a contract or an arrangement to do work or perform services for a financial reward. If your work falls within one of the categories below, then you’re likely to be classed as a ‘worker’ and are entitled to certain ‘workers’ rights’.

• Your work for the employer is casual, not structured, or irregular
• You’re employed to do the work yourself
• You’re not offered regular or guaranteed hours by your employer
• You have very little obligation to make yourself available for work, even though you should do the work you’ve agreed to.  

In the UK, workers are entitled to certain employment rights, including:

• Statement of contract and Payslips
• National Minimum Wage
• Protection against unlawful deduction from wages
• Paid holiday
• Rest breaks
• Maximum weekly hours
• Protection against unlawful discrimination
• Protection for whistleblowers
• Fair treatment for part-time workers
• Statutory Sick Pay
• Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption rights

Employees

Although all employees are workers, employees have extra employment rights that do not apply to workers. You’re likely to be classed as an ‘employee’ in the following cases:

• Your employer, manager or supervisor is in charge of your workload and how your work should be done
• You’re required to work regularly unless you’re on leave
• You can expect work to be consistently available
• You cannot refuse to do the work
• You’re employed to do the work yourself

Statement of Contract and Pay-slip

Within two months of starting your job, your employer is legally obliged to send you a written statement of contract outlining the main terms and conditions of your employment.

In the UK, employees are also entitled to an itemised payslip, which must provide a detailed breakdown of their pay and deductions. This is a very important document, as a payslip can be used in the UK to prove your earnings, tax payments and pension contributions.

Your payslip must include the following information:

• Earnings before and after tax deductions (e.g. National Insurance)
• The amount of any deductions (this may vary each time you get paid)
• The number of hours you worked (if you are paid on an hourly basis)

Although UK employers must provide employees with a payslip, they don’t have to do so in the case of freelancers and/or contractors.

National Minimum Wage

All workers in the UK are entitled to a minimum pay per hour, also known as the National Minimum Wage (NLW). No matter how small your employer is, they must provide you with the correct minimum wage, but the exact amount you’re entitled to will vary depending on your age and whether you’re an apprentice. 

If you’re not sure whether your employer is paying you the correct minimum wage rate, or if you’re owed payments from the previous year, you can use the online minimum wage calculator. 

The Living Wage

You may also hear about the Living Wage. This is a voluntary scheme run by some companies in England and Wales who believe that society is better served when we pay everyone a wage that allows people to live to a certain standard.

Right now there are about 12,000 companies in the UK that are committed to a living wage. You can find a list of them at the Living Wage Foundation.

Protection against unlawful deduction from wages

Under UK law, employers are not permitted to make arbitrary deductions from their employees’ wages.

Your wage encompasses all forms of compensation that are connected to your work activities, including bonuses, overtime pay, holiday differentials, commissions, sick pay, parental leave, etc. 

Some items however do not legally count towards your wages, such as tips, salary advances, pensions and lump sum payments. 

The only lawful deductions that are permitted in the UK are:

• Deductions permitted by the law: Income tax, National Insurance, government laws, etc
• Deductions clearly consented to by the employee in writing
• Deductions stated in the employee’s contract 
• Statutory payments to be made to a public authority
• Deductions incurred due to absence from work following participation in strikes and/or other industrial actions
• Deductions ordered by a court of law or through an employment tribunal decision

To ensure your pay deductions are lawful, you must check your pay slip every time you receive your pay. 

If you believe that the deductions you’re incurring are not within the lawful parameters, you may want to discuss the issue with your employer to see if they have a reasonable explanation. 

Your local union or employees’ association can provide further assistance, and in some cases will act as intermediaries with your employer. If the options above were to fail, and you still haven’t found a settlement with your employer, you can try to recover your money from an employment tribunal.

Holiday pay

Employees in the UK are entitled to time off for annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

Originally, this piece of legislation only gave workers the right to four weeks of holidays each year, but that number was later extended by 1.6 weeks (‘additional leave’).

At the time of writing, workers in the UK are entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday pay every year, which is known as a ‘statutory holiday’.

Although some employers might give employees extra days of holiday (‘contractual holiday’), the statutory holiday is not contractible, meaning that your employer cannot refuse to give you the 5.6 weeks of holiday entitlement every year. Having said that, the statutory holiday doesn’t automatically grant you the right to choose when to take your holidays, as this will vary from one employer to another.

