Christmas Bank Holiday Entitlements
There are three public holidays coming over the festive season – Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Although many offices across the country will close during this period it can be one of the busiest times of the year for industries including retail, hospitality, and hair and beauty. So what public holiday entitlement are employees entitled to over this time?
Bank holiday entitlement
Employers do not have to give employees paid leave on bank holidays. Any right to time off, payment for time off or extra pay for bank holidays worked depends on the terms of the employee's contract of employment. Therefore employees may be required to work on bank holidays. Employers may choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.
Holiday leave entitlement
Employees’ holiday rights start on the first day of their employment.
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, workers (including most agency and freelance workers) have the right to:
• 5.6 Weeks’ paid leave each year, this equates to 28 days for full-time employees
Part-time employees
Part-time employees are entitled to the same holidays as full-time workers, calculated on a pro-rata basis. For example:
• 5.6 x 5 working days = 28 days
• 5.6 x 4 working days = 22.4 days
• 5.6 x 3 working days = 16.8 days
Irregular hours
Annual leave for irregular workers is best calculated as a percentage using 12.07% of days worked.
Limits on statutory leave
Statutory leave is capped at 28 days per year. If an employee works 6 days per week their statutory entitlement is 28 days, not 33.6 (6 multiply by 5.6)
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