For the first time there are now clear regulations on the limit the UK's 26m workers are expected to work every week, how many breaks they are entitled to, and how much holiday they get.

After a two-year delay, the European Union's Working Time Directive finally arrived on October 1.

Advocates hail it as one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation this century, while its detractors slam it for being too costly, too confused and too vague, opening up the flood gates to potentially thousands of industrial tribunals.

But who among Europe's hardest working employees can expect to gain from this new legislation, and what does it really mean?


Working to the limit

The main thrust of the regulation is that most workers will be legally protected from having to work more than a 48 hour-week.

The 48 hour week will be averaged out over a 17-week period by a complex formula. Employers will be forced to keep very detailed records.

Will we see the reintroduction of the clocking-in and out system?

It could even mean the reintroduction of the 1950s time-keeping system of clocking in and out - a practice still widely used in Germany.

But there is a long list of exemptions from the rule, which has created huge confusion.

And there are grey areas. Should time spent travelling on duty trips be counted? What about people who work away from the office? Is a working lunch work? These and other issues are far from resolved.

Junior doctors, senior managers, fire service workers, transport workers, police and the tens of thousands of self-employed, are all exempt.

Out in the cold: Firemen are exempt from the 48-hour week

There are also special exemption cases which cover security and surveillance employees, media workers, lecturers, hospital and prison workers.

And even those who have a right to a 48-hour week might end up working longer. Bosses can ask them to sign an op-out, although employees can regain their right to a 48-hour week if they give three-months notice.

Four weeks annual leave

But it is annual leave which will prove to be one of the most dramatic changes to employment law.

Three weeks paid annual leave, at an estimated cost of nearly half a billion pounds to industry, will be a major benefit to the two million people who currently get less than that.

The cost will shoot up next year when annual leave increases to four weeks.

And domestic workers, who are exempted from the 48-hour week, will also have holiday rights.

Rest periods

Employees will be allowed 20 minutes rest every 6 hours, and 11 hours over a 24 hour consecutive period.

Night workers will not have to work more than eight hours over a 24-hour period, and will qualify for compulsory free health checks.

Cost to industry

If all workers take up their new rights, the generally accepted cost to industry is �2bn.

The government also estimates that policing the new laws may require the Health and Safety Executive to boost its staff by a quarter, while industrial tribunals could be swamped by 6,000 new cases each year.

An expensive rest

According to figures from the 3i European Enterprise Centre, the majority (82%) of employees work under 50 hours a week and a further 9% work less than 35 hours.

That leaves a meagre 9% of the workforce, or 2.7m who will realistically benefit from the 48-hour week.

But according to the Department of Trade and Industry, of the �2bn that the regulation is estimated to cost, the 48-hour rule will represent only �0.06bn.

The extra cost of daily and weekly rest will take up the lion's share of the total.