Furlough and Holiday Pay

JessyRM

sharpe106 said:

What about people that actually had to go into work for the full year and have had to take holiday? Should they get it all back too?

Exactly! I have worked throughout and I've had to use my holiday to look after my daughter when her nursery closed. OP I think offering you full pay in March is generous considering the amount of time you have had off. 

epm-84

debsa said:

this will equate to approximately £200 extra on the months pay for 28 days owed holiday which doesn't seem right; HMRC's definition of what should be considered as holiday is this:  "If an employer requires a worker to take holiday while on furlough, the employer should consider whether any restrictions the worker is under, such as the need to socially distance or self-isolate, would prevent the worker from resting, relaxing and enjoying leisure time, which is the fundamental purpose of holiday." 
I would argue that taking 4 weeks holiday during the pandemic does not meet the essence of "the fundamental purpose of a holiday" as I live alone, socially distance from everyone and it is not relaxing and does not allow me leisure time that I would ordinarily enjoy on a "normal" holiday. 

First point is you say there's 28 days owed. Is that 28 days in addition to any Bank Holidays you haven't worked?

Second point is it sounds like you have been on reduced pay for a whole year. 
- Did they allow you to request holidays in July/August/September/October last year when you could have gone away?
- With being on reduced pay for so long would you have had enough money to go away as normal?
If you haven't been allowed to book annual leave until now then they have prevented you for booking a holiday where you can enjoy yourself.  If you chose not to take holiday last summer/autumn and now your employer has said the usual conditions apply and you need to take all your holiday before the end of the holiday year then it's a different scenario. 

epm-84

JessyRM said:

sharpe106 said:

What about people that actually had to go into work for the full year and have had to take holiday? Should they get it all back too?

Exactly! I have worked throughout and I've had to use my holiday to look after my daughter when her nursery closed. OP I think offering you full pay in March is generous considering the amount of time you have had off. 

Whether or not you think it's fair, employers only have to give people like yourself a choice of using annual leave to look after children or taking additional leave on an unpaid basis.  While some have used the furlough scheme have given parents with childcare needs first refusal rights for furlough, there's no legal requirement for them to offer furlough to an employee.  Anyone who becomes a parent should realise there will be times when they need to use their annual leave for the benefit of their child, not for their own benefit.  

There's also no minimum notice for an employer recalling a furloughed employee, so while you may think furlough is one long holiday on reduced pay, you can't make any plans and have to keep an eye on your phone and email in case your employer says they want you to start working again tomorrow.  If you work in a sector forced to close by the government then you might get a bit more notice but even then on occasions the government has only given 48-72 hours notice.  That's presumably why the government decided employees on long term furlough are still entitled to take annual leave.

GreenQueen

Your other option is to have March as furlough on 80% wages and lose your holiday (as you say you can't carry it over). I know which I would prefer!

debsa

Thank you everyone for putting things into perspective. I think all this time on my own (and probably others on their own) has contributed to perspective going out the window. 

to epm-84 : "First point is you say there's 28 days owed. Is that 28 days in addition to any Bank Holidays you haven't worked?

Second point is it sounds like you have been on reduced pay for a whole year.  
- Did they allow you to request holidays in July/August/September/October last year when you could have gone away?
- With being on reduced pay for so long would you have had enough money to go away as normal?
If you haven't been allowed to book annual leave until now then they have prevented you for booking a holiday where you can enjoy yourself.  If you chose not to take holiday last summer/autumn and now your employer has said the usual conditions apply and you need to take all your holiday before the end of the holiday year then it's a different scenario."
:- Yes I did work in July- October last year and, no, we were not allowed to book any annual leave during that time and we were told that that was ok because we could carry our holiday over into 2021/22 and 22/23 (hence, my original question) I, like a huge amount of people, are on the basic wage and work part time, so therefore struggle ordinarily to cover rent, mortgages, utilities etc. I am also fully aware and appreciate all those that have continued to work, very hard, and haven't had any time off and hope that my question would also help address the problem if they have experienced the same circumstance.