FOI 25-374 Rest Breaks
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-374 Rest Breaks
- Request Date
- 29 Aug 2025
- Response Date
- 25 Sep 2025
- Information Requested
- Please provide the following information regarding staff break entitlements within your Trust:
- Current policies and/or guidance documents which set out the rest break and meal break entitlements for the following staff groups:
- NHS 111 – Call handlers (Health Advisors),
- Clinicians 999 / EOC – Call handlers,
- Clinicians Dispatch staff (if separate from the above categories)
- Road crews (frontline ambulance staff)
- Any other frontline or control room staff groups with specific break entitlements
- For each of the staff groups above, please specify (if not explicitly clear in the documents provided):
- The number and length of breaks staff are entitled to on different shift lengths (e.g. 6 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, etc.).
- Whether entitlements differ depending on role, grade, or shift length.
- Where a policy describes entitlements only in terms of “less than X hours” or “more than X hours”, but does not specify for staff working exactly X hours, please state what the entitlement is in practice for those staff.
- Whether any local agreements with trade unions exist in relation to breaks.
- If so, please provide copies of the agreements or the minutes where they were formally agreed.
- Please also provide: The date when the current break policy (or equivalent) was last reviewed or updated.
- Details of any changes made to break entitlements since March 2020 (i.e. during or following the COVID period). If the information is contained within multiple documents, please provide all relevant documents
- Response
- Please provide the following information regarding staff break entitlements within your Trust:
The Scottish Ambulance Service applies the principles of the Working Time Regulations and Agenda for Change agreement as far as the exigencies of the service permit - NHS Agenda for Change Handbook (Section 27). SAS work in partnership with trade unions and staff representatives to monitor and improve rest break compliance.
Please see attached a copy of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Rest Break SOP Test of Change and Rest Break Deployment SOP; these documents reflect SAS’s operational approach to implementing these principles:-
- It outlines structured rest break windows.
- It defines protection periods where crews are shielded from non-critical calls.
- It includes procedures for missed or interrupted breaks, aligning with the compensatory rest requirement.
- It assigns dispatchers responsibility for monitoring and applying rest break policies consistently.
- Provides a detailed table outlining shift lengths, number of breaks, rest break windows, duration of breaks
- Current policies and/or guidance documents which set out the rest break and meal break entitlements for the following staff groups:
- NHS 111 – Call handlers (Health Advisors), - Not applicable, NHS 111 call handlers are employed by NHS24, Request information about NHS 24 | NHS 24
- Clinicians 999 / EOC – Call handlers – Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Clinicians Dispatch staff (if separate from the above categories) - Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Road crews (frontline ambulance staff) - Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Any other frontline or control room staff groups with specific break entitlements - Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- For each of the staff groups above, please specify (if not explicitly clear in the documents provided):
- The number and length of breaks staff are entitled to on different shift lengths (e.g. 6 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, etc.). - Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Whether entitlements differ depending on role, grade, or shift length. - Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Where a policy describes entitlements only in terms of “less than X hours” or “more than X hours”, but does not specify for staff working exactly X hours, please state what the entitlement is in practice for those staff. Included in the Rest Break Deployment SOP
- Whether any local agreements with trade unions exist in relation to breaks.
- If so, please provide copies of the agreements or the minutes where they were formally agreed.
The Rest Period Deployment Test of Change is a document that has been produced in agreement with trade unions. Trade Unions are also involved in on-going discussions surrounding the improvement of Rest Breaks.
- Please also provide: The date when the current break policy (or equivalent) was last reviewed or updated. - The current SOP was last reviewed in June 2017; however changes have been reviewed and implemented in the Test of Change.
- Details of any changes made to break entitlements since March 2020 (i.e. during or following the COVID period). If the information is contained within multiple documents, please provide all relevant documents – Rest Period Deployment Test of Change August 2023
- Response Documents
