The challenges of festive leave …
There are numerous challenges to overcome when managing annual leave over the Christmas and New Year period, especially if your annual leave year runs from January to December.
Christmas often means an unprecedented number of annual leave requests, so we’ve devised some helpful guidance to assist you in preparing for the festive season.
Managing annual leave
Christmas may be your busiest time of year, and if so it’s important to plan ahead. Talk to staff to ensure they are booking their annual leave at regular intervals through the year. Whether you have a self-service system for requesting leave, paper forms or a central spreadsheet, managers should monitor how many annual leave days staff have left to take, and encourage staff to book leave that’s not used.
Carrying over annual leave into future leave years
The 5.6 weeks (28 days for a full-time staff member) of statutory holiday is divided into 4 weeks (EU Working Time Directive required leave) and 1.6 weeks (statutory leave). There are different rules that apply:
The 1.6 weeks can be carried forward into the following leave year if a written agreement exists between the worker and the employer in their leave policy
Generally, the four weeks cannot be carried into future leave years, so employers must facilitate these weeks being taken within the relevant leave year
Some workers may have contracts that give them additional paid annual leave in excess of the UK minimum 5.6 weeks. The 4 weeks that cannot be carried over into future leave years (under the EU Working Time Directive) still applies.
There are some circumstances when employers must allow the four weeks to be carried over into the next leave year. This is when a worker cannot take annual leave due to sickness or family leave for example.
Do employees have the right to take annual leave over Christmas?
Unless a contract of employment states anything different, an annual leave request is exactly that – ‘a request.’
Some businesses traditionally see extra demand for their products and services over the festive period. Other organisations may be happy to have staff off work during a naturally quieter period of the year. Either way, employers are legally entitled to restrict when staff take annual leave. It’s important to ensure all workers are aware of your leave policy, especially expectations over the Christmas period.
Can an employer insist that staff take annual leave over a specific period of set days?
Employers can instruct staff that they need to book leave at specific times of the year, which is not uncommon between Christmas and New Year dates. Ideally you will have given staff a heads up at the beginning of the holiday year, with specific dates communicated well in advance. Without prior notice, staff may not have sufficient leave left to take the time off as paid leave.
As a minimum, employers must give double the notice in comparison with the days of leave being instructed, so if you’re asking staff to book 5 working days holiday, employers should be providing at least 10 working days’ notice.
Check out other Blogs in our series:
Please contact Robinson Grace HR for further advice and support via clientservices@robinsongracehr.com or call us on 01793 311937 to see if we can help you.
The content of our blogs is intended for general information only and does not replace legal or other professional advice.
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