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Hours Calculator

The hours between two times, or a whole week's timesheet added up. It handles night shifts and unpaid breaks, and it gives you decimal hours as well as the clock reading — because 7h 30m is 7.5 hours on a timesheet, not 7.30.

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minutes

A finish time before the start is read as a night shift — 22:00 to 06:00 comes out as eight hours, not minus sixteen.

Refine
£

Optional. Gives gross pay — before tax, National Insurance or anything else comes off.

Loaded with an example. Type over any field.

Total worked

8h

8h across 1 day, after 30m of breaks

Decimal hours
8
Unpaid breaks
30m

The working

  1. 8h 30m − 30m break = 8h
  2. As decimal hours: 8h = 8 hours

Check this before you rely on it. A free everyday calculator, provided as a guide — not tax, accounting, financial or legal advice. The working is shown above so you can verify it against your own figures. See our terms of use.

How it works

STEP 1

Enter the times

A start and a finish for one day, or switch to the week view and fill in as many days as you worked. Blank days are skipped rather than counted as zero.

STEP 2

Take off the break

Unpaid breaks go in minutes. They come off the total, and a break longer than the shift is counted as zero rather than as negative time.

STEP 3

Use the decimal for payroll

Every total is given both ways. The clock reading is what you say out loud; the decimal is what goes in a timesheet or an invoice. Add an hourly rate under Refine for gross pay.

What this doesn't cover

Knowing where a calculator stops is what makes the rest of it trustworthy.

  • Tax and National InsuranceAny pay figure here is gross — hours multiplied by your rate, and nothing else. What actually reaches your account depends on your tax code, your National Insurance and anything else your employer deducts.
  • Overtime ratesEvery hour is paid at the same rate. Time-and-a-half, double time, unsocial-hours premiums and bank holiday rates are not applied — work those out separately and add them on.
  • Holiday, sickness and pensionsNothing is accrued or deducted. This adds up time worked; it is not a payroll system and it does not know your contract.
  • Whether your breaks are legally rightIt subtracts the break you tell it about. It does not know what breaks you are entitled to, and it is not a check on whether your employer is giving you them.
The guideHours and minutes to decimal — why 7h 30m is 7.5, not 7.30Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours. 7 hours 30 minutes is 7 + (30 ÷ 60) = 7.5 decimal hours. Writing 7.30 claims 7 hours 18 minutes and loses you 12 minutes.Read it

Common questions

How do I calculate hours worked?

Take the finish time away from the start time, then subtract any unpaid break. 09:00 to 17:30 is 8 hours 30 minutes; less a 30-minute lunch, that is 8 hours. The calculator does this for one day or for a whole week at once.

How do I work out hours for a night shift?

Just enter the times as they are. A finish time at or before the start is read as the next day, so 22:00 to 06:00 comes out as 8 hours rather than minus 16. The working says "over midnight" when that has happened, so you can see it was intended.

What is 7 hours 30 minutes in decimal?

7.5, not 7.30. Minutes are sixtieths, so you divide them by 60 rather than treating them as hundredths. 15 minutes is 0.25, 20 minutes is 0.33, 45 minutes is 0.75. Writing 7.30 on a timesheet claims 7 hours 18 minutes and quietly loses you 12 minutes every time.

How many hours is 9 to 5?

Eight on the clock, but seven and a half once a half-hour unpaid lunch comes off — which is why so many contracts say 37.5 hours for a five-day week rather than 40. The week view loads with exactly this example.

Should I take the break off?

If it is unpaid, yes. If you are paid through your break, leave it at zero. Most UK salaried roles treat lunch as unpaid, which is the assumption the loaded example makes.

Does this work out my pay after tax?

No, and deliberately. It gives gross pay — your hours times your rate. Take-home pay depends on tax bands, National Insurance thresholds and student loan plans that change every April, and being confidently wrong about someone’s wages is not a risk this site takes.

Can I add up more than a week?

A week at a time is what the table covers. For a month, add the weekly totals together — the decimal hours figure is the one to add, since decimals add correctly and clock readings do not.

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