This policy includes options for holiday entitlement and rolled-up holiday pay for part-year and irregular hours workers in accordance with the Working Time Regulations 1998 changes from 1 April 2024. Changes to employee holiday entitlement or the manner in which it is paid must be consulted on with staff, and subject to their agreement, prior to being made.
This holiday policy sets out your entitlements to annual leave and the Organisational rules on taking annual leave. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, you are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave in each leave year. This entitlement includes public holidays.
5.6 weeks of annual leave will convert into different entitlements for each employee dependent on their individual working arrangements. Individual contracts of employment will detail an employee’s personal entitlement. For example, 5.6 working weeks’ leave will, by the nature of their working week, convert to fewer days or hours of annual leave for a part-time employee when compared to a full-time employee.
[Optional, insert only if applicable]
The pro rata principle may also apply to other practical arrangements, such as irregular hours and part-year workers.
[Optional, only insert if applicable, for part-year workers and irregular hours workers]
Part-year workers and irregular hours workers
Your annual leave accrues on a basis of 12.07% of the hours worked in a pay reference period.
[Optional]
During your first year of employment, you are only permitted to take such leave as you have accrued in the current annual leave year.
[Optional]
You are only permitted to take such leave as you have accrued in the current annual leave year.
Authorisation and holiday year
All leave must be pre-authorised by the Organisation. Taking leave without authorisation will be considered a gross misconduct offence. Taking leave despite a declined request will be considered a gross misconduct offence. Gross misconduct offences may result in dismissal without notice. Further rules on booking leave from work are given below.
The Organisation’s holiday year runs from [enter start month] to [enter end month].
Booking leave
You must give notice of your request to take leave. Applications should be [delete as appropriate — sent to your line manager in writing [OR] submitted using the online holiday request forms [OR] sent to the HR department].
The following notice periods for leave requests apply.
| Period of leave requested | Period of notice required |
| A week or more (five days or more) | [Enter time period] |
| Less than a week (one to four days) | [Enter time period] |
The [delete as appropriate — line manager [OR] online holiday request system [OR] HR department] will notify the employee in writing to confirm whether your request has been granted.
You should not make any firm travel or accommodation arrangements, etc until you have received written confirmation that your request for leave has been granted. There may be circumstances where the Organisation cannot grant the request, such as operational/staffing requirements. The Organisation is not liable for any loss incurred, such as lost deposits, etc, where those costs and commitments have been made prior to receiving confirmation.
There may be more requests than usual for leave that coincides with school holidays/half-terms, due to the number of employees with children of school age. The Organisation will make every effort to accept as many of these requests as possible but has to have regard to its operations and ensuring there is sufficient cover for all work to be undertaken, considerations which sometimes need to take priority over granting leave requests.
We understand that unexpected events can arise that mean you have to change your plans, which can have a knock-on effect for your booked leave. Requests to cancel pre-booked annual leave should be made in writing to [enter job title or department] giving as much notice as possible. Whilst we will always try to accommodate the needs of our employees, it is sometimes necessary to balance the needs of the business as a whole against those of individual employees, including the considerations of arrangements that have already been made to cover your work during that time. Cancellation requests therefore may be authorised by [enter job title or department] at their discretion, taking into account your individual circumstances and the needs of the business, but [enter job title or department] reserves the right to refuse your request if the cancellation would have an adverse effect on the business.
Organisational requirements
[Optional]
The Organisation may reasonably require an employee to take annual leave without prior notification for reasons which will be explained to the employee at the time.
[Optional]
The Organisation operates an entire shutdown each year between [enter details] and requires all employees to take annual leave to cover this period of time. This period is not in addition to annual leave entitlement, so you need to retain sufficient annual leave to cover this period. It is the employee’s responsibility to ensure that sufficient annual leave entitlement remains each year to take during this period. You who do not have sufficient entitlement remaining should speak to your line manager about other available options.
[Optional]
The Organisation may ask an employee to cancel any previously agreed leave. There may be various reasons for this, such as operational or staffing issues, or business commitments that require the employee’s presence. The Organisation recognises the inconvenience that this may cause an employee and, therefore, understands that the employee may refuse this request.
The Organisation will make a decision on whether, where the cancellation is agreed and the employee suffers a financial detriment, eg lost deposits, etc the employee is to be reimbursed.
Public holidays
[Optional, only required where public holidays are part of your overall annual leave entitlement]
Due to the needs of the business, it may be necessary for an employee to work on a public holiday. Where this happens, you will be entitled to take a day’s leave at another time in the leave year to be agreed with the line manager in accordance with business needs.
Holiday pay
During annual leave, you will receive your normal pay.
[Optional, for leave years which begin on or after 1 April 2024, if you employ irregular hours workers or part-year workers who receive variable pay]
[If policy applies to non-irregular hours or part-year workers also include: If you work irregular hours, or for part of the year,] you/You will receive your normal pay during annual leave. This includes:
- payments, including commission payments, which are intrinsically linked to the performance of tasks which you must carry out under the terms of your contract
- payments for professional or personal status relating to length of service, seniority, or professional qualifications
- other payments, such as overtime payments, which have been regularly paid to the worker in the last 52 weeks.
