7 on 7 off calculator
Seven on, seven off. Set the first day of your block and see exactly what the month holds: shifts, total hours, night hours and what it pays. Free, no sign-up.
Rota settings
Working shifts
17
per month
Total hours
204 h
204 day, 0 night
Night hours
0 h
within the night window
Weekend hours
72 h
Saturday and Sunday
Base pay, £
£2,652
hours × rate
Premiums, £
£0
night + weekend
Estimated total pay
£2,652
Shift calendar
Working days on 7 on 7 off in the selected month
How the 7 on 7 off pattern works
You work seven days straight, then take seven off, and the whole thing repeats every fortnight. Unlike most block rotas, this one does not drift: fourteen days is exactly two weeks, so your shifts land on the same weekdays every cycle. If your block starts on a Wednesday, it starts on a Wednesday for good. That predictability is most of the appeal.
It is the standard rota for hospitalists, and it is widely used by nurses, pharmacists and other clinical staff, as well as on rigs and in FIFO work where the week on is a week away from home. Set the first day of your block above and the calendar fills in the rest of the month.
Your hours, and why the weekly average lies
One cycle is seven 12-hour shifts, so 84 hours per fortnight. Divide that across the two weeks and you get 42 hours a week. Nobody works that week. You work 84 hours, then you work nothing, and the 42 exists only on paper. It is a useful figure for one purpose (checking your hours against the 48-hour cap, which is measured as an average) and misleading for everything else, including how tired you are by day six.
It is also why most shift calculators cannot handle this rota: they assume a working week of five shifts and ask you to describe your pattern in those terms, which a seven-day block does not fit. This one counts the actual days from your block start date. On 8-hour shifts the cycle is 56 hours, averaging 28 hours a week. Over a year you work about 182 shifts, roughly 2,190 hours on 12-hour shifts.
What 7 on 7 off pays
If you are paid by the hour, the fortnight is the unit that matters: 84 hours at £13 an hour is £1,092 gross per cycle, and about 26 cycles fit in a year, which comes to roughly £28,470 gross before tax and before any premiums. Put your own rate in the form to see the real number.
Monthly pay is the part that catches people out. A calendar month holds between 14 and 17 shifts depending on where your blocks fall, so on 12-hour shifts the month runs from 168 to 204 hours. At £13 that is £2,184 in a light month and £2,652 in a heavy one, on an identical rota. If you are salaried, the reverse applies: your pay is flat while the hours behind it are not, and this calculator tells you what you actually gave up for it.
Is 7 on 7 off a good lifestyle rota
It is the honest trade you are being offered: half the year off in usable, week-long pieces, in exchange for a week where you have no life outside work. Half your days are free, which no five-day job can match, and a week off is long enough for real travel rather than a long weekend. Against that: the on week takes everything, family arrangements have to survive it, day one back is brutal after a proper rest, and if the block is nights you spend part of your week off flipping your sleep and part of it flipping back. People who suit it tend to be the ones who can genuinely switch off in the off week. People who do not are the ones who never stop being on call.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours a week is 7 on 7 off?+
On 12-hour shifts it is 84 hours in your on week and zero in your off week, which averages 42 hours a week over the fortnight. The average is what payroll and the working time rules use; it is not a week you ever actually work. On 8-hour shifts it is 56 hours then zero, averaging 28.
How many shifts a year do you work on 7 on 7 off?+
About 182 shifts: 365 days divided by the 14-day cycle gives roughly 26 cycles, and you work seven days in each. On 12-hour shifts that is around 2,190 hours a year, the same annual total as 4 on 4 off or 3 on 3 off, just packaged differently.
Does an 84-hour week break the 48-hour limit?+
Not on its own. The Working Time Regulations cap the average at 48 hours a week measured over a 17-week reference period, not any single week, and this pattern averages 42 on 12-hour shifts. An opt-out is a separate matter and only bites if the average goes over. Check the current rules on gov.uk and read your contract rather than taking a web page for it.
How is 7 on 7 off pay worked out?+
Hourly staff: hours worked times rate. One cycle is 84 hours on 12-hour shifts, so £1,092 gross at £13 an hour, but a calendar month carries 14 to 17 shifts, so monthly gross swings by a few hundred pounds without anything changing. Salaried staff get the same figure every month regardless. Either way the hours in the month are what this calculator gives you.
Do you work every other weekend on 7 on 7 off?+
Yes, exactly one Saturday in two and one Sunday in two, whatever weekday your block starts on. If your block runs Monday to Sunday you get whole alternate weekends free. If it starts midweek, your weekends get split across the on and off blocks, which is worth knowing before you agree to a start day.
How does annual leave work on 7 on 7 off?+
Statutory holiday in the UK is 5.6 weeks. On a fixed pattern like this it is usually counted in shifts rather than days: 5.6 times your average shifts per week. The thing to watch is that leave only costs you anything if it lands in an on week, and a full on week of leave is seven shifts out of your allowance at once. If your hours are irregular, holiday is instead accrued at 12.07% of the hours you actually work. Check the current rules on gov.uk, and your contract, before you count on a number.
For managers: run the rota, not the maths
Build next week in the browser: add the team, click the grid, download it. No sign-up.
Start, finish and break per day: hours for the week, overtime and pay at your rate.
One rota the whole team sees on their phones, with swaps and hours handled for you.
A weekly rota, a monthly rota and a timesheet for Excel. The hours add themselves up.
The rota you published becomes the timesheet: hours per person, ready for payroll.