Clocks go back on 25 October: do night workers get extra pay?

The clocks going back can mean another hour in bed. If you work nights, it can mean another hour on the ward, the warehouse floor or a security round. At 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026, the clocks return to 1am. A 10pm to 6am shift becomes nine hours. Before you work it, ask how payroll will count it. An unchanged rota does not mean an unchanged night.

Do this before 25 October

A shift wholly before or wholly after the change does not gain an hour. The longer night affects you if you work through the change.

What actually happens at 2am

GOV.UK confirms the change at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026. It applies across the UK, including Northern Ireland. The Summer Time Act 1972 provides the statutory framework. It does not create an entitlement to extra pay.

A 10pm to 6am care shift, hospital clean or bakery night lasts eight hours ordinarily and nine that night. A 7pm to 7am security shift lasts 13 hours instead of 12. Those are elapsed times. The pay examples below assume you work throughout, with no unpaid rest break. For hourly-paid work, genuine rest breaks normally do not count towards minimum-wage hours. Being required to remain available for work is different.

Your contract decides the pay. The law sets the floor.

There is no statutory right to overtime pay, and no statutory night premium. Your contract, any contractual handbook terms and a collective agreement can give you more. Check whether you are paid per hour, per shift or by salary, and whether there is a Sunday or night rate. The extra hour falls on a Sunday, but any Sunday uplift depends on the wording of your terms. Our overtime pay guide explains the distinction.

There are two separate checks. First, did the employer pay what your contract promises? If you are entitled to payment for each hour worked, omitting the repeated hour can be an unlawful deduction from wages. Being above the minimum wage does not excuse missing contractual pay.

Second, did the pay meet the minimum-wage rules? A fixed fee or salary can cover a longer shift without extra contractual pay, but “no overtime” cannot authorise payment below the legal minimum. Passing one check does not settle the other.

One unpaid hour can make the whole period unlawful

The rates from 1 April 2026 are £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s who have reached school leaving age. The apprentice rate is £8.00 if you are under 19, or aged 19 or over in your first apprenticeship year. Once you are 19 or over and have completed that first year, your age rate applies. The rates are set by the 2026 amendment regulations.

For hourly work and the fixed-shift example below, divide pay that counts for minimum-wage purposes by the hours that count in the whole pay reference period. This is normally a week if you are paid weekly or a month if paid monthly, and cannot exceed a month. Use pay before tax and National Insurance, not take-home pay. Gross pay is only the starting point. Some payments, including the premium element of overtime or shift pay, do not count; some deductions reduce minimum-wage pay. Use the official calculation guidance if either applies. Salaried-hours work has different counting rules, explained below.

Salaried hours, and the payslip that never changes

A monthly salary does not automatically make you a “salaried hours worker” under minimum-wage law. For workers who meet that definition, annual basic hours are normally spread across pay periods. HMRC explains the method. For monthly pay, annual basic hours are divided by 12. Once actual counted hours exceed the annual basic hours in the calculation year, extra hours must be included under the excess-hours rules. That can require a top-up.

Ask payroll for your annual basic hours, the start of your calculation year and any excess-hours calculation. Our annualised-hours guide covers the contract. Do not accept a simple annual salary divided by annual actual hours as proof that every pay period was lawful. A shorter March shift cannot cancel an October contractual debt or an underpayment already due.

Agency, sleep-ins, and young workers

Employees and workers are both entitled to the minimum wage. Zero-hours contracts do not make worked hours disappear. If you are agency staff, send the query to the agency that pays you as well as the site manager. In Great Britain, after 12 qualifying weeks in the same role with the same hirer, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions, including pay. Check whether comparable directly recruited night staff receive extra-hour pay. The minimum wage applies before those 12 weeks too. See our agency workers guide.

Genuinely self-employed people do not have minimum-wage protection. But a contract calling you self-employed does not settle your legal status. If the agency controls your shifts and how you work, get advice before accepting that you have no rights.

For a genuine sleep-in, you are expected to sleep for all or most of the shift and have suitable sleeping facilities. In Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8, the Supreme Court confirmed that only time awake for the purpose of working counts towards the minimum wage. The repeated hour spent asleep does not count. Half an hour awake for work at the £12.71 rate adds £6.36 to the minimum-wage requirement, rounded to the nearest penny. That is part of the period’s calculation, not necessarily a separate payment.

The government’s sleep-in guidance distinguishes a waking night, where you are expected to work for most of the shift even if you can nap between tasks. That can count in full. Sleeping facilities alone do not turn a waking night into a sleep-in. Your contract may also promise pay for all sleep-in hours, even when minimum-wage law does not. Record when you were awake for work and what you were required to do.

If you are 16 or 17, GOV.UK says you cannot work between midnight and 4am. You usually cannot work between 10pm and 6am either, or 11pm and 7am if your contract changes the window. Listed sector exceptions concern that wider restriction. They are not blanket permission to work the repeated 1am hour. Get advice about a rota covering it. An unlawful rota does not excuse withholding wages for work you did.

28 March 2027, the hour you do not work

At 1am on Sunday 28 March 2027, the clocks go forward to 2am. A 10pm to 6am shift lasts seven hours instead of eight. If your terms pay only for hours actually worked, pay can reflect seven hours. A guaranteed payment, fixed shift fee or salary may stay unchanged. Check the contract before accepting a cut.

Under Amina’s hourly terms, with no guaranteed eight-hour payment, seven worked hours would pay 7 × £12.71 = £88.97 at the current rate. Paying her for only six to “balance” October would omit another worked hour. If October and March fall in different pay reference periods, the employer cannot use the shorter night to repair October’s minimum-wage shortfall.

Does a 9-hour night break the 8-hour rule?

Usually, one nine-hour shift does not by itself break the rule. A night worker regularly works at least three hours during the night period, normally 11pm to 6am. The ordinary limit is an average of eight hours in each 24 hours, usually over 17 weeks. You cannot individually opt out of it. Work involving special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain has a stricter eight-hour limit in any 24 hours. Sector exceptions and collective agreements can affect the rules, including in healthcare and security. Check the applicable arrangement rather than assuming every long shift is lawful. Acas explains the night-work rules; our shift work and fatigue guide covers safety and health assessments.

What to check on the payslip

In Great Britain, employees and workers have a right to an itemised payslip under section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Where pay varies by hours worked, the payslip must show the relevant hours. Acas explains what must appear. It may give a total for the pay period rather than each night’s breakdown. For hourly pay, check that the total includes the repeated hour, then compare it with your rota and clock records.

A fixed salary need not show all its basic hours. Ask for the hours and pay used in the minimum-wage calculation if you cannot check them from the payslip. Look at gross pay and deductions as well as the hours. An unchanged salary or take-home amount is not proof that the extra hour was accounted for.

How to get the hour paid

1. Keep the evidence. Save the rota, actual clock times, breaks and the clause setting your hours or shift rate. On a sleep-in, note time awake for work. Keep your own copies without including confidential patient or client information.
2. Calculate what is missing. Separate unpaid contractual hours from a minimum-wage shortfall. Use the right age or apprentice rate and the whole pay period. For salaried-hours work, ask for the annual basic hours and excess-hours calculation.
3. Write to payroll and your manager. For a 10pm to 6am shift, you can use this wording. “The shift ending on Sunday 25 October 2026 ran from 10pm to 6am across the clock change. That was nine elapsed hours, before breaks. Please confirm the hours counted, explain the pay calculation and correct any missing contractual pay or minimum-wage shortfall.” Add your actual times, unpaid breaks and the amount you believe is owed. Keep the reply. If it is not resolved, raise a formal grievance.
4. Get support. Contact your union representative. UNISON, GMB and Unite organise workers in care, cleaning, security, food and logistics; IWGB also organises outsourced workers. Ask about advice and representation before relying on legal cover for an existing dispute. Our union guide explains what membership can offer. Free advice is also available from Acas on 0300 123 1100, Citizens Advice and law centres. Use Citizens Advice Scotland in Scotland, and the Labour Relations Agency or Advice NI in Northern Ireland. If your visa is tied to this job, get advice before resigning.
5. Report minimum-wage underpayment. Use the government’s pay and work rights route. HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency. Ask about confidentiality if you fear losing shifts. This route is for the statutory minimum, not every contractual overtime dispute.
6. Protect the tribunal deadline. For an incorrect payday on or after 1 October 2026, most Great Britain claims have a limit of six months minus one day. The clock normally starts on the date you were paid incorrectly, not the night you worked. Notify Acas in time for early conciliation. A grievance or HMRC complaint does not stop that clock; timely Acas notification pauses it during conciliation. Check your exact deadline with an adviser. See Acas’s deadline guidance and our tribunal guide.

What is changing, and what is not

This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not create a special right to payment for the clock-change hour. The government timeline, updated 25 September 2026, distinguishes measures already in force from future plans.

1. 1 Apr 2026Minimum-wage rates. In force

   The standard rate for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71, unless the apprentice rate applies.

2. 7 Apr 2026Fair Work Agency. Established

   HMRC continues to enforce the minimum wage on its behalf.

3. 1 Oct 2026Tribunal time-limit extension. In force

   Most Great Britain claims for problems from this date have six months minus one day. The Scottish breach-of-contract change is scheduled for 9 November.

4. 2027Guaranteed hours and shift notice. Planned

   Rights to guaranteed hours, reasonable shift notice and short-notice payments are not yet in force. Their timing is to be updated after consultation.