Clocks Go Back Sunday: Are You Paid for the Extra Hour?
At 2am on Sunday 25 October the clocks go back to 1am. If you're on nights, that hour is real. You'll be at work for it. Whether you're paid for it depends on your contract and your employer, and most of us only find out on payday.
- If your shift runs to a fixed clock time (say 8pm to 8am), Sunday night is 13 hours, not 12
- There's no single national rule for the NHS. Last October Nursing Standard reported there is no national guidance and that it's left to local employers
- Your contract decides. Fixed start and finish times, or a set number of hours? They give different answers
- Hourly-paid staff should generally be paid for hours worked. Salaried staff usually get their normal salary, but it still has to meet minimum wage
- Write down the time you actually finish. That's your evidence if the hour goes missing
What actually happens at 2am
British Summer Time ends at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026. The clocks go back to 1am, so the hour between 1 and 2 happens twice. Your phone sorts itself out. Your body doesn't, and neither does the rota.
If you're on a night that crosses that moment, you're working an hour the roster probably didn't plan for. It's a small thing that quietly goes wrong every year, mostly because nobody checks.
Is your night 12 hours or 13?
It comes down to how your shift is written in your contract or rota. Here's how the main versions play out:
| How your shift is set | What happens on Sunday night | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed clock times (e.g. 8pm to 8am) | You work to 8am, so it's 13 hours | Is the extra hour paid, or time off in lieu? |
| A set number of hours (e.g. 12 hours from 8pm) | You may finish at 7am on the new clock | Are you actually allowed to leave early? |
| Shift ends before 1am, or starts after 2am | No change | Nothing to do |
Employers can often choose how to handle it within your contract terms. What they shouldn't do is handle it differently from one person to the next. If you and the colleague next to you get different answers, that's worth raising.
Does the NHS pay for it?
There's no one answer. Nursing Standard reported in October 2025 that many NHS night staff would work the extra hour and most wouldn't be paid for it. An informal Instagram poll they ran found 91% of respondents didn't expect to be. The same piece described staff feeling exhausted, worried about safety, and confused about how they'd be paid. It also said there's no national NHS guidance, so it's down to each employer.
And employers do differ. One ambulance trust's staff notice from 2022 said rostered staff whose shift ran an extra hour were paid for it at their usual rate. Staff finishing at 2am or 3am just worked their contracted hours. That's one trust, one year, so treat it as an example of how it can be handled, not a rule. Ask your own roster team what applies to you.
Ask your line manager or roster team: "How is the extra hour on Sunday night being treated, paid or time off in lieu?" Better to hear the answer now than to find out from your payslip.
What the law says, in plain English
This part comes from employment law commentary rather than an official rulebook, so use it as a guide and check your own contract. The main points:
- Your contract defines your hours, and that decides whether the extra hour is yours to work
- Hourly-paid workers whose contract covers the extra hour should be paid for it
- Salaried workers generally get their normal salary, but must still receive at least National Minimum Wage for the period, which can matter if your pay is close to it
- Night workers have limits on average night hours, a rest break on longer shifts, and 11 hours' rest between shifts. An extra hour can bring those into play
What I'd do before Sunday
- Read how your shift is written. Fixed times, or fixed hours?
- Ask how your employer is treating it. Paid, time off in lieu, or nothing?
- Know your finish time. If you work to 8am on the new clock, that's 13 hours
- Log what you actually worked. Real start, real finish, on the night
- Check your next payslip. If the hour isn't there and you were told it would be, raise it with payroll
If it doesn't turn up
Take your own record to payroll or your union rep. "I worked until 8am on the night the clocks changed" is a lot stronger with a logged finish time than from memory three weeks later. The sooner you raise it, the easier it is to sort. Our guide to disputing a payslip error covers how to put it in writing.
One hour isn't life-changing for one person. But hours nobody records are how pay quietly goes missing, and this is the one night of the year when the calendar builds it in. In March the clocks go forward and the same shift is an hour shorter. Same question the other way round.
Log the hour you actually worked
Overtime Live tracks your real start and finish times on every shift, including nights. Free, no account, no subscription. Put Sunday night in as it happens, and you've got the record on payday.
Sources: Nursing Standard (Oct 2025), East of England Ambulance Service staff notice (2022), employment law commentary via The Star (2020), The Scotsman (clock change date).