Can I take time off for training? UK rights explained
Study leave is usually something you negotiate. Compulsory training, apprenticeships and some young workers' courses have different rules. Check which right you can use before asking.
A course could get you off the night shift or into a better-paid job. That does not mean your employer must give you time to take it. Most adults have to negotiate study leave. But training your boss requires is a different matter, and “do it unpaid on your day off” can mean breaking minimum wage law.
- 26 wks
- continuous service for the adult request right
- 250+
- employees needed for the adult request right
- 28 days
- to accept your request or hold a meeting
- £12.71
- hourly minimum for ages 21+, from 1 April 2026
What rights actually exist
A carer sent to a manual-handling refresher, a warehouse picker seeking release for a qualification and a teenager needing time for college do not have the same rights. First identify your route.
| Route | Who it covers | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory request under section 63D | Eligible employees with 26 weeks’ service at employers with 250+ employees in England, Scotland and Wales | Unpaid unless agreed otherwise |
| Young people’s study time | Qualifying 16- and 17-year-olds in Wales and Scotland, with a separate Northern Ireland right and possible continuation at 18 | Statutory hourly pay |
| Apprenticeship training | England’s apprenticeship route, explained below; other nations have their own arrangements | Paid training and study time |
| Employer-required training | Employees and workers covered by minimum wage law | Training hours count when checking minimum wage compliance |
| Contractual study or exam leave | People covered by an enforceable contractual term | Depends on the term |
Union representatives, union learning representatives and safety representatives also have specific rights to paid time off for relevant training, subject to their statutory conditions. If you are training for a representative role, ask your union which right applies. Do not let your employer treat that as an ordinary discretionary study-leave request.
The statutory request: time to train
The adult request right comes from section 63D of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010. It applies in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has no equivalent adult statutory request right. See our guide to Northern Ireland’s employment-law differences.
Do not confuse a right to request with a right to get. Your employer has a duty to consider the request properly and follow the timetable. It does not have to say yes.
Who qualifies
You must meet each condition below. Otherwise, check your contract or negotiate leave. Compulsory-training pay rights remain separate.
- Check your employment status. You must be an employee. People with worker status only, agency workers and the genuinely self-employed cannot use section 63D. A zero-hours label does not settle your status. See employee, worker and self-employed status.
- Check your service. You need at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment when you apply.
- Check the employer’s size. The threshold is 250 employees across your employer. Count beyond your store or site, but do not assume that every business under the same brand is the same employer.
- Explain the benefit to the job and business. The training’s purpose must be to improve both your effectiveness and the business’s performance. A kitchen porter could explain how a food-hygiene course would help them handle food safely. That supports the application; it does not guarantee approval.
School-age children, people covered by England’s education participation duty, people who already qualify for the young-person study right and members of the armed forces are excluded. The training need not lead to a qualification. Section 63E allows home study, unsupervised learning and training away from the workplace, provided the business-benefit test is met.
How to apply
Normally, your employer only has to consider one statutory application in 12 months. The regulations provide limited exceptions for disregarding an earlier request. You can still ask for other training by agreement.
- Write and date the request. State that it is made under section 63D of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Follow any workplace application process.
- Describe the training and release you need. Give its subject, location, dates, provider or supervisor and any qualification. Say which shifts or hours you want off.
- Explain the business benefit. Give concrete reasons it would improve your work and the business’s performance. For example, a warehouse picker might explain how stock-control training would help them use the employer’s inventory system.
- Include previous requests. Say whether you have applied under this right before and when.
- Keep a copy outside your work account. Save the application and proof of when your employer received it. Ask separately for paid release or course fees if you need them.
Your employer need not consider an application that omits the required information. If the training is agreed, tell them if you do not start it, do not complete it or change the course.
What happens next
Your employer normally has 28 days from receipt to accept the request in writing or hold a meeting. After a meeting, it must give you a written decision within 14 days. If it refuses, the notice must identify the permitted ground and explain why it applies.
Appeal in writing within 14 days of the decision notice. Date your appeal and explain the grounds. The employer normally has 14 days from receiving it to hold an appeal meeting, then 14 days after that meeting to send its written decision. Time limits can be extended by agreement recorded in writing; special rules also apply if the person who normally handles requests is absent when yours arrives.
