UK workers put in £31 billion worth of unpaid overtime during the last year - TUC analysis
Today is ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ – when workers are encouraged to take their lunch break and finish on time
Teachers and health care managers most likely to do unpaid overtime
UK workers put in £31 billion of unpaid overtime, according to new analysis published for Work Your Proper Hours Day (Friday) by the TUC.
It is the TUC’s 21st annual Work Your Proper Hours Day. On this day, workers are encouraged to take the breaks they are entitled to and finish their shifts on time. And managers are encouraged to support staff by setting reasonable workloads and putting in place workplace policies to protect against burnout.
Main findings
Unpaid overtime is an issue for millions of workers: 3.8 million people did unpaid overtime in 2024, putting in an average of 7.2 unpaid hours a week. For those workers, that’s equivalent on average to £8,000 a year of wages going unpaid for work done.
Regional variation: In 2024, London had the highest proportion of workers doing unpaid overtime, at 17%, compared to 13% nationally. (See table 2 in notes)
Occupations with most unpaid overtime in 2024: In terms of the proportion of the workforce doing unpaid overtime, the highest occupations are teaching (38%) and health and care managers (35%)
Gender: Women and men are similarly likely to work unpaid overtime, with 13.2% of women working unpaid overtime compared to 13.1% of men. Women who do unpaid overtime do 6.8 hours a week compared to 7.5 hours a week for men.
Public sector workforce pressures
The TUC says teachers and health and care managers coming out on top for unpaid overtime highlights the staffing pressures in schools and hospitals.
The union body says that, while government’s plans to recruit 6,500 additional teachers will help to improve levels of work intensity, more engagement is needed on workforce issues across the public sector.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“Most workers don’t mind putting in extra hours from time to time, but they should be paid for it.
“This analysis shows once again the staffing pressures in our public services that have been driven by 14 years of Tory mismanagement.
“It is really important the new government engages with its workforce on issues like workloads to stop staff leaving our schools and hospitals.”
Paul added:
“We are encouraging every worker to take their lunchbreak and finish on time today. And we know that good employers will support them doing that.
“My message to workers who are unfairly being forced to put in unpaid hours is that help is on the way.
“The Employment Rights Bill will make it easier for people to come together in a union and challenge unfair practices.”
Notes to editors:
Table 1 – headline data from analysis
| 2024 |
|
Number of employees working unpaid overtime | 3,807,000 |
|
% of employees working unpaid overtime | 13.1% |
|
Total weekly hours of unpaid overtime | 27,295,000 |
|
Annual total of unpaid overtime (hours) | 1,419,337,000 |
|
Weekly average unpaid hours for workers who do unpaid overtime | 7.2 |
|
Total annual value of unpaid overtime | £30,729,760,000 |
|
Average annual loss for a worker doing unpaid overtime | £8,000 |
|
Table 2 – unpaid overtime by region
Region | Average weekly unpaid overtime hours, of those who do them | % of employees doing unpaid overtime | Annual total loss | Average annual loss for those working unpaid overtime |
|
North East | 7.6 | 10.5% | £841,584,404 | £7,400 |
|
North West | 6.9 | 10.6% | £2,491,296,308 | £7,300 |
|
Yorkshire and Humberside | 6.8 | 10.4% | £1,661,919,001 | £6,900 |
|
East Midlands | 6.7 | 12.8% | £1,858,314,717 | £6,600 |
|
West Midlands | 7.2 | 13.5% | £2,553,111,080 | £7,500 |
|
East of England | 6.8 | 15.0% | £3,037,013,508 | £7,500 |
|
London | 8.0 | 17.2% | £8,287,833,645 | £11,800 |
|
South East | 6.9 | 15.9% | £5,210,389,785 | £7,800 |
|
South West | 7.1 | 13.1% | £2,334,971,286 | £7,300 |
|
Wales | 6.2 | 10.1% | £763,627,263 | £6,200 |
|
- Methodology for the analysis: This TUC analysis is based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2024Q2.
- Comparisons with previous years: The Labour Force Survey reweighting work being undertaken by ONS has prevented us from making comparisons with previous years. We hope to resume timeline comparisons in the future.
- Choice of date for Work Your Proper hours Day (WYPHD): From 2004-2020 the date of Work Your Proper Hours Day was based on a calculation: we identified the day in the year when the average worker doing unpaid overtime effectively stops working for free – and WYPHD falls on the closest Friday.
For the last few years before the pandemic, it always fell on the last Friday in February. But the impacts of the pandemic on working patterns led to greater variation in the date, with it sometimes falling in early March. Based on the data in this release it would fall on 3 March.
However, the TUC decided not to move the date into March, as there is now widespread expectation that WYPHD occurs on the final Friday of February.
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