Larger employers in the UK tend to have a fairly rigid set of rules for requesting holidays, which is usually set out in a handbook that is made available to all employees at the start of their employment.

If the rules on taking holidays are not stated in your contract, they will automatically be governed by the Working Time Regulations. Under the Working Time Regulations, the number of days’ notice must be at least twice the number of days’ requested holiday.

Rest breaks

Under health and safety laws, most workers in the UK are entitled to three types of rest breaks: rest breaks during work, daily breaks and weekly breaks. The right to rest breaks applies to:

• Employees
• Workers
• Agency workers
• Apprentices
• Casual and seasonal workers
• Doctors in training
• Zero-hours workers

Workers in the UK have the right to one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break during the day if they work more than 6 hours a day. 

Workers are also entitled to 11 hours of rest between different working days—for instance, if you finish work at 8pm, you shouldn’t start work again until 7 am the next day.

Finally, UK employers also have to let you take weekly rest breaks, which could either be an uninterrupted 24-hour break each week or an uninterrupted 48 hours without any work each fortnight.

Maximum weekly hours

If you’re employed in the UK, you cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average. This law is known as the ‘working time directive’ or ‘working time regulations, and applies to most workers, including:

• Employees
• Workers
• Agency workers
• Apprentices
• Casual and seasonal workers
• Doctors in training
• Zero-hours workers

Average working hours are calculated over a so-called ‘reference period’ of 17 weeks. This means that you can work more than 48 hours over a given week as long as the average number of worked hours over 17 weeks is less than 48 hours a week.

While the figures above apply to workers over 18, employees under the age of 18 cannot legally work more than 40 hours a week, or 8 hours a day. To calculate the exact amount of hours you’ve worked over a given week, you will need to take into account your normal duties, as well as other related activities such as:

• Job-related training
• Job-related travelling time (for example, if you’re a sales rep)
• Working lunches
• Time spent working abroad
• Paid and some unpaid overtime
• Time spent ‘on-call’ at the workplace
• Travel between home and work at the start and end of the working day (if you don’t have a fixed place of work)
• Any time that is treated as ‘working time’ under a contract

Although your employer cannot legally ask you to work more than an average of 48 hours a week, you do have the option to ‘opt-out’ and work extra time. To do so, you need to be over 18 and must communicate your decision to your employer in writing. 

While you can opt out for a certain period or indefinitely, you may cancel your opt-out agreement at any point, as long as you give your employer at least seven days’ notice. 

Protection against unlawful discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 protects all UK employees against unlawful discrimination, meaning that you cannot be treated unfairly in the workplace because of who you are. Under the Equality Act, employers cannot discriminate against anyone because of:

• Age
• Gender reassignment
• Being married or in a civil partnership
• Being pregnant or on maternity leave
• Disability
• Race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

UK law protects employees against three different types of discrimination: direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and discrimination by association.

Direct association occurs when an employee is treated unfairly because they belong to one of the protected groups listed above—for instance, if you’re not given a promotion because of your gender, sexual orientation or race.

Indirect discrimination can happen when job applicants are treated unfairly because they belong to one of the protected groups. 

Finally, you may face discrimination by association when you are treated unfairly in the workplace because of the people in your life, such as your relatives or friends—for instance, if you’re discriminated against because your son is gay. 

Protection for ‘whistleblowers’

Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, employees in the UK cannot be harassed, victimised, treated unfairly, or given dismissal notice if they expose suspected wrongdoing in the workplace. 

This practice is known as ‘whistleblowing’, and covers situations of public interest such as financial malpractice, criminal offences, risks to health and safety, failure to comply with a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice and environmental damage.

For wrongdoing to count as ‘public interest’, it must affect the well-being of the general public and should concern any incident that has happened in the workplace, or that is bound to happen in the future.

Any disclosures of a personal interest do not count as whistleblowing, and consequently will not be protected by the Act. 

For instance, personal grievances such as bullying, harassment and discrimination are not covered by whistleblowing law—instead, they should be reported under the employer’s grievance policy. 

