A school governor needs a weekday meeting. A magistrate receives a court rota. A local councillor asks for time to attend committee business. These requests are not ordinary holiday, but neither do they create an unlimited absence entitlement. Employers need to identify whether the role qualifies, decide what amount of time is reasonable and apply the organisation's pay policy consistently.
Start with the public role, not the employee's label
Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives an employee the right to a reasonable amount of time off during working hours for specified public duties. The list includes magistrates, local councillors, school governors, members of statutory tribunals, members of the governing body of an educational establishment, members of health authorities and certain environmental, prison-monitoring and Scottish public bodies.
The right is linked to the office or membership held and the duties carried out for it. It is not a general entitlement to paid volunteering, campaigning, charity work or attendance at any community meeting. Ask what public body the employee serves, what duty requires attendance and when it is due. That confirms the legal route without demanding confidential information about the body's business.
Employment status also matters. GOV.UK states that agency workers do not qualify for this particular public-duties right. It also lists exclusions including members of the police service or armed forces, merchant seamen, people employed on fishing vessels or offshore oil and gas installations, and some politically restricted civil servants. Check status and any sector-specific rules before promising a statutory entitlement.
GOV.UK: time off work for public duties ↗ · Employment Rights Act 1996, section 50 ↗
Reasonable time off is a balancing exercise
The law does not set one number of days that every employer must approve. Reasonableness depends on the time needed for the duty, how much public-duty absence the employee has already taken and the effect of the absence on the business. A blanket rule such as 'two days a year' may be too rigid; automatic approval of every request without considering operations may be unnecessary.
Ask for dates and likely duration as early as practicable. Consider whether the meeting is fixed, whether some preparation can happen outside working time, what cover is available and whether moving hours would reduce disruption. A small engineering firm in County Durham may reasonably need to plan around a safety-critical shift differently from an office with several people able to cover the work. The role still qualifies, but the practical discussion changes.
Look at the pattern rather than one request in isolation. A full-day tribunal sitting and a one-hour virtual school-governor meeting make different demands. Record the factors considered and the agreed arrangement. If requests are frequent, agree a forward diary and review point instead of renegotiating from scratch each time.
The statutory time can be unpaid
There is no general statutory requirement to pay an employee for time off under the public-duties right. An employer can choose to pay, and a contract, collective agreement or established policy may require it. Check the written terms and past practice before deciding that the absence will be unpaid.
Write down whether the organisation pays all, some or none of the approved time. State how part-days are recorded, whether the employee may use annual leave by agreement and whether adjusted hours are possible. Do not automatically deduct pay where the policy promises paid leave, and do not force the employee to use holiday as the only way to exercise a qualifying statutory right.
Make payroll instructions precise. Identify the approved dates, hours, pay treatment and any agreed change to working time. That avoids an unpaid deduction appearing unexpectedly and gives the employee a chance to query an error promptly.
Keep other time-off rights in the correct lane
Jury service is separate. All workers must be allowed time off for it, and an employer cannot refuse because the timing is inconvenient. The public-duties reasonableness test should not be used to block a jury summons. Pay is not generally required, although employees may be able to claim certain court allowances and an employer may offer contractual pay.
Trade union duties and activities also have their own statutory framework. Paid time may be required for recognised union representatives carrying out qualifying union duties, while the rules for union activities differ. Refer those requests to the union-time-off policy rather than assuming that the unpaid public-duties rule settles the issue.
Reserve-force mobilisation, dependant emergencies, antenatal appointments and ordinary volunteering each follow different rules again. Correct categorisation matters because eligibility, pay, notice and the employer's ability to refuse are not interchangeable.
Related guide: jury service → · Related guide: time off for dependants →
Give managers a repeatable public-duties process.
HR + SAFETY can help North East SMEs define the request, reasonableness and pay steps so managers make defensible, consistent decisions.
Discuss a public-duties requestRespond to each request with a clear decision
A short request form or email route should capture the public role, date, duration, purpose at a sensible level, notice given and any supporting schedule. Managers should send the request to a named decision-maker quickly enough for the employee and public body to plan.
If the request is approved, confirm the hours, pay treatment, cover arrangement and how the absence will be recorded. If only part can be agreed, explain what has changed and why. If the employer considers a request unreasonable, discuss alternatives first and give the specific operational reasons in writing rather than issuing a bare refusal.
Consistency does not mean identical outcomes. Two requests can reasonably produce different decisions where their length, timing, previous absence and business effect differ. Consistency means applying the same factors, checking comparable cases and avoiding assumptions about the value of one public role compared with another.
A practical public-duties checklist
Legal requirements and official guidance were checked on 11 October 2026. A concise policy and a recorded balancing exercise will usually produce a better answer than either automatic refusal or open-ended approval.
- Confirm that the individual is an employee and that the public role is covered.
- Separate public duties from jury service, union work, reserve service and volunteering.
- Ask for the date, expected duration and enough information to identify the duty.
- Consider the time required, previous public-duty absence and business impact.
- Discuss shift changes, partial attendance or other workable arrangements where appropriate.
- Check the contract, policy and past practice before deciding whether time is paid.
- Confirm approved hours, pay treatment, cover and recording in writing.
- Explain any partial approval or refusal using the relevant facts.
- Keep a forward diary where the public role produces recurring meetings.
- Review decisions consistently without imposing a rigid universal cap.
Qualifying employees are entitled to reasonable time off for specified public duties, but statutory pay is not automatic. Confirm the role and status, balance the time needed against genuine business impact, keep other leave rights separate and document the decision.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.