When the clocks go back at 2.00 am on Sunday 26 October 2025, most people get an extra hour in bed. For night-shift workers, that “bonus hour” feels more like an endurance test.
Every autumn, hospitals, care homes, factories and emergency services across Derbyshire face the same problem. The shift that usually ends at 7.00 am suddenly becomes an eight-hour stretch that lasts nine. There is no early finish, no extra break, and for many, not even extra pay.
The Longest Hour of the Year
Nurses at Royal Derby Hospital joke that the clock change should come with hazard pay. One said that by 4.00 am “the hour feels twice as long as usual,” as staff try to keep their routines on track while the ward clocks tick backwards. Medication times, patient observations and handovers all have to be adjusted carefully to avoid mistakes.
Care workers across the county face the same challenge. Residents still need the same care, but the night suddenly drags on. For factory workers in Belper, Alfreton and Ilkeston, production schedules must be rewritten to stop machines running out of sequence when the hour repeats.
Who Actually Gets Paid for It?
Rules vary by employer. Some companies pay for the extra hour automatically. Others add it to the next shift or require staff to “bank” the time. Public-sector staff often rely on their managers to record it manually.
It is one of those small annual headaches that feels designed to confuse payroll departments and test everyone’s patience.
The Other Side of the Clock
For most people the time change is a gift: an extra hour’s sleep, a longer Sunday breakfast and a chance to pretend winter has not quite arrived. For night-shift staff, it is simply one more reminder that the country runs on their quiet work while everyone else rests.
So, when you enjoy that extra hour in bed this weekend, spare a thought for the nurses, carers, cleaners and factory crews across Derbyshire who will be watching the same minute hand crawl around the clock twice.
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