How should employers deal with losing an hour when the clocks advance?

On Sunday, 30 March 2025 at 1:00am GMT the clocks will advance by an hour. What does it mean for employees who work a nightshift? What is the impact on their pay? They can they still go home on the same time as usual, even if they have worked less hours?

If employees are working overnight, the clocks switching from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time or vice versa can be confusing for both employers and staff.

Employers are generally responsible for deciding how to deal with the situation. However, they must adhere to the national minimum wage, the working time regulations and any other provisions in the employee’s contract of employment.

Check the contract wording

Check the contract language of any employees working during the time change. A shift might be described as being from 10pm until 6am, or it could require an “eight-hour work shift”.

Employers don’t have to pay their employees an extra hour for a certain shift when the clocks are reverted in the fall.

Employers don’t have to pay a full-time shift for employees who work less than a standard eight hour day. It depends on the contract.

Hourly-paid employees and salaried workers can have different situations. Salary employees are more likely to have to work overtime without extra pay than hourly-paid employees, but they may also be entitled to payment even if their hours are reduced.

Employers do not have to worry about paying less than the minimum wage, or violating the rules of working time, because they can pay an hour more.

However, they should be aware that the contract language may entitle them to pay for, say, 35 hours per week even if only 34 have been worked.

The employer can choose to pay employees for an eight-hour work shift even if they have only worked for seven hours.

Consistency is key

Some workers will gain an extra hour when the clocks advance again. This is not always the case. A worker who worked an extra hour in Oct. might not work the night shift in March when the clocks advance again.

In the interest of fairness, employers who require their employees to work according to the clock in October, should also do so in March when they can go home an hour earlier.

This article originally appeared in March 2017, and was updated on 30th March 2025.

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