Fair treatment for part-time workers

In the UK, part-time workers have the same rights as those working full-time, meaning that your employer cannot treat you unfairly just because you work fewer hours than your colleagues. 

Under the Part-time Workers Regulations, there is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week.

Part-time workers should get the same treatment for:

• Pay rates (including sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay)
• Pension opportunities and benefits
• Holidays
• Training and career development
• Selection for promotion and transfer or for redundancy
• Opportunities for career breaks

Statutory sick pay

In the UK, you have the right to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if:

• You have been off sick for at least 4 working days in a row
• You earn on average at least £123 a week (before tax)
• You have notified your employer that you’re sick within a pre-set deadline or within 7 days 

An employer might ask their employee for a fit note before they’ll pay SSP, which becomes mandatory once an employee has been off sick for more than seven calendar days.

Also known as a ‘sick note’, a fit note is a statement from a registered healthcare professional giving their medical opinion on a person’s fitness for work.

You can’t get SSP if you:

• Are self-employed
• Had SSP for 28 weeks and the 28 weeks ended within the last 8 weeks
• Were paid Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in the last 12 weeks
• Are in the armed forces
• Are in legal custody, detained either by the police or in prison
• Have an agricultural workers contract from before 1 October 2013

If you’re eligible, SSP will be paid by your employer in the same way as your normal wages, for example weekly or monthly.

You will start getting SSP from the fourth day you’re off sick, and you’ll be paid for all the days that you normally would have worked, except for the first three. As per the new rates that will came into force on April 6, 2023, employers can get £109.40 SSP for up to 28 weeks.

Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption rights

Statutory Maternity Leave and Pay

If you’re a female employee and you’re having a baby, you have the legal right to a year of Statutory Maternity Leave (SML), no matter how long you’ve been in your current job. SML entitles you to 52 weeks off work, but only 39 of these will be paid.

If you’re entitled to SML, you will get 90% of your average weekly wages for the first six weeks, while for the remaining 33 weeks you will get whichever is lower between the following two options:

• £156.66 a week (£172.48 from 2 April 2023)
• 90% of your average weekly earnings

While you do not have to take 52 weeks, you must however take a two-week leave after your baby is born, or four weeks if you’re employed in a factory. Your paid maternity leave can start as early as in the 11th week before your baby is born and if your baby is born early, your leave starts the day after their birth.

While you’re off work on maternity leave, you’re still entitled to all the statutory rights you would normally get, such as paid holiday, protection from unfair dismissal, and any other employee benefits. 

Statutory Paternity Leave and Pay

If you’re a male employee and you’re about to become a father, you’re eligible for:

• One or two weeks of paternity leave
• Paternity Pay
• Shared Parental Leave and Pay

While you’re off work on Statutory Paternity Leave, your employer must pay you Statutory Paternity Pay, which can be the cheaper option between:

• £156.66 a week (£172.48 from 2 April 2023)
• 90% of their average weekly earnings

Statutory Paternity Pay lasts for two weeks, with the employer starting to pay it on a date agreed upon with the employee. Some UK employers might grant their male employees extra days of paternity pay, which is usually called ‘enhanced’ or ‘contractual’ paternity pay.

Statutory Shared Parental Pay and Leave

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) allows parents to care for their child with more flexibility. Parents who are eligible can get SPL in the first year of parenthood, namely within the first twelve months following:

• The child’s birth
• Adopting a child
• Getting a parental order (in the case of surrogacy) 

SPL gives parents the right to 50 weeks off work, 37 of which are paid. The exact amount of Shared Parental Pay that you and your partner are entitled to will depend on how much maternity entitlement the birth parent has taken, or how much adoption entitlement the primary adopter has taken.  

Statutory Adoption Pay and Leave

You may have the legal right to Statutory Adoption Leave if you’ve adopted a child, or if you’re a foster parent and have become their permanent legal parent.

Statutory Adoption Pay lasts for 39 weeks, the same as for Statutory Maternity Pay. You will start receiving Adoption Pay when you take your leave from work, and for the first six weeks, you will get paid 90% of your average weekly earnings. 

For the next 33 weeks, you will get whichever is lower:

• £156.66 a week (£172.48 from 2 April 2023)
• 90% of your average weekly earnings

Statutory minimum notice periods

A notice period is the amount of time an employee has to work for their employer after they resign, are dismissed or are made redundant. In the UK, if you have been working for an employer for at least one month, you must be given a notice period before your employment ends.