Ask to bring a companion to either meeting. Under regulation 16, the statutory right is to one worker employed by the same employer. That can be your workplace union rep. An external union official is not automatically covered, although your employer can agree to their attendance. Your companion can address the meeting and confer with you, but cannot answer questions independently of you.
If your companion cannot attend, propose a time convenient to everyone within the seven days following the original meeting date. The employer must postpone to a qualifying alternative time. The companion has a right to paid time off during working hours to attend.
Example: the decision timetable
Your employer receives your request on 1 November and holds the meeting on 20 November, within the 28-day window. It must normally send its written decision by 4 December. If it gives you a refusal notice that day, your appeal must reach it by 18 December. Save the dates and any written agreement to extend them.
When the employer can refuse
The permitted grounds are set out in section 63F. Your employer can refuse all or part of the request if it thinks one or more applies. A label such as “operational needs” is not an explanation. Ask how the ground applies to your request.
| Ground | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| No relevant benefit | The training would not improve your effectiveness or the business’s performance |
| Additional costs | The burden of additional costs |
| Customer demand | A detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand |
| Reorganising work | Inability to redistribute work among existing staff |
| Recruitment | Inability to recruit additional staff |
| Quality | A detrimental impact on quality |
| Performance | A detrimental impact on performance |
| Insufficient work | Not enough work during the periods you propose to work |
| Structural changes | Planned structural changes |
Pay, detriment and dismissal
The statutory request right does not require paid leave or payment of course fees. Agree those separately. An accepted request is not a promise to fund it.
You are protected against punishment for making or proposing a statutory request. Dismissal for that reason can be automatically unfair without the usual qualifying service requirement. There are separate protections for exercising the accompaniment right or acting as a companion. The enforcement routes and deadlines are below.
If you are 16 or 17
In Wales and Scotland, an employee aged 16 or 17 can qualify for reasonable paid time off during working hours to study towards a relevant qualification. Under section 63A, you must not be in full-time secondary or further education and must be below the prescribed qualification standard. Turning 18 does not end the right for qualifying study you began before your birthday. It is not a general college-leave right for every teenager.
In England, most 16- and 17-year-olds fall under the education participation duty instead, which excludes them from section 63A. Northern Ireland has its own young-person right under Article 91A. Ask your college or union to check your course and existing qualifications against the rules for your nation.
The amount of leave must be reasonable, taking account of the study and the business’s circumstances. In Great Britain, section 63B calculates statutory hourly pay from a week’s pay and normal working hours. Variable hours have a separate averaging rule. Contractual pay for the same time counts towards the statutory payment; you do not receive both.
Example: a paid release day in Wales
A qualifying 17-year-old shop worker in Cardiff works 25 hours a week at £8 an hour, earning £200. Their qualifying course needs a reasonable six-hour release day that replaces working hours. The statutory hourly rate is £200 ÷ 25 = £8. Pay for the six hours is £48.
Ask for the release in writing and attach the course timetable. If your employer supplies you to another organisation, section 63A places the duty to permit time off on that organisation. Agency arrangements need a status check; being excluded from the adult request right does not settle your young-person rights. For school-age children, see child employment rules.
If you are an apprentice
In England, your employer must give you time during the working week for apprenticeship training and pay you for time spent training or studying for the apprenticeship. GOV.UK’s apprenticeship guidance says this expressly. College attendance and online learning do not become unpaid just because they happen away from the workplace.
There is no useful single percentage to quote for every current apprentice. The 2026 to 2027 funding rules use minimum off-the-job training hours set for each standard. Rules depend on your apprenticeship’s start date. Ask your provider to show you the applicable requirement and where those hours appear in your signed training plan.
A care apprentice should have paid time for the learning their plan requires, rather than an instruction to complete it all after a shift. Raise missing training time with both your employer and provider, using the complaints process in the plan. Your union can help. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run separate apprenticeship systems; do not apply England’s funding-hour rules to them. See apprenticeship contracts and rights and union help with apprenticeship training.
Compulsory training and pay: the rule that bites
Manual handling, safeguarding, food hygiene and online fire-safety refreshers are work when your employer requires them. For minimum wage purposes, employer-required training can count even when you do it outside your normal shift. Calling it “homework” does not remove the hours.
