Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer on 24 April 2023 to Question 180639 on Health: Working Hours, what is meant by a regular basis in the context of the working time regulations; what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of health checks on a regular basis by employers of night workers; and whether her Department plans to amend the working time regulations to define what a regular basis is for health checks.

The Working Time Regulations provide specific protections to night workers. Before someone starts working at night, they must be offered a free health assessment to see if they are fit to work nights before they become a night worker and on a regular basis after that. Regulation 7(1)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 states “An employer… shall ensure that each night worker employed by him has the opportunity of a free health assessment at regular intervals of whatever duration may be appropriate in his case.”

We are consulting on proposals to improve how the Working Time Regulations 1998 operate without impacting the rights that really matter to workers.