When it comes to our holiday entitlement, the British Public are surprisingly uneducated when it comes to
how much they are actually legally entitled to. Most people, if you ask them, would
be able to tell you that the entitlement is roughly around three weeks, but
even then a fair portion of them would not be able to give you a specific
number of days they are entitled to, and would not be able to get into the
finer details of the legal rules of holiday entitlement.
This is something that both
employers and employees have to know. If you are an employee, you need to know
how many you are entitled to and the laws surrounding it in order to ensure
that your rights are catered to and that your boss doesn’t ever try to take
advantage of you. For an employer, the knowledge is also vital, as, if you are
unclear on the laws, then it could lead you into trouble; it could undermine
your position of authority with your employees, or even in extreme cases lead
to legal action.
So what do you need to know? The
first thing you need to know is that nearly all (check with government sources
for exceptions) employees are entitled to 5.6 paid weeks holiday per year
(known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave). The major exception to
this rule is the self-employed, who make their own decision on their own
holiday entitlement.
However, this rule means that
when you are working a five day week, as is standard for the majority of
employees in Britain, you get 28 paid leave days per year. This is because to
calculate this you multiply the 5.6 figure by the five days you work a week.
This means that for the vast majority of workers the figure is 28 days.
When it comes to the part time
employed, the rules slightly differ. They are still entitled to the 5.6 minimum
week’s entitlement; however this can amount to fewer holiday days as it goes
through the calculation of 5.6 multiplied by the number of days you work. For
example if you worked three days and did the calculation you would be entitled
to 16.8 days holiday. There is also a legal limit on statutory paid holiday
entitlement, it is capped at 28 days; notably staff working six days a week
would not be able to get more than 28 days even though the calculation would
give them 33.6 days.
However it’s time to decode
another myth. Many people think that this number does not include Bank
Holidays. This legally is at the employers discretion. They can choose to make
bank holidays a part of the legal holiday day entitlement if they so wish,
although some employers choose not to and have them as extra holiday days. It’s
entirely up to the employer. On that note an employer can offer extra leave,
but again the employer is not legally entitled to do so, it is at their
discretion.
It should be noted that every
employee is entitled to annual holiday leave and if you have more questions
around this complex area of employment law professionals at Nicholas Frimond
would be happy to give you a helping hand; to ensure that your rights are being
respected and upheld.
