Average weekly hours worked in the UK

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), series YBUV. Monthly, usually a Tuesday in the middle of the month, 7am, in the ONS labour market release; next release 20 October 2026

Average weekly hours worked in the UK: every value, by year, with a CSV download →

What it measures

This is the average number of hours people in work actually worked in a week, including paid and unpaid overtime and hours in any second job. It covers everyone in employment in the UK, full-time and part-time, employees and self-employed, so it is well below a typical full-time week. "Actual" hours fall when people take holiday, are off sick or are on strike in the reference week; "usual" hours, published separately, do not. The ONS multiplies hours by the number of workers to get total hours worked, a key input to productivity.

How to read it

A change of 0.1 or 0.2 hours is small next to survey variation. Larger shifts usually come from the mix of jobs, for example more part-time work pulls the average down even if no one's hours change. Bank holidays and sickness affect actual hours, which is why the ONS seasonally adjusts the series. The ONS said in September 2026 that an operational problem in Labour Force Survey telephone collection in May 2026 had a small but noticeable effect on average hours, so treat recent periods with care. The legal limit on working time is a separate matter covered by GOV.UK.

Background

The ONS series starts in 1992, when average actual hours were 33.1 a week in March to May 1992. The highest value, 33.5 hours, was in late 1994. Hours drifted down over the following decades as part-time work grew, dipped during the 2008 to 2009 recession, and fell to a low of 25.8 hours in April to June 2020, when many people were furloughed but still counted as employed. They recovered to around 32 hours by 2026. Total weekly hours worked across the economy are published as series YBUS.

Other parts of the UK

ONS labour market in the regions of the UK

What is the average working week in the UK?

Across all workers, full-time and part-time, the ONS estimate was 32.0 actual hours a week in May to July 2026, published on 15 September 2026, when this page was checked on 13 October 2026. The ONS also publishes separate averages for full-time and part-time workers in the same release, and full-time averages are much higher.

How many hours does the average person work a year in the UK?

The ONS does not headline an annual figure from this series. Multiplying a weekly average by 52 overstates it, because the weekly figure already reflects holidays and absence in the weeks sampled. For international annual hours comparisons, the OECD publishes average annual hours actually worked per worker.

Why are average hours lower than a full-time week?

The average includes part-time workers, who make up a large share of employment, and it counts hours actually worked, so holiday, sickness and short weeks reduce it. Full-time workers alone average much nearer a standard full-time week.

What is the legal maximum working week in the UK?

Under the Working Time Regulations most workers cannot be made to work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, unless they opt out in writing. GOV.UK sets out the rules and exceptions. This page measures hours actually worked, not the legal limit.

Related questions

• How many people are on zero-hours contracts in the UK?
• What is the sickness absence rate in the UK?
• How is UK productivity measured?
• How many working days are lost to strikes in the UK?

More on this source: UK labour market statistics (ONS, Nomis and the gender pay gap reporting service)