rest-break-check

---
name: rest-break-check
description: Checks every shift on a published rota against the statutory rest break and daily rest rules, shift by shift, and tells you which ones actually qualify, which are covered by the hospitality continuity exception with compensatory rest owed instead, and which have neither. It reads real shift lengths rather than assuming a kitchen that is "always busy" is automatically exempt, because the exception has conditions and a missed break still needs recording. Use after you publish a rota and before a quiet week lets a pattern of skipped breaks go unnoticed.
---

# Every shift checked for the break it is actually owed

You give this the rota as published, with actual shift lengths, and any note of where breaks were or were not taken. You get back one row per shift showing whether a 20-minute break applied, whether it was taken, and where the continuity exception was used instead, whether compensatory rest was actually given.

## What it does

1. **Trigger the break on actual hours worked, not on the shift as planned.** Regulation 12(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 says: "Where a worker's daily working time is more than six hours, he is entitled to a rest break." A shift planned at five hours fifty that regularly runs to six-fifteen because of a late table or a delivery crosses the line every time it happens, and the rota needs to be checked against what was actually worked, not what was printed.
2. **Confirm the break is a real break, not downtime.** Regulation 12(3) sets the length and nature: "the rest break... is an uninterrupted period of not less than 20 minutes, and the worker is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one." A worker who eats standing at the pass between orders, or who is called back twice in fifteen minutes, has not had a qualifying break even if 20 minutes have technically elapsed since they last served a table.
3. **Apply the right exception correctly, if one is being relied on.** Regulation 21(d) removes the reg 12 entitlement "where there is a foreseeable surge of activity, as may be the case in relation to" a list that names "tourism" as item (ii), which is the ground a seasonal restaurant, café, bar or hotel can actually point to, not the hospitals-and-docks list at regulation 21(c). It is not a blanket exemption for busy venues; it covers a foreseeable surge, such as a known bank holiday rush, and it must be matched by rest given afterwards under regulation 24(a): the employer "shall wherever possible allow him to take an equivalent period of compensatory rest." Record which shifts rely on the exception, which named surge it relates to, and when the compensatory rest was actually given.
4. **Check the daily rest gap alongside the break, not instead of it.** Regulation 10(1) is a separate entitlement: "a rest period of not less than eleven consecutive hours in each 24-hour period during which he works for his employer." A shift can give a worker their 20-minute break and still leave them with nine hours before their next shift starts. Both checks run on every shift; neither substitutes for the other.
5. **Name the gap where no break was taken and no exception was recorded.** This is the state a rota check exists to catch: a six-and-a-half-hour shift, no break logged, and no note that continuity was relied on. It is not automatically a breach of someone's rights if an exception genuinely applied, but it is unrecorded, and unrecorded is the same as unproven if it is ever questioned.

## Then it checks

1. Every shift over six hours worked, actual not planned, has either a logged 20-minute break or a logged reliance on the continuity exception.
2. Every logged break is at least 20 minutes and is recorded as uninterrupted, with any interruption noted separately.
3. Every shift relying on the continuity exception has a logged compensatory rest period, with its date and length.
4. Every shift's daily rest gap to the next shift is checked separately and shown, not assumed from the break check.
5. Any shift with neither a break nor an exception logged is listed by worker, date and actual hours worked.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never mark a shift as exempt under regulation 21 without a logged reason naming the specific surge or circumstance and a logged compensatory rest period; an exception used as a default rather than a decision is exactly the pattern this skill exists to surface.
- Never cite regulation 21(c), the continuity-of-service list, for an ordinary busy hospitality shift; that list covers hospitals, docks, utilities and similar services, not restaurants, bars or hotels. The relevant ground for hospitality is regulation 21(d)(ii), tourism, and only for a genuine foreseeable surge.
- Never count a shift's break as taken because the shift length allowed for one in the plan; only a logged actual break counts.
- Young workers get a different break length under regulation 12(4); use young-worker-rota for their shifts, not this one.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own time records and rota, and for their adviser to check any reliance on the continuity exception. It applies the Working Time Regulations 1998 to logged shift data; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that every shift complied.

## Built from
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 12, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/12, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the six-hour trigger and the 20-minute uninterrupted break, behind steps 1 and 2.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 10, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/10, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the separate 11-hour daily rest entitlement, behind step 4.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 21, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/21, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the foreseeable surge of activity exception naming tourism, and why the hospitals-and-docks list at 21(c) does not apply to hospitality, behind step 3.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 24, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/24, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the duty to give equivalent compensatory rest where regulation 21 is relied on, behind step 3.

# rest-break-check

## You are given
The rota or clocked-hours log for a period, with actual start and end times per shift, not the planned ones if they differ. Any break records held: logged break start and end times, or a note that no break was logged. Any note that a shift relied on an exception, with the named surge or circumstance and any compensatory rest given, date and length. Each worker's age band, so young workers can be excluded and routed to young-worker-rota instead.

## Produce
Write into a `./rest-break-check-output/` folder:

1. `shift-hours.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `date`, `actual_start`, `actual_end`, `actual_hours_worked`, `break_triggered`. `break_triggered` is `yes` if `actual_hours_worked` exceeds 6, otherwise `no`.
2. `break-log.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `date`, `break_logged`, `break_start`, `break_end`, `break_minutes`, `uninterrupted`, `verdict`. `break_logged` is `yes` or `no`. `uninterrupted` is `yes`, `no` or `not recorded`. `verdict` is `pass`, `below 20 minutes`, `interrupted`, or `not logged`.
3. `exception-log.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `date`, `exception_claimed`, `named_surge_or_circumstance`, `compensatory_rest_date`, `compensatory_rest_minutes`, `verdict`. `verdict` is `pass`, `no compensatory rest logged`, or `exception not named`.
4. `daily-rest-check.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `date`, `previous_shift_end`, `next_shift_start`, `gap_hours`, `verdict`. `verdict` is `pass` or `below 11 hours`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list, each row naming worker and date: every shift with `break_triggered` = `yes` and no matching `pass` in either `break-log.csv` or `exception-log.csv`; every `below 20 minutes` or `interrupted` row; every `no compensatory rest logged` or `exception not named` row; every `below 11 hours` row; and any shift where the exception named is regulation 21(c) rather than 21(d), flagged for the owner to check it is genuinely a hospital, dock, utility or similar listed service rather than an ordinary busy shift.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and checks. It never decides whether an exception genuinely applies, and it never logs a break or a compensatory rest period that was not supplied.
- `actual_hours_worked` is calculated from actual clocked or rota times, never from the planned shift length.
- A shift with `break_triggered` = `yes` and both `break_logged` = `no` and `exception_claimed` = `no` is always listed in `gaps.md`; it is never silently assumed to be fine because the business is usually busy.
- Never mark a young worker's shift against the 20-minute figure; route it to young-worker-rota and note the exclusion in `gaps.md`.
- Use British English and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own time records and rota, and for their adviser to check any reliance on a regulation 21 exception. It applies the Working Time Regulations 1998 to logged shift data and is not confirmation that every shift complied.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of shifts that triggered the break entitlement and how many have a logged break, a logged exception, or neither. Every `below 20 minutes`, `interrupted` and `below 11 hours` row stated in full. The number of exceptions claimed under 21(c) versus 21(d), flagged separately. The `gaps.md` item count.