GOV.UK’s minimum wage guidance includes training time in the hours that count. The detailed calculation depends on whether you do hourly, salaried or another type of work. Pay must meet the minimum across the applicable pay reference period. Your contract may require more than that minimum, including your usual rate.
Example: the unpaid evening session
A 25-year-old care worker is paid weekly at £12.71 an hour. They receive £482.98 for 38 hours. Their manager requires a four-hour evening training session without extra pay. Assuming all 42 hours count and there are no other relevant payments or deductions, the effective rate is £482.98 ÷ 42, about £11.50 an hour. The week’s pay should be at least 42 × £12.71 = £533.82. The minimum wage shortfall is £50.84.
From 1 April 2026, the hourly minimums are £12.71 for ages 21 and over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8 for under-18s. The £8 apprentice rate applies only if you are under 19 or in the first year of your apprenticeship. Apprentices aged 19 or over who have completed that first year get their age-related minimum. See minimum wage rates and rights.
- Record every required training session. Keep the instruction, dates, start and finish times, including online modules completed at home.
- Check the pay period. Save your rota and payslip. Include the training hours when checking your effective minimum wage rate.
- Ask payroll to correct it. Send the hours and calculation in writing. Keep the reply.
- Get help if they refuse. Speak to your union or Acas and use the Fair Work Agency’s reporting routes for minimum wage enforcement. A tribunal claim for money may also be available; get advice on its deadline rather than waiting for an investigation.
For the safety training your employer must provide, see mandatory safety training rights.
Study leave and exams: what you can negotiate
There is no general statutory entitlement to paid revision days or exam leave for adults. A qualifying employee may still use section 63D to request time for relevant study. Otherwise, start with your contract, offer letter, handbook and any collective agreement.
A contractual promise of study leave can be enforceable. A discretionary policy is not automatically a contractual entitlement. Check its wording, whether it forms part of your contract and who must approve leave. The same applies to course fees, exam resits and travel expenses. Do not accept a university or NHS employer’s policy as a statement of rights for every worker.
- Find the applicable term. Search for study leave, exam leave, professional development and unpaid leave. Ask your rep whether a collective agreement gives you more.
- Make a specific written request. Give the course and exam dates, the shifts affected and how much paid or unpaid release you need. Ask early enough for cover to be arranged.
- Agree the cost before enrolling. Confirm pay, fees, expenses and any training-cost repayment clause. Get advice before signing a repayment commitment you do not understand.
- Keep the written approval. Confirm whether the leave is additional to annual leave, whether you must make up hours and what happens if the course changes.
If there is no study-leave entitlement, you can ask for unpaid leave, agreed holiday or a change to your working pattern through flexible working. Do not miss a shift because you have submitted a request. Wait for approval.
Speak to your workplace rep before applying. Depending on your employer and role, UNISON, Unite or GMB may organise your workplace; IWGB represents workers in several insecure-work sectors. If you are not a member, ask a union covering your job about joining and what support it can offer. Do not assume a new membership covers an existing dispute. Free advice routes include Acas, Citizens Advice, law centres and the Work Rights Centre.
If you are refused or punished
A tribunal does not decide whether your course is worthwhile or substitute its own business judgement for your employer’s. A section 63I complaint can challenge failures to meet the statutory requirements or a refusal based on incorrect facts, subject to the conditions for bringing the claim. It cannot simply reverse a harsh decision.
If the complaint succeeds, the tribunal declares that and may order reconsideration, award compensation or both. The compensation maximum is eight weeks’ pay, with the statutory limit on a week’s pay applying. It is not an automatic eight-week payout. A separate complaint about denied accompaniment rights under regulation 17 has a maximum of two weeks’ pay, also subject to that limit.
- Appeal the refusal. Use the 14-day appeal window. Identify the wrong facts or missing procedural step, and attach evidence.
- Save the record. Keep the request, meeting notices, decision, appeal and dates. If your hours or treatment changed afterwards, save the before-and-after rotas and messages.
- Contact your union or Acas promptly. A grievance or ongoing discussion does not by itself stop a tribunal clock. Acas early conciliation can affect the calculation, so have the deadline checked.
