Holiday Entitlement

An update from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in regards to Annual Leave:

The Government has passed emergency legislation to relax the restrictions on carrying leave between leave years during the coronavirus pandemic.

Almost all workers, including zero-hour contracted workers and workers who are on irregular hours contracts, are entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday. This statutory entitlement is split into 4 weeks under regulation 13 and 1.6 weeks under regulation 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998. Any holiday above this amount is known as “contractual” leave and is not in scope of legislation.

From 26 March 2020, where it has not been reasonably practicable for a worker to take some or all of the 4 weeks’ holiday due to the effects of Coronavirus, the untaken amount may be carried forward into the following 2 leave years.

This applies to all sectors and workers where it is not reasonably practicable for the worker to take annual leave as a result of Coronavirus. However, it does not apply if workers are still able to take leave; in these circumstances, you still need to facilitate leave being taken in the leave year to which it relates as normal.