ANNUAL LEAVE RULES RELAXED TO ALLOW IT TO BE TAKEN OVER A 2 YEAR CYCLE

Statutory annual leave entitlement has been amended to enable workers, who cannot take leave due to Covid-19, to carry this over into the next 2 leave years.

At present most employees are entitled to 28 days’ holiday, including bank holidays, per year (pro rata for part time).  The rules state that most are not able to carry any over to the next year, if not taken and therefore lose that holiday entitlement.

The obligation is on the employer to ensure that all employees take said statutory entitlement during the year with financial penalties if not.

The Government have announced that these regulations are to be relaxed with up to 4 weeks of holiday entitlement, not taken, to be carried over into the next 2 leave years.  It thereby eases the requirements for employers,

• ensuring that the whole holiday entitlement does not need to be taken in one year.
• those particularly affected by Covid-19 have the flexibility to allow employees to carry over holiday and thereby not leaving them short staffed at a future date when all annual leave needs to be taken by.

These changes will amend the Working Time Regulations which covers the majority of workers such as agency workers, those who work irregular house and workers on zero-hours contracts.

There is always an obligation on the employer to ensure that employees have sufficient opportunity to take holiday and it cannot be replaced with payment in lieu.

The exception to this is when the employee leaves.  If the latter arises, regulations have been amended further to take account of this.  Any holiday pay due will also incorporate any carried over and not taken due to Covid-19 and will be paid accordingly.

Source: Accountancy Daily

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