Britain closes on deal in EU talks over 48-hour week and rights of agency staff

Britain is set to secure a permanent opt-out from the European Union's mandatory 48-hour working week. A deal was said to be in sight after years of deadlock on the EU working time directive, which sets down legal maximum employment hours and is being discussed in tandem with the EU's rules for agency employees. Business leaders said that the deal would be scrutinised to make sure that it retained job-creating flexibility. Unions urged ministers not to throw away job-enhancing rights. The deal on the table would allow workers to opt out from a mandatory 48-hour week calculated over a six-month reference period. They would be subject instead to a legal cap of 60 hours averaged over three months. The spokesman said that on the working time directive, “we will seek to protect the UK's flexible labour market by preserving the right of working people to work more than 48 hours a week”.