BP will end payments for rest breaks taken by its forecourt staff and scale back enhanced pay for bank holidays.
Hourly wages for employees at 310 company-run petrol stations will rise in line with the voluntary living wage, reaching £13.45 outside London, a 6.7% increase.
The change does not apply to staff at the 850 BP-branded forecourts operated by franchise partners, who work under separate contracts.
At present, most BP customer service assistants receive ‘time and a half’ for shifts on bank holidays. They are also paid for a 30‑minute break when working more than six hours, and a 20‑minute break for shifts lasting between four and six hours.
The decision reflects a wider pattern in retail, where many supermarkets have already stopped paying staff during breaks. Aldi remains one of the few large chains that continues to do so. Sainsbury’s faced criticism in 2018 when it altered contracts for 130,000 workers, removing paid breaks among other changes.
While the Working Time Regulations guarantee minimum rest periods, employers are not obliged to pay staff for them.
A BP spokesperson said: “We regularly review our pay and benefits to stay fair and competitive, including benchmarking with the rest of the UK retail industry. As a result, early next year, we will be adjusting how we structure pay for hourly-paid employees working in our 310 company-owned retail stores across the UK. From February, we will no longer pay for rest breaks and pay premium rates on fewer national bank holidays. However, we will be increasing our base hourly pay and, to help support employees, we will bring in this annual increase two months earlier than usual, also in early February 2026.”
Paul Nowak, general secretary at Trades Union Congress, added: “Workers are still suffering a severe cost-of-living hangover from 14 years of Tory government. This would be the worst possible time for BP to cut benefits and impose a stealth pay reduction. In the future, the Employment Rights Bill will provide important new protections to prevent employers from imposing contractual changes to workers’ pay.”
This article is based on a piece written for Personnel Today
