Contract

Undervalued

jadie111111 said:

Iv asked them to tell me exactly how much holiday I am owed I’m guessing around 20 days. What would you suggest is a reasonable counter offer? They also didn’t want to put any of it down in writing which rang alarm bells for me! I can’t really do the 11 weeks notice as my reason for not returning to work is due to child care but by taking the furlough I feel I’m missing out on a lot of days paid holiday 

Keep in mind that they do not have to allow you to take any of the accrued holiday during your 11 weeks notice. Obviously if they don't they will have to pay you for it after you leave but legally it is entirely their choice.

"Can't really do the 11 weeks" is not an answer.

Hopefully you can reach an acceptable compromise that suits both parties. However as somebody else suggested earlier, if they were trying to get rid of you without the proper notice I am sure you would be (rightly) aggrieved. It works both ways!

getmore4less

A key to any negotiation is trying to understand what they really want

Do they  want you back for 11 weeks or is that a bluff because they know you can't do it.

Why do you guess around 20 days holiday are you part time ? 

to go back for 11 weeks after 15 months 

holiday year and how much holiday you get needed
Most of that was maternity so would carry over and I did 2 months extra.after 12 to get 6.5+ weeks.
statutory minimum for the 15 months off will be around 
15/12*5.6 =7 weeks,  less any holiday taken in anticipation of maternity.

As for counter offers it comes down that first point.
they could have you back for 11 weeks and also pay out the holiday  18 weeks total
they could have you back use up the holiday and pay for another 4 weeks actual work time
could you scrape child care for those weeks to call their potential bluff.

low counter
They could have had you use up holiday during furlough so a low counter offer would be they top up your 11 weeks furlough to 100% and effectively back date your notice period that uses up the holiday as well 
that works out at 2.2 weeks extra pay.

medium counter 
pay some of the holiday but more than 2.2 weeks worth and let you go early

Full counter 
pay all the holiday to avoid them having to pay for 4 weeks of what will end up being fairly low quality time for them and they will have to have someone do the training.
(unless they have some work for you that won't require training like sort out the stock room)

Notice period is full pay, even if you go for their offer of losing the holiday pay they would need to top up the furlough.

TBagpuss

11 weeks is quite a long time, it's not unreasonable for them to want you to work it, especially as the furlough scheme is being wound down - this month, your employer is paying your tax, NI and 10% of your salary, next month they will have to pay tax, NI and 20% of your salary, and after that there is no furlough so for the last week or so of your notice period they would have to pay you full salary. It's not unreasonable that they want to have you work to cover at least some of those costs.

If you have about 20 days leave then you can ask to book that in and use the time, rather than being paid out when you leave, which leaves you 7 weeks of notice 
They are effectively offering to agree to accept a shorter notice period (which reduced what they need to pay you, so saves them money) and in return, you get the shorter period you wanted so you don't have to come in to work. 

Why not counter offer to propose that you shorten you notice period to 4 weeks and take all those 4 weeks to use up your accrued leave?

Thant way, you get paid at your full salary for 4 weeks and then leave at the end of that time, so you don't have to go back to work and they just pay the accrued holiday which they would have to pay one way or another any way.