Your holiday pay will be calculated as an average of pay received over the period of 52 weeks in which you have worked before your annual leave, including the above elements of pay.
[Optional, if you employ individuals whose pay varies due to the elements described below but whose hours do not vary]
As your pay varies, it is necessary for the Organisation to calculate your rate of holiday pay each time you take leave. For the first four weeks of your annual leave, you will receive your normal pay. This includes:
- payments, including commission payments, which are intrinsically linked to the performance of tasks which you must carry out under the terms of your contract
- payments for professional or personal status relating to length of service, seniority, or professional qualifications
- other payments, such as overtime payments, which have been regularly paid to the worker in the last 52 weeks.
Your holiday pay will be calculated over a period of 52 weeks in which you have worked, by taking the average pay received including the above elements.
For the remainder of your annual leave, you will receive holiday pay at your basic rate.
[Optional, if you employ individuals whose pay varies but not due to elements described above and whose hours do not vary]
Your holiday pay will be calculated as an average of pay received over the period of 52 weeks in which you have worked before your annual leave.
Rolled-up holiday pay
[Optional, where rolled-up holiday pay is paid to irregular hours workers or part-year workers. Note this option can only be used for leave years which begin on or after 1 April 2024. It cannot be used for those who are not irregular hours or part-year workers. The calculation of rolled-up holiday pay should be based on 12.07% where the worker is entitled to statutory minimum holiday. Where they are entitled to additional holiday, this percentage will change.]
Your holiday pay is paid on an ongoing basis. You will receive holiday pay in each pay period that will be rolled up along with your pay for that period. Rolled-up holiday pay will be clearly and separately marked on your payslip.
Your rolled-up holiday pay will be based on 12.07% of the total pay for the work you have done in the pay reference period for which you are being paid. This will be paid to you as an additional amount each pay period.
As your holiday pay is paid each time you are paid, you will not receive holiday pay during annual leave.
Should you be absent from work due to sickness or some other form of statutory leave, such as maternity or adoption leave, your rolled-up holiday pay will continue to be paid. This payment will be equal to the average amount of holiday pay you received in each pay period in the 52 weeks prior to going onto leave.
New starters and pre-booked leave
During the recruitment process, prospective employees may be asked whether they have any leave booked that would take place after commencement of employment. If the individual is recruited, the Organisation will normally allow such leave to be taken.
The rules on accrual of annual leave may mean that you have not, at the time that leave is to be taken, accrued such length of leave to cover your holiday. In this case, your line manager will agree with you how any time off in excess of accrued leave will be covered.
It is Organisational policy not to permit leave within [enter time period] of commencement of employment unless leave was pre-booked before employment commenced.
Holidays and sickness
The normal sickness notification procedures will apply when you are on leave and wish to reallocate the period of leave as sickness. Where such notification is received, the Organisation may permit those days to be classed as sick days and equivalent time off taken as paid leave later in the leave year provided the leave falls within the statutory minimum entitlement. The days on which the leave is to be taken must be agreed with the Organisation.
If you are on an overseas holiday when you fall sick, you should contact the Organisation as soon as reasonably practicable.
Family leave
You may be entitled to either maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave, or other such leave in relation to your family/dependants. Family leave is in addition to the employee’s statutory 5.6 weeks of annual leave.
Annual leave will continue to accrue during periods of family leave and, as part of a pre-leave meeting that will be arranged between you and your line manager, a discussion will take place covering the taking of annual leave around family leave.
Untaken annual leave
The Organisation encourages you to use all of your leave entitlement each year so that you have the opportunity to rest. You will be given reasonable opportunity to take your leave and you should ensure you take at least four weeks’ annual leave in each leave year.
Ordinarily, untaken leave cannot be carried forward into the next leave year and will be lost. Approval must be sought from [delete as appropriate — employee’s line manager [OR] the HR department] if you wish to carry forward any annual leave into the next leave year. The line manager has sole discretion to permit or decline this, subject to the provisions on sickness below.
Ordinarily, the Organisation will not permit payment in lieu of annual leave unless exceptional circumstances apply. In every case, payment in lieu of the statutory minimum entitlement will not be permitted.
Untaken leave due to sickness absence
If sickness means that you cannot take your full leave entitlement in a leave year, you may be able to carry forward some of the leave. This is usually limited to a maximum of four weeks’ leave, minus any leave already taken (including public holidays) and can be carried forward up to a maximum of 18 months following the end of the leave year in which it was accrued.
Untaken leave due to family leave
If you are absent due to statutory family leave, any annual leave accrued in an annual leave year that has not been taken due to that absence will be carried over into the next annual leave year.
Termination of employment
When employment terminates part way through a leave year, your leave entitlement will be recalculated on a pro rata basis. This will determine the amount of leave you would be entitled to, for the period of service during the leave year.
Any outstanding leave accrued but untaken will be paid to you in your final pay. This is subject to the right of the Organisation for you to take your outstanding leave during your notice period. Otherwise, the amount due for outstanding leave will be added to your final pay.
If you have exceeded your pro rata entitlement to holidays at the time you leave your employment, this will be classed as an overpayment and an amount to cover this will be deducted from your final pay, subject to the maximum that your final pay permits.