Can I Force My Employees to Take Annual Holidays in the UK?

In the UK, employers have a legal obligation to provide their staff with paid annual leave. Understanding the nuances of this requirement is crucial for maintaining compliance and fostering a positive work environment. While most employees eagerly use their holiday allowance, situations may arise where staff members are reluctant to take time off. 

Additionally, some employers may operate shut-down periods over Christmas or industry-specific times during the year. This can create challenges for employers who must balance workplace productivity with legal obligations and employee wellbeing. This article explores the statutory leave entitlements for UK employees and addresses a common question faced by many employers: Can you require your staff to take their annual holidays? We’ll delve into the legal framework surrounding this issue and provide practical guidance for navigating these situations effectively.

What Is the Legal Annual Leave Entitlement?

 Full-time employees have the right to a statutory leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks or 28 days per year. You can calculate the necessary leave amount for part-time workers by multiplying the number of days they work by 5.6. For example, someone working three days per week would be entitled to 16.8 days of statutory leave per year.

If an employee works more than a five-day week, there is no legal requirement to increase their annual leave entitlement. However, some employers may provide additional annual leave beyond the statutory minimum as an employment benefit. Furthermore, it is at your discretion whether to include public holidays as part of your employee’s statutory annual leave entitlement. If you elect to do this and expect staff to work on a bank holiday, you must provide them with a day off instead of that holiday.

Generally, when an employee requests leave, they must give double the notice period for the number of days they want. Therefore, requesting two days of leave would require four days’ notice.

What Rights Do Employees Have?

In addition to the existence of a statutory (legal) leave entitlement, employees also have the right to:

• receive pay whilst on annual leave;
• build up their annual leave whilst taking other forms of leave such as any maternity leave; and
• receive payment in lieu of any accrued but unused holiday upon termination of employment.

Generally, unless you provide your employees with the option to carry over their unused holiday allowance in their employment contract, all holidays accrued during the year must be used within the same holiday year. 

That being said, there are exceptions, such as long-term sickness absence or maternity leave, where holidays accrue but cannot be taken during this period. In these cases, you must allow the unused holidays to be carried over by law. 

Can You Force an Employee to Take Their Annual Leave Entitlement?

Despite the rights afforded to employees in terms of holiday entitlement, you also have rights as an employer. In addition to employee health benefits, unused annual leave appears to be a cost on the business’s profit and loss statement (P&L), so many companies prefer employees to use their leave during the financial year.

As an employer, you can also request when employees take their holiday leave. Providing such a request is reasonable and does not discriminate. You may use this right where, for example, you want to ensure employees take a holiday at Christmas, especially if this is a quiet period for the business. 

On the contrary, you want to ensure all business areas are adequately covered at one given time and encourage your staff to rest and reset.

What Limits Are in Place?

Some rules surround your right to force employees to take annual holidays. For example, you must:

• record rules relating to when employees can take their leave, as well as any restrictions, within their employment contract or a separate staff policy or handbook;
• include your own fixed leave in any written rules – otherwise, where you do not have your own leave year, there are separate rules regarding when this would be for an employee; and
• ensure all rules are clear, justified, and applied consistently and fairly.  

Where there are no written rules, you must legally give an employee double the notice required per day of leave. Therefore, if you ask your employee to take three days’ leave, you should give them six days’ notice.

Equally, if you refuse the holiday leave dates your employee has requested, you must notify them. The minimum notice required is the length of the leave period they asked for. Therefore, if your employee requested eight days of leave, you must give them eight days’ notice before this.

You are also entitled to force an employee to take unpaid leave during a shutdown. However, you can only do this if the employment agreement with the relevant employee allows for this action.

Key Takeaways

You are legally obliged to encourage employees to take their annual holidays. There are rules surrounding statutory holiday leave and rights afforded to both you and the employee. As part of these, you can force an employee to take annual holidays at a chosen time. You can also refuse the dates that the employee requests. However, you must know that rules surround how you force an employee to take annual leave.

If you need help with your employee’s annual holidays, LegalVision’s experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions