Calculating 17 week average hours

mlz1413

Please can I get some advice and opinions on the 17 week average hours calculation when holidays are taken.

I've read the HMRC advice but it deals with a strict 17 weeks WORK.

The NI Direct website gives an example of taking 4 days holiday and working 1 day the same week.
But I can't find anything about single days off.  I also can't find an online calculator.

The problem is the company has engineers that work remotely (set off from home and return to home) so I need to keep a 17 week average of hours.   I do this via a spreadsheet. 
But when holiday is taken it reduces the average.

I think i could run the average daily to get a truly accurate Average, but that would be massively time consuming. So I tend to put in the Contracted Hours for the day when odd days are taken, ie 8.5hrs or 42.5hrs for a full week of holiday.  But this increases the Average as no engineer tends to work their full weekly hours.

Sorry for long post, but I feel morally adding in the contracted hours gives a simpler average but not sure if legally there is a rule/calculation?

henry24

Why do you need to know all this?

mlz1413

henry24 said:

Why do you need to know all this?

Because it's a legal requirement.  If the engineers go over their contracted hours one week they don't get paid overtime because the hours are calculated as an average. 
Also as a company we need to ensure they don't breach 48hrs WTR.

henry24

That makes sense I thought you was a worker and workers don't need to as it's down to company 

henry24

Couple of other things as far as I'm aware no one has been prosecuted for going over 48 hours and I work in a safety critical role on the railway and we can work 72 hours have one day off and start again 

tizerbelle

Maybe this will put your mind at rest - GOV.UK calculating working hours

Paid/Unpaid Holiday does NOT count as work and so should not be included in the average working hours calculations

mlz1413

Thank you!  
That is a clear and concise list.