The statutory redundancy notice periods are:

• At least one week’s notice if employed between one month and 2 years
• One week’s notice for each year if employed between 2 and 12 years
• 12 weeks’ notice if employed for 12 years or more

While employers cannot give you less notice than the statutory minimum, some may give you more, so you must check your contract to ensure that you’re being treated fairly when given notice. In case you’re the one giving notice, the legal minimum requirement of notice you must give is one week, if you have worked for your employer for one month or more. If you don’t give proper notice, you will be in breach of contract and your employer will be legally entitled to sue you for damages.

Protection against unfair dismissal

Although UK employers are allowed to dismiss people, they cannot do it unfairly. This means that you cannot be dismissed without a ‘fair reason’, as long as you have reached two uninterrupted years of employment.

There are five reasons why a dismissal may be considered to be ‘fair’:

• The employee lacked capability or qualification (in relation to the work you were employed to do);
• The dismissal was a result of the conduct of the employee (such as dishonesty, poor attendance, failure to follow instructions, and which can amount to gross misconduct);
• There was a genuine redundancy;
• The continuation of employment would contravene a statute, for example you need to drive in your employment, but you have been banned due to speeding;
• Some other substantial reasons (“SOSR”). 

Unless your employer can prove one or more of the above five fair reasons, then your dismissal will be deemed to have been unfair.

Some things are ‘automatically unfair’ if they’re the reason for dismissing an employee, such as:

• Making a flexible working request
• Being pregnant or on maternity leave
• Wanting to take family leave, for example parental, paternity or adoption leave
• Being a trade union member or representative
• Taking part in legal, official industrial action for 12 weeks or less (e.g. going on strike)
• Asking for a legal right, for example to be paid the National Minimum Wage
• Doing jury service
• Being involved in whistleblowing
• Being forced to retire (‘compulsory retirement’)
• Taking action over a health and safety issue

The right to request flexible working

Ever since 2014, employees in the UK have had the right to request flexible working—this is known as ‘making a statutory application’.

Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, and includes the following work  arrangements:

• Reduce your hours to work part-time
• Change your start and finish time
• Have flexibility with your start and finish time (sometimes known as ‘flexitime’)
• Do your hours over fewer days (‘compressed hours’)
• Work from home or elsewhere (‘remote working’), all or part of the time
• Share the job with someone else

At the moment, employees can only make a statutory request to work flexibly after 26 weeks.

However, last December the government unveiled its plans to make the right to request flexible working a ‘day one’ right, meaning that the request can be submitted from the very first day of your employment.

Time off for emergencies

As an employee in the UK, you have the right to take time off work to deal with emergencies involving a dependent, such as a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, or someone who depends on you for care.

Although there’s no set amount of time off for emergencies, you’re only allowed a reasonable amount to deal with the urgent problem. For example, you can take time off when:

• Someone gets sick or is injured
• Someone dies
• Care arrangements for a dependant suddenly break down
• You need to deal with an unexpected incident involving your child at their school

While you’re off work for an emergency, your employer may pay you but they’re not legally obliged to. 

In fact, the right to take time off work to deal with an emergency is not automatic: even though an employee is not required to provide advance notice, the right to take leave will only trigger if the employee informs their employer of the reason for their absence ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’.

Statutory Redundancy Pay

If you’ve been working for your employer for at least two consecutive years, you’ll be entitled to Statutory Redundancy Pay (SRP). How much redundancy pay you’re entitled to will depend on your age and how long you’ve worked for your employer.

In fact, you might get more than the minimum amount set by the law (‘statutory’), if it’s stated so in your contract.

If you’re entitled to SRP, you’ll get:

• Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22
• One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41
• One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older

The maximum weekly amount used to calculate SRP is £571 (£643 from 6 April 2023), even if your weekly wage is higher. The maximum SRP you can get in total is £17,130 (£19,920 from 6 April 2023).

Up to £30,000 of redundancy pay is tax-free, while the length of service is capped at 20 years.

Please note that we cannot offer legal advice here. All the above information is based on the Employment Rights Act 1996. You can find a copy of this over on the gov.uk website.

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