Holiday pay question.

xbethany

I don't understand things like these so I'm probably being really dumb, haha. So thank you to anyone who can help.


Someone told me that once the holiday year is up all your accrued pay for that previous year is lost. Is that true? If so, how am I supposed to know when the holiday year start/end? Since starting last March I've accrued £952 worth of holiday pay that I've not yet taken. Is it possible that one day it could just be 'reset' and I could lose all that?

I can't believe that's true because that doesn't make any sense as I've accrued way more than you'd be paid in 5.6 weeks holiday pay. Plus if it did reset in, say, March, and you take a two-week holiday in April you'd not get as much holiday pay as you would if you took a two-week holiday in September.

I work at a franchise store. In the handbook it says "holiday pay cannot be paid in lieu" and that "in the event of you leaving the Company, you will be paid all outstanding holiday pay accrued during your holiday leave year", suggesting that there is a 'holiday year' which will 'reset' once a year, but there are no dates or anything. Does that just mean the actual time (the 5.6 weeks) or the money you've accrued.

I'm planning on taking a four week holiday in May, say the Holiday Fund does reset in March and I start accruing from scratch, I wouldn't get paid for the four weeks, as I'd only get what I'd accrued so far (which would be less than four weeks pay), however if I were to take four weeks off in September I'd get the full four-week holiday pay. Which doesn't seem fair as people who take holiday towards the end of the holiday year would get more holiday pay than people who take holidays at the beginning of the year, even though they're entitled to the same 5.6 weeks paid holiday.

I don't want to lose money that I'm entitled to, because I didn't take enough holidays last year (we're entitled to 5.6 weeks, but since starting in March I've taken 3 weeks.), or because I take holidays at the 'wrong' time of year. But like I said even if I had taken 5.6 weeks I wouldn't have been give £950+ just for th two weeks holiday I didn't take. I don't want the actual leave (ie 2.6 weeks) to be carried over into the next 'holiday year' (whatever that is), I just need to know that the holiday pay that I've accrued will be carried over.

Darksparkle

Ask your employer when their holiday year runs.

Many employers run it differently.

Mines is currently the first of the month following the date I started. Used to be my start date.

Some employers are calendar year, some financial year.

Guest101

Time off is not annual leave.


Annual leave is paid holiday. If it hasn't reset, it will most likely do so at the end of march.


I suggest you books some annual leave between now and then.


The pay and the leave are tied in to one another.

t0rt0ise

Most jobs only allow a certain amount of holiday to be carried over to the next year and therefore if most isn't taken in the current year it's lost. It should say in the rules somewhere, in the contract or works handbook. If not then ask. Nobody here can know the rules that your particular company work to.

paddedjohn

Op, are you on a zero hours contract? If so you can request holiday pay at any time. If for example you are working Monday to Friday you can say sat and sun are holidays and get holiday pay for it.

tomtontom

Do you work a lot of hours OP? I'd agree that £952 seems high for 2.6 weeks.

scholesfan88

These are basic questions you should be asking your line manager as alot of the answers are company/employee specific.

xbethany

tomtontom wrote: »

Do you work a lot of hours OP? I'd agree that £952 seems high for 2.6 weeks.

I just work full time 5 nights (night-shift) a week, usually it's five 8 hour shift (including 45 mins unpaid break - but you just get paid for what you clock in and out, so sometimes you don't take your full 45), but shifts can be as long as ten hours.

That's why I don't understand why you'd be accruing that much if it were to just be reset on, say, the end of March. Meaning that if you take a two-week holiday in April, and you've not accrued enough since it was reset, you'd only get what you'd accrued so far, not actually two-weeks worth. But if you take it in September you'd have accrued enough to get the full two-weeks pay. Which doesn't seem fair as you'd get less holiday pay even though you were entitled to the same 5.6 weeks, just because you took a holiday at the 'wrong' time of year (ie just after the holiday year had begun).

xbethany

paddedjohn wrote: »

Op, are you on a zero hours contract? If so you can request holiday pay at any time. If for example you are working Monday to Friday you can say sat and sun are holidays and get holiday pay for it.

I'm gonna be really stupid again, but how do I know if I'm on a zero hours contract? I signed a contract when I first started but I didn't get a copy to keep myself. I'm not guaranteed a certain about of hours per week. I'm just classed as 'full time', and while I do get five shifts a week, some other people who are also classed as full time only get four.

I've heard of people putting in (back-dated) holiday pay request slips for days they phoned in sick on.

getmore4less

What rate of pay on your shift?

Guest101

xbethany wrote: »

I just work full time 5 nights (night-shift) a week, usually it's five 8 hour shift (including 45 mins unpaid break - but you just get paid for what you clock in and out, so sometimes you don't take your full 45), but shifts can be as long as ten hours.

That's why I don't understand why you'd be accruing that much if it were to just be reset on, say, the end of March. Meaning that if you take a two-week holiday in April, and you've not accrued enough since it was reset, you'd only get what you'd accrued so far, not actually two-weeks worth. But if you take it in September you'd have accrued enough to get the full two-weeks pay. Which doesn't seem fair as you'd get less holiday pay even though you were entitled to the same 5.6 weeks, just because you took a holiday at the 'wrong' time of year (ie just after the holiday year had begun).

That's not how it works.


You are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid leave.


typically: If you take holiday early, you are still paid for that time. And if you leave before you've actually accrued it, they will recover it from your final wages.