When should breaks be taken?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

There's a bit of a hoohaa in the office just now regarding breaks. Up to two weeks ago, most people were taking the 40 minutes at the end of their shift.
Now managers have said that 20 must be taken before going out on delivery and the other 20 must be taken at the end of your shift. It's the end of shift breaks that have people upset as they are being told that they must remain in the office as these are paid and also that if you have gone over your time, you still have to take the 20 at the end, in the office, regardless of time back to the office.
I was under the impression that you couldn't have any of your break at the end of your shift?

legally you cannot be told where to take your break, they cannot insist you take it in the office there was a case a few years ago in the ambulance service which brought this to court, Also it states this in the way forward agreement:

Breaks at the beginning or end of attendance

Where an attendance is provided with more than one break, the second break may be scheduled at the beginning or end, in which case attendance is not required solely for booking on or off. A single break should not be scheduled at the beginning or end of the attendance.

if only one 20 minute break and shift is in excess of 6 hours then under working time regulations this break would have to be somewhere in the middle of the shift and not at the start or end

what your dom would be entitled to do is with agreement from the local union would be to schedule both breaks during the attendance instead of at the end

[Nigel1505]

Rest breaks at work

A worker is entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when daily working time is more than six hours. It should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end, of a working day
"This is the law", not what some uninformed DOM decides is right.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Rest breaks at work

A worker is entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when daily working time is more than six hours. It should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end, of a working day
"This is the law", not what some uninformed DOM decides is right.

its the second 20 minute break he is asking about though

[fishtank]

legally you cannot be told where to take your break

That's not exactly true.
The exact words of the rest breaks section of the working time regulations are.

Rest breaks

12. (1) Where an adult worker’s daily working time is more than six hours, he is entitled to a rest break.

(2) The details of the rest break to which an adult worker is entitled under paragraph (1), including its duration and the terms on which it is granted, shall be in accordance with any provisions for the purposes of this regulation which are contained in a collective agreement or a workforce agreement.

(3) Subject to the provisions of any applicable collective agreement or workforce agreement, the rest break provided for in paragraph (1) 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.

(4) Where a young worker’s daily working time is more than four and a half hours, he is entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes, which shall be consecutive if possible, and he is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one.

(5) If, on any day, a young worker is employed by more than one employer, his daily working time shall be determined for the purpose of paragraph (4) by aggregating the number of hours worked by him for each employer.

That could be interpreted in many different ways for instance a canteen is obviously not a "workstation".
I've worked in places where for security reasons you were not allowed off the premises during your break and this was not in breach of the Working Time Regulations because we had facilities that were not considered a "workstation".
It's a grey area but there is definitely nothing in law that says that "legally you cannot be told where to take your break".

[gand]

2. Taking breaks
Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)
It doesn’t count as a rest break if an employer says an employee should go back to work before their break is finished.

Unless a worker’s employment contract says so, they don’t have the right to:

take smoking breaks
get paid for rest breaks

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work/taking-breaks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;