How to design on-call and standby pay

Before you start

Legal basis. The Working Time Regulations 1998 [2], the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 [6], and sections 1 to 4 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, not yet in force [11]. This guide covers England, Wales and Scotland.

Who is involved. Reward, HR, payroll, finance, rota managers, and representatives where terms are collectively agreed.

What you need: rotas; a call-out log (time, length, remote or on site); contracts; pay rates near the minimum wage; and a list of zero- and low-hours workers.

Step 1: Map where you need cover

List each service that needs cover outside normal hours. In the lumi reward benchmark (full findings), 45.1% of organisations run no on-call or standby rota; 34.1% run one in IT / Technology and 31.4% in Engineering & Maintenance (n = 264, more than one answer allowed).

Step 2: Set the standby rules and protect rest

Working time is any period when the worker is working, at the employer's disposal and carrying out their duties [2]. GOV.UK counts time on call at the workplace, but not away from it [3]. Acas adds that standby elsewhere is more likely to count the more control the employer has over the worker's activities, location and time [4]. In Truslove v Scottish Ambulance Service, paramedics who had to stay within 3 miles of their station, with a 3-minute response target, were held to be working while on standby [5].

Call-out time counts towards the 48-hour weekly limit, normally averaged over 17 weeks unless the worker opts out in writing [3][4]. Workers also need a 20-minute break when working more than 6 hours a day, 11 hours' rest between working days, and 24 hours' rest a week or 48 a fortnight. Under-18s get more [10]. Where an exception applies, such as some shift work, give compensatory rest instead [2][10]. Set a rule for rest after night call-outs.

Step 3: Check the minimum wage

Minimum wage hours include time working on a call-out, and time the worker is required to be available at or near a place of work, unless at home [6][7]. For sleep-ins, only hours awake for the purposes of working count, where suitable sleeping facilities are provided [6]. The Supreme Court confirmed this in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [8].

On-call allowances don't count towards minimum wage pay unless consolidated or related to performance. Nor does the premium element of overtime or shift pay [7]. From 1 April 2026 the rates are £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices [9]. Check lower-paid staff each pay reference period.

Step 4: ◆ Choose the standby payment structure

In the lumi reward benchmark, paying the on-call allowance per day is common (34.2%) and per call-out only is an alternative (30.9%). A flat amount per period (18.8%) and a combination (16.1%) are rare (n = 149). For IT / Technology standby, a percentage of salary is common (22.7%) (n = 88). For Engineering & Maintenance, a flat weekly retainer is common (31.2%) (n = 80). Where relevant, one framework across all functions is common (41.0%) (n = 78).

A rare answer is not a wrong one.

Step 5: ◆ Set call-out minimums

Employers don't have to pay for overtime, but average pay for all hours worked must not fall below the minimum wage [12]. In the lumi reward benchmark, a 2-hour minimum call-out payment is common (36.2%). 3 hours or more (26.8%) and 1 hour (23.5%) are alternatives, and no minimum is rare (13.4%) (n = 149).

Step 6: ◆ Decide weekend and bank holiday rates

In the lumi reward benchmark, 46.3% of organisations use one standby rate for every period, and 28.4% pay more for bank holidays (n = 95, more than one answer allowed). For a weekend night, the same rate as a weeknight is common (40.6%) and 28.9% (15.2% + 7.2% + 3.6% + 2.9%) pay more (n = 138).

Step 7: Cost the rota and set its frequency

This example uses illustrative rates, not lumi data.

Illustrative rates only: not lumi data and not a recommendation.

NIGHT = 25.00 # weeknight standby (£) X = {"weeknight": 1.0, "weekend_day": 1.0, "weekend_night": 1.5, "bank_holiday": 2.0} # multiple of NIGHT HOURLY, CALLOUT_X, MIN_H = 22.00, 1.5, 2.0 # call-out terms

def week_cost(periods, calls): standby = sum(n NIGHT X[p] for p, n in periods.items()) paid_h = sum(max(h, MIN_H) for h in calls) return standby, paid_h, standby + paid_h HOURLY CALLOUT_X

calls = [0.5, 1.25, 3.0] # hours worked per call-out normal = {"weeknight": 5, "weekend_day": 2, "weekend_night": 2} bank_hol = {"weeknight": 4, "weekend_day": 2, "weekend_night": 2, "bank_holiday": 2} # Monday day and night print(sum(calls), week_cost(normal, calls), week_cost(bank_hol, calls)) weekly = week_cost(normal, calls)[2] print(52 weekly, round(52 / 4 weekly, 2), round(52 / 6 * weekly, 2))

**Result:**
- Normal week: standby £250.00 plus 7 paid call-out hours, **£481.00**. Bank holiday week: **£556.00**.
- Hours worked: 4.75. Record these, not the paid hours, for working time and rest.
- 52 normal weeks: **£25,012.00**, or £6,253.00 a person on a 1-in-4 rota and £4,168.67 on 1-in-6.

**◆ Decision: rota frequency.** Rota size changes each person's share, not the cost of cover.
- *Fewer people:* more pay and practice each, but more disruption and pressure on rest.
- *More people:* a lighter load, but skills are used less often.

Costs exclude employer on-costs. Holiday pay for the 4 weeks of regulation 13 leave includes payments intrinsically linked to the worker's tasks and other payments, such as overtime, regularly paid in the previous 52 weeks [2]. Check whether yours qualify. Acas says the contract should state whether on-call time at home is paid [4].

Step 8: Prepare variable-hours staff for the 2027 rights

The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds three rights, with equivalents for agency workers [11]:

• Guaranteed hours. Qualifying zero- and low-hours workers must be offered hours reflecting those worked over a reference period. They can refuse.
• Reasonable notice of shifts and changes.
• Payment for shifts cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice. Regulations will set short notice, at no more than 7 days, and the payment, at no more than the worker would have earned.

The Department for Business and Trade consulted until 25 August 2026 [13], and the government's timeline puts the rights in 2027 [14].

In the lumi reward benchmark, not offering zero- or low-hours workers guaranteed hours reflecting average hours is common (44.2%) (n = 120). Not paying hourly workers for shifts cancelled at short notice is common (46.1%) (n = 219).

Either way, list those workers and pull their hours history.

Checklist

• Cover needs mapped; standby or shifts chosen
• Response and location rules set; working time assessed
• Call-out hours recorded; rest rule after night call-outs agreed
• Minimum wage checked, excluding on-call allowances
• Standby payment unit and call-out minimum set
• Weekend and bank holiday rates decided
• Rota costed, including holiday pay
• Contracts updated; variable-hours workers listed

Related

• Overtime, shift and on-call pay: UK benchmark 2026 — the benchmark findings behind the figures in this guide.
• How to calculate holiday pay for irregular-hours and part-year workers
• How to calculate statutory redundancy pay (2026/27)
• How lumi works: methodology — how these figures are collected and calculated.