With summer well upon us, the Government has begun consultation on its plans to give all workers an extra 8 days paid holiday each year by law. The new provisions reflect the number of permanent bank and public holidays in the UK.

Under the Working Time Regulations workers are entitled to 4 weeks paid leave each year but this includes public holidays. Generally employees have no right by law to have paid holiday on public holidays, though most employers do allow their employees paid time off on public holidays. The Government now proposes an amendment in the Working Time Regulations to provide for 5.6 weeks’ leave i.e. 28 days for someone who works 5 days per week. As with the existing leave entitlement, this will have to be pro-rated for part time employees. Interestingly, the Regulations will specify a maximum entitlement of 28 days. As such, even if a worker works 6 out of every 7 days, their leave will be capped at 28 days. In any event, the holiday will not have to be given on the dates of the statutory holidays themselves, and it is anticipated that scheduling of leave will continue to be a matter for the employer and the worker.

To assist employers, implementation is to be in at least two phases, with the first increase in entitlement (to 4.8 weeks/24 days) to apply from 1 October 2007. As part of the consultation, views are being sought as to when and how to introduce the remaining increase.

Some specific questions are also being posed. Annual leave provided under the Regulations cannot be replaced by a payment in lieu (except on termination) and workers are not entitled to carry over this leave to the next holiday year. However, as the proposed increase will effectively be out with the underlying EU Directive’s reach for grasp (being an entirely domestic enhancement) the Government has asked whether:

  • employers should be able to "buy out" the additional leave?
  • workers should be entitled to carry over this part of annual leave into another leave year?

While many employers would welcome the extra scope for flexibility that these options offer, it is also suggested that some may object to the administrative burden that may arise.

The consultation document can be found by clicking here. Responses should be submitted prior to 22 September 2006, when the consultation will close.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

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The original publication date for this article was 21/06/2006.