Supporting Scotland's vibrant voluntary sector
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Guide to holiday entitlement and pay
There are many variations to how holiday entitlements and pay are calculated. It can become quite complex, so this guide has been produced as an aid to understand the various circumstances and eventualities. The guide includes the following:
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Minimum statutory requirements
The minimum statutory requirement for full-time employees or workers is 28 days or 5.6 weeks which can include public holidays. The minimum statutory entitlement of part-time employees or workers is based on the time that they work. So, a part-time employee who works 2.5 days per week is entitled to 14 daysu2019 paid holiday per [u2026]
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Public holidays
Not all public holidays will necessarily be included in an employeeu2019s holiday entitlement u2013 this will depend on the organisationu2019s policy on this and the needs of the business. Contracts of employment may stipulate that all bank/public holidays must be taken as part of the statutory holiday entitlement or may stipulate that only particular bank [u2026]
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Holiday carry over
Often organisations will not allow holidays to be carried forward into the next holiday year apart from in exceptional circumstances. In a series of decisions, includingu00a0Stringer v HMRC [2009]u00a0andu00a0Pereda v Madrid Molividad [2009], the Court of Justice of the European Union effectively held that employees should be entitled to carry forward holidays to the next [u2026]
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Unauthorised annual leave and sickness during annual leave
If unauthorised annual holiday is taken the employer may take disciplinary action. If an employee is ill during a holiday period, they may be able to regain any days of holidays lost on which they were sick to be taken at a later date. Any such period of sickness will have to be proven and [u2026]
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Holiday requests and booking procedures
The Working Time Regulations 1998 broadly speaking state that both an employee and an employer should give twice as long notice as the period of holiday requested by the employee or required by the employer. So, if five daysu2019 leave is requested, the employee should give 10 daysu2019 notice. The regulations also permit organisations to [u2026]
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Unpaid leave and the holiday year
Unpaid leave An employer may allow staff to have unpaid leave beyond the holiday entitlement in certain circumstances. Additional leave can be at the discretion of the employer, although there can be statutory entitlement to unpaid leave, for example, under the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations. Holiday year The holiday year does not have to [u2026]
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Flexi-time systems
If an organisation adopts a flexible working time system, any extra hours worked on top of normal contractual hours may be added to the employeeu2019s flexi-time record. In most cases, once a number of flexi-hours have been built up, the employee can request to have that amount of time off as paid holiday. There is [u2026]
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Holiday pay calculations
Holiday pay used to be calculated with reference to the normal working day, or week, at basic hourly rates excluding any other additional payments or allowances. However, in a number of cases, it has been held that where a workeru2019s pay normally includes commission (Lock) or where a benefit is intrinsically linked to their performance [u2026]
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Holiday pay on termination of employment and sickness
When employment is terminated, the employee will be entitled to pay in lieu of any holiday accrued in the current holiday year but not taken (see u2018Flexi time systemsu2019 on whether there is an obligation to include reasonable time in lieu or flexi-time hours built up but not taken). If an employee is off sick [u2026]
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Accrued and rolled up holiday pay
During other forms of leave such as Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML), Additional Maternity Leave (AML), Ordinary Paternity Leave (OPL), Additional Paternity Leave (APL), Adoption Leave (AL), Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and sick leave, an employeeu2019s entitlement to holiday pay will continue to accrue at the normal rate of pay stipulated in the contract of employment. [u2026]
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Annual leave and coronavirus
The impact of COVID-19 may mean it is difficult for workers to take all their statutory annual leave entitlement because, for example, demand at work means that taking annual leave is not feasible. The Government has amended the Working Time Regulations 1998 to give workers the statutory right to carry over 4 weeks of annual [u2026]
Last modified on 15 November 2022