- Get the claim route right. Refusal, accompaniment, retaliation, discrimination and unpaid wages are different claims. Our employment tribunal guide explains the process. In Northern Ireland, seek help from the Labour Relations Agency for disputes under Northern Ireland law.
Retaliation is a separate wrong. Section 47F protects employees against detriment for making or proposing a statutory training request. Dismissal for that reason is automatically unfair under section 104E, without the usual service requirement. You still need to establish the reason for the punishment or dismissal. This protection does not turn every informal study-leave request into a statutory one.
Interim relief is not generally available just because you were dismissed for requesting training. Regulation 18 does provide it for certain dismissals linked to exercising accompaniment rights or acting as a companion. It is temporary tribunal protection while the dismissal claim is decided, and an application has a seven-day deadline following the effective termination date. If this might apply, get legal advice immediately.
If you suspect discrimination in access to training, tell your adviser why. Keep specific evidence, such as comparable requests, comments and decisions. A separate discrimination claim may be available; the narrow time-to-train procedure does not replace it.
What is in force on 1 October 2026
Questions people ask
Does my employer have to give me time off for training?
Not simply because you want to take a course. Eligible employees can have a statutory request considered; the employer can refuse on permitted grounds. Contractual study leave, qualifying young-person study time, apprenticeship training and representative-training rights are separate routes.
Does compulsory online training at home count?
Employer-required training can count for minimum wage purposes outside your normal shift, including online modules at home. Record the time and keep the instruction. Check pay across the applicable pay reference period and include training hours missing from your rota.
Can agency workers request training leave?
Agency workers are excluded from section 63D. You can still ask the agency and hirer for agreed leave, check your terms and use minimum wage protection for required training. Qualifying young-person study rights need a separate assessment.
Can you get time off for exams or revision?
There is no general adult entitlement to exam or revision leave. Check your contract and any study-leave policy. Eligible employees may request relevant study time under section 63D; approval and pay are not guaranteed.
Can your boss make you use annual leave for training?
If you are asking for an optional course and have no separate entitlement, agreed holiday may be one way to attend. Required training is work for minimum wage purposes, not ordinary time away from work. Ask your union or Acas to check any instruction to classify compulsory training as holiday.
Is the right the same across the UK?
No. The adult request right covers England, Scotland and Wales, not Northern Ireland. Wales and Scotland have the qualifying young-person paid right under section 63A; Northern Ireland has Article 91A. England’s education participation duty and each nation’s apprenticeship arrangements require separate treatment.
Sources
- Training and study at work: your rights, GOV.UK. Eligibility, applications, decisions and appeals.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 63D, legislation.gov.uk. Request right and exclusions; basis of the employer-size reality check alongside GOV.UK guidance.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 63E, legislation.gov.uk. Training scope and required application details.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 63F, legislation.gov.uk. Previous applications and permitted refusal grounds.
- Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010, legislation.gov.uk. Timetable, accompaniment and related remedies.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 63I and section 63J, legislation.gov.uk. Complaint conditions, time limits and remedies.
- Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement regulations, SI 2026/954, legislation.gov.uk. Six-month claim limit and transitional provisions.
- Employee Study and Training amendment regulations, SI 2026/473, legislation.gov.uk. Accompaniment claim limit and transition.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 47F, section 104E and section 108, legislation.gov.uk. Retaliation, dismissal and service requirements.
- 2010 Regulations, regulation 18 and Employment Rights Act 1996, section 128, legislation.gov.uk. Accompaniment-related dismissal and interim relief.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 63A, section 63B and section 63C, legislation.gov.uk. Young-person eligibility, pay and agency arrangements.
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, Article 91A, legislation.gov.uk. Northern Ireland young-person study right.
- Employing an apprentice, GOV.UK. England’s training, study and pay duties.
- Apprenticeship funding rules: 2026 to 2027 and summary of changes, GOV.UK. Start-date-specific rules and minimum training hours by standard.
- Calculating the minimum wage: working hours, GOV.UK. Training hours and work-type distinctions.
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK. Rates from 1 April 2026.
- Fair Work Agency: about us, GOV.UK. Basis of the enforcement reality check.
- Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 168 and section 168A; Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977, regulation 4, legislation.gov.uk. Relevant representative-training rights.