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Antiwork

Unpaid breaks – The breakdown

I'm currently working the notice period for a job I rather dislike. I happen to have gotten a job with exactly the same rate of pay (we'll say £10). One perk of my job is that I am paid at full rate for my breaks. I wondered what this meant and wether it would make a difference so I crunched the numbers. I currently get 30 minutes break on a 6 hour shift, making around 1/6th of my day at work unpaid. (Or 16.7%) If we deduct this from my current hourly rate it gives a more true result of £8.33/h. If you wish to argue that breaks should go unpaid, which is a fair point. Then we can go the opposite route, by selecting a job where breaks are paid, it bumps the relative rate of pay up from £10 to £11.67/h. Either way you look at it it…


I'm currently working the notice period for a job I rather dislike. I happen to have gotten a job with exactly the same rate of pay (we'll say £10).

One perk of my job is that I am paid at full rate for my breaks. I wondered what this meant and wether it would make a difference so I crunched the numbers.

I currently get 30 minutes break on a 6 hour shift, making around 1/6th of my day at work unpaid. (Or 16.7%)

If we deduct this from my current hourly rate it gives a more true result of £8.33/h.

If you wish to argue that breaks should go unpaid, which is a fair point. Then we can go the opposite route, by selecting a job where breaks are paid, it bumps the relative rate of pay up from £10 to £11.67/h.

Either way you look at it it makes a substantial difference. Bare this in mind when selecting a job!

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