Annual Leave

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 most workers within Great Britain are entitled to paid annual leave.

Rachel Kempson , Solicitor at Tinsdills says:

“The statutory right to paid annual leave is as follows:

• A full time worker is entitled to 4 weeks (20 days for a 5 day working week) paid annual leave in each leave year

• A part time worker is entitled to the same leave as a full time worker, calculated on a pro-rata basis. For example an employee who works 2 days a week is entitled to 8 days paid holiday leave (their normal working week multiplied by 4).

• No allowance is currently made within this entitlement for bank and public holidays. Whether a worker is entitled to paid leave on public holidays in addition to the 4 weeks leave is a matter of contractual agreement with their employer.

• No minimum period of continuous service is required to qualify for statutory paid annual leave.

• A worker has the right to their normal weekly pay in respect of annual leave entitlement. If they do not take leave they cannot claim pay in lieu unless their employment has ended.

• Annual leave may only be taken in the leave year in respect of which it is due. There is no statutory right to carry forward untaken leave from one leave year to the next.

• Subject to any agreement to the contrary the normal position is that a worker must give their employer notice of intention to take leave and the
notice must be at least twice as long as the amount of leave they wish to take.

Employees will be able to find details of their annual leave entitlement by either looking at their contract of employment or their written statement
of employment particulars. Although there is no statutory requirement for
employers to provide their employees with a written contract of employment there is a legal requirement that all employees must be given a written statement of employment particulars no later than 2 months after the commencement of their employment.

The Government proposes to increase the current statutory minimum holiday entitlement from four weeks to 5.6 weeks (maximum 28 days), to implement its commitment to make paid time off for bank holidays additional to the current four week holiday entitlement. Raising the holiday entitlement to 5.6 weeks is equivalent to an increase from 20 days to 28 days for someone working a five-day week”.

For further information about how we could help you with this or any other matter, please contact Rachel Kempson on
01782 652300.