holiday pay refused while off sick

lorryw

My husband has been off sick since November due to a work related accident. He is now coming to the end of SSP.
On Monday he emailed his employer and asked for payment of his accrued holiday payment . This has been refused and he received the following reply
"Holiday entitlement can be requested at anytime during the holiday year but it is the employers decision when it can be taken. It would be quite unusual to pay holiday entitlement unless the contract has come to an end when we would of course factor in any accrued holiday not taken"
Are they able to refuse, we really need the money at the moment.

Missme

lorryw wrote: »

Are they able to refuse, we really need the money at the moment.

Yup they can.

Torry_Quine

They can refuse. Has he put in a claim for ESA yet?

getmore4less

It might be worth reminding them that the continuing acrued holiday carry over any holiday year so they are accumulating a liability and just extra paid time not working once of the sick

unless the employer needs to accumulate the holiday(short of work) it is usually in their interest to get the holiday used up.

Takeaway_Addict

getmore4less wrote: »

It might be worth reminding them that the continuing acrued holiday carry over any holiday year so they are accumulating a liability and just extra paid time not working once of the sick

unless the employer needs to accumulate the holiday(short of work) it is usually in their interest to get the holiday used up.

conversely the employer may have the view (correctly) 'Better in my bank accruing interest than theirs'

lorryw

I get a little confused!
He made the request because someone on this site advised that he had a legal right to ask.

Torry_Quine

lorryw wrote: »

I get a little confused!
He made the request because someone on this site advised that he had a legal right to ask.

He asked and was refused, it's not a legal right to get it but only to request it.

paddedjohn

If he is on the sick he is entitled to be paid holiday pay instead.

lorryw

Thanks,
Just looked on gov.uk "employees can chose to take holiday instead of sick leave"

paddedjohn

Sick leave and holiday

Statutory holiday entitlement is built up (accrued) while an employee is off work sick (no matter how long they’re off).
Any statutory holiday entitlement that isn’t used because of illness can be carried over into the next leave year.
Employees can choose to take holiday instead of sick leave. For example, because they don’t qualify for sick pay. Also, if an employee is ill just before or during their leave, they can take it as sick leave and take the missed leave at a later date.

Missme

I think the holiday/sick leave thing is conflicted.

If you are sick you are sick - nothing the employer can do about that other than implement ill health procedures.

There is no right to have demanded holiday when an employee wants it.

E.g. I am aware that my employer refuses all leave in December. I am sick in December and demand/ask for it to be paid as leave. The employer says on your bike. Do I have a claim? I think not.