The government has announced it is allowing workers to carry over up to four weeks’ annual leave into the next two leave years.
The change is aimed at allowing businesses under particular pressure from the impacts of COVID-19 the flexibility to better manage their workforce, while protecting workers’ rights to paid holiday.
Currently all workers are entitled to 28 days’ (or 5.6 weeks’) holiday each year, including bank holidays. However, most of this entitlement cannot be carried over to the next leave year, meaning workers lose their holiday if they do not take it.
The new regulations, The Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, will allow workers to carry over up to four weeks’ of unused leave into the next two leave years, where it is not reasonably practicable for them to take holiday they are entitled to due to the impact of coronavirus.
The regulations only deal with the four weeks’ leave provided by EU law. The balance of 1.6 weeks’ statutory leave will not be affected (although it can be carried over for up to a year by agreement under existing law).
This not only means that staff can continue working in the national effort against coronavirus without losing out on annual leave entitlement, but it also ensures employers have the flexibility to allow workers to carry over holiday at a time when granting annual leave could leave them short-staffed in key industries.