MSE News: Young part-time worker reclaims £240 holiday pay – how to check if you're owed too

MSE_Petar

A 17-year-old MoneySaver has reclaimed £240 after realising she hadn't got the holiday pay she was due from two former employers. If you're an employee or worker, you're legally entitled to a certain amount of paid time off – even if your job is part-time, temporary or seasonal. Below we explain how to check if you might be owed.

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'Part-time worker reclaims £240 holiday pay after realising she was missing out – how to check if you're owed too'

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molly_g_123

Thanks MSE Petar!

DW1866

I worked as a teaching assistant, progressing to HLTA, for over 25 years. These posts are part time term time only contracts and are not highly paid. How can I find out if I should have had some holiday pay? Sadly I doubt it will help me now I have finish that job but I know other people who might benefit from knowing about it. 

Time2count

DW1866 said:

I worked as a teaching assistant, progressing to HLTA, for over 25 years. These posts are part time term time only contracts and are not highly paid. How can I find out if I should have had some holiday pay? Sadly I doubt it will help me now I have finish that job but I know other people who might benefit from knowing about it. 

Generally (I can't speak for all councils), term time staff in schools are paid holiday pay as part of their wages e.g they could be paid for 44.67 weeks but only required to be in work for 38.5 weeks.

Savvy_Sue

Time2count said:

DW1866 said:

I worked as a teaching assistant, progressing to HLTA, for over 25 years. These posts are part time term time only contracts and are not highly paid. How can I find out if I should have had some holiday pay? Sadly I doubt it will help me now I have finish that job but I know other people who might benefit from knowing about it. 

Generally (I can't speak for all councils), term time staff in schools are paid holiday pay as part of their wages e.g they could be paid for 44.67 weeks but only required to be in work for 38.5 weeks.

And they may be paid over 52 weeks, with the expectation that leave is taken during school holidays (because you certainly won't normally be taking days off in term-time!)

What did your contract say? 

What advice does your union give?

purple_wellies

I read this back in July 2025.  

I retired in 2021 but the company I retired from asked me back during 2023 to do a bit of project work on a zero hours contract.  

Unexpectedly, that project work turned into doing a lot of hours.  My contract said that holiday pay would be paid at the end of the project. I must admit that I totally forgot about this, and it was only when I saw your article on MSE News that I thought it might apply to me because the project had not ended but I thought it odd it would go over holiday and tax years.  Some weeks I had worked over 25 hours, so I had quite a lot of hours accrued as well. 

I raised this with my employer and I eventually got a response just before Christmas, confirming that I was indeed owed holiday pay. 

Imagine my absolute shock and surprise when it was confirmed that I was owed just over £12,000 in backdated holiday pay, to the end of