A former employee makes a complaint to an employment tribunal about rest break entitlements.

A Health and Safety Executive inspection finds your attendance records inadequate.

A trade body asks for documentation you simply don't have.

In roofing, crews work long days in physically demanding conditions, often across multiple sites, and the gap between what the law requires and what businesses actually record is wider than most owners realise.

Labour law compliance rarely feels urgent until it is. But the consequences of non-compliance can be significant. For roofing contractors operating with lean admin teams and workers spread across multiple sites, manually maintaining compliant records can be difficult.

That's exactly the problem TimeKeeper is designed to solve.

What the Working Time Regulations Actually Require

The UK Working Time Regulations 1998 set out clear obligations for employers.

Any worker who works more than six hours in a single day is legally entitled to an uninterrupted rest break of at least 20 minutes. Young workers (who are over school-leaving age but under 18) are entitled to a 30-minute break for any shift exceeding four and a half hours.

Employers are not only required to ensure these breaks are taken, they're required to keep adequate records demonstrating compliance, and to retain those records for a minimum of two years.

The regulations also govern maximum working hours (48 per week unless an opt-out is signed), night work limits, and health assessments for night workers.

According to DavidsonMorris, employers who fail to keep adequate records or comply with enforcement notices could face fines of up to £20,000.

For roofing contractors, the risk is compounded by the nature of the work. Long summer days, tight project timelines, and pressure to complete jobs quickly all create conditions where informal practices around breaks can develop, and where non-compliance can accumulate without anyone realising it.

Where Roofing Businesses Typically Fall Short

Most roofing businesses aren't deliberately flouting the regulations.

Paper sign-in sheets capture start and finish times but rarely record breaks. Supervisors manage the site but can't always monitor whether every operative takes a compliant rest period. Records are stored inconsistently where some jobs have paperwork and others don't. And when a request for documentation arrives, pulling together two years of compliant records becomes quite the challenge.

How TimeKeeper Supports Working Time Compliance

TimeKeeper gives roofing contractors the digital infrastructure to record attendance, working hours, and breaks accurately, without adding complexity to the site manager's day.

Here's how:

Complete attendance records: Every clock-in and clock-out is time-stamped, GPS-tagged, and stored digitally. You have a complete, accurate attendance record for every operative on every job.
Break recording: TimeKeeper can be configured to record break times as part of the attendance workflow. Operatives can clock in and out for breaks, creating a documented record of rest periods that satisfies your obligations under the Working Time Regulations.
Two-year audit trail: All records are stored securely and remain accessible for as long as you need them. If a regulator or tribunal requests documentation from 18 months ago, TimeKeeper has it.
Leave management: Holiday entitlements, leave requests, and approvals are all managed digitally. Annual leave balances are calculated automatically, reducing the risk of disputes and ensuring your records are accurate.
Real-time site visibility: The live Who's In dashboard lets site managers see at a glance who's currently on site, who's on a break, and who's clocked out. This supports both compliance monitoring and day-to-day operational management.

The BrightPay Connection

For roofing businesses using BrightPay for payroll, TimeKeeper's integration means the same verified attendance data that supports your compliance obligations also feeds directly into payroll processing.

There's no duplication of data entry, no risk of discrepancy between your attendance records and your payroll figures, and no manual reconciliation required. This ensures that your compliance records and your payroll records tell the same story.

Compliance as a Competitive Advantage

In an industry where subcontracting is common and labour practices are increasingly scrutinised, the ability to demonstrate clean, compliant employment records is genuinely valuable.

Getting compliant doesn't have to mean more admin. With TimeKeeper, it means less.

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