Holiday entitlement

Now that schools are closing for the summer, many families will be making for their chosen holiday destination. An opportune to time to be reminded of your statutory holiday entitlements. The following information is reproduced from the gov.uk website.

Entitlement

Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave).

This includes:

  • agency workers
  • workers with irregular hours
  • workers on zero-hours contracts

An employer can include bank holidays as part of statutory annual leave.

Statutory annual leave entitlement

Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.

Working part-time

Part-time workers are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday, but this will amount to fewer than 28 days. For example, if they work 3 days a week, they must get at least 16.8 days’ leave a year (3 × 5.6).

Irregular hours

People working irregular hours (like shift workers or term-time workers) are entitled to paid time off for every hour they work.

Limits on statutory leave

Statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days. For example, staff working 6 days a week are only entitled to 28 days’ paid holiday.

Bank holidays

Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.

Extra leave

An employer can choose to offer more leave than the legal minimum. They do not have to apply all the rules that apply to statutory leave to the extra leave. For example, a worker might need to be employed for a certain amount of time before they become entitled to it.

Other aspects of holiday entitlement

Workers have the right to:

  • get paid for leave
  • build up (‘accrue’) holiday entitlement during maternity, paternity and adoption leave
  • build up holiday entitlement while off work sick
  • request holiday at the same time as sick leave

In Summary

As you can see, holiday entitlement can be a complicated issue.