Making sense of holiday leave: guidance for your members

Managing holiday leave can sometimes seem a bit tricky, especially during peak periods like Easter and bank holidays, when requests often flood in. The process sometimes means your members might have to do more planning to make sure all their employees get the holiday they’re entitled to, while focusing on keeping their business running. So, Citation are here to give you a quick rundown of all things annual leave to help you support your members – from holiday entitlement to handling holiday leave requests.

Understanding holiday entitlements

Your members have to state their employee’s holiday entitlement in their written statement of particulars. The statutory minimum annual holiday entitlement is 5.6 working weeks (28 days, including bank holidays) for an employee with a five-day week. This entitlement can be pro-rated for part-time employees based on their work patterns.

Part-year and irregular hours workers

Any part-year workers your members have are entitled to a holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks that shouldn’t be pro-rated or reduced to reflect that they don’t work through the whole year. It’s very important not to confused part-year and part-time workers as they are different.

Employers also have the option to state that part-year workers and irregular hours workers only accrue holiday when they work. They can also choose that these workers can only take holiday once it’s been accrued, and choose whether to pay rolled-up holiday pay. In other words, your members can pay an uplift to pay each pay period which represents their employees’ holiday pay. The minimum uplift would be 12.07% based on a 5.6 week holiday entitlement.

Carrying holidays forward

As a rule, annual leave can’t be carried from one year to the next, as it could result in an employee taking less than their statutory minimum – which they have to take every year. But there are some exceptions.

If an employee can’t use their holiday days because of sickness, a maximum of four weeks annual leave can be carried forward, and if an employee can’t take accrued holiday during statutory leave like maternity or shared parental leave, this can also be carried forward into the next year.

Managing employee leave requests

With holiday leave being such an important aspect of employee satisfaction, it’s crucial your members have a clear and fair process for managing leave requests. Here are our top tips for managing the process smoothly.

Your members…

· Should have a documented policy in place for requesting and approving holiday leave. This will ensure consistency and avoid any confusion or misunderstandings.

· Need to make sure all their employees are aware of the policy and follow it consistently. Any changes or updates to the policy should also be communicated clearly to all their employees.

· Could consider implementing a system for tracking leave requests, such as an online calendar or spreadsheet, to avoid any clashes or double bookings.

· Should work out a fair way of prioritising requests. They could do it on a ‘first come first serve’ basis, but they might also need to do it based on business needs and staffing levels. If they can, they should try to accommodate everyone’s requests.

o If there are conflicts, they should communicate openly with their employees and find a fair solution.

· Should encourage employees to plan their holiday requests in advance, especially during peak times or busy periods for your business. This helps with better staffing management and avoids any last-minute conflicts.

Managing holidays at doesn’t need to be stressful for your members – just remind them to prioritise clear communication, fairness as much as possible and compliance with legal requirements.

Citation – by your side.

Holiday leave can be a tricky part of running a business and something your members might find a bit of a headache – but it’s one of the many things we can support with.

Working with us means you’ll be able to get must-know information out to your members including content for your newsletters, free guides (like our full guide on holiday leave here) and joint webinars and events. And, if your members need more support, we’ll make sure they get our bespoke compliance packages for less with preferential rates. For more information about becoming a Citation partner email partnerships@citation.co.uk or visit our website.