The Government has published a report and launched an open public consultation on time off for public duties. It is open for responses until 11.59pm on 4 September 2026.
This follows an internal review of the list of public duties eligible for time off work under s.50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The review aimed to ensure the list remains fit for purpose and continues to support the effective functioning of modern public services.
The consultation explores how current entitlements are understood and the views on the Government’s proposals to amend the list of roles that are eligible. It also seeks views on:
which public duties should be eligible for time off
proposed additions and removals to the current list of public duties
how the entitlement works in practice.
These proposals include adding various public duties to the list eligible for time off work, including special constables, governors for academies and academy trusts and fee-paid judges, amongst others.
The Government also proposes to remove certain public duties from the list eligible for time off work, including (but not limited to) board members of the Environment Agency and Scottish Environment Protection Agency and board members of national health bodies.
In the consultation, proposals to include the following list of public duties in the list eligible for time off work were rejected:
armed forces reservists (for training only)
General Teaching Council for Scotland members
on-call firefighters.
If these changes come in as proposed, more employees will have the opportunity to participate in community-focused public duties alongside their work.
