It turns out we may be getting way less holiday allowance than we're entitled to

Um, what!?

Whether it's because of sheer ignorance or on purpose, workers are still being mislead about their holiday entitlement and we think it's time to clear that all up.

We already know everything there is to know about pensions and voluntary redundancy but what about annual leave!?

Citizen Advice have recently published studies highlighting how workers are being exploited because of confusion about what they're actually entitled to, with the advice line helping 10,000 cases regarding paid holiday every year.

Metro recently published a chart from Gov.uk on what exactly our rights are and we thought we'd re-publish it's pretty eye-opening. *Immediately calculates holiday entitlement.*

Paid holiday rights

Entitlement

'Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday per year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave). An employer can include bank holidays as part of statutory annual leave.'

You can use this statutory leave calculator to work out exactly how much holiday you're entitled to.

Working five days a week

'Most workers who work a five-day week must receive 28 days’ paid annual leave per year. This is calculated by multiplying a normal week (five days) by the annual entitlement of 5.6 weeks.'

Working part-time

'Part-time workers are also entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year, although this may amount to fewer actual days of paid holiday than a full-time worker would get.'

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'For example: A worker works 3 days a week. Their leave is calculated by multiplying 3 by 5.6, which comes to 16.8 days of annual paid leave.'

Irregular hours

'People working irregular hours – eg shift work or term-time work – need to calculate their leave entitlement for irregular hours.'

Limits on statutory leave

'Statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days. Staff working 6 days a week are only entitled to 28 days’ paid holiday and not 33.6 days (5.6 multiplied by 6).'

Bank holidays

'Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.'

Extra leave

'An employer can choose to offer more leave than the legal minimum. They don’t have to apply all the rules that apply to statutory leave to the extra leave. For example, a worker might need to be employed for a certain amount of time before they become entitled to it.'

Other aspects of holiday entitlement

'Workers have the right to:

Get paid for leave

Build up (‘accrue’) holiday entitlement during maternity, paternity and adoption leave

Build up holiday entitlement while off work sick

Request holiday at the same time as sick leave

Disputes

Paid annual leave is a legal right that an employer must provide. If a worker thinks their right to leave and pay are not being met there are a number of ways to resolve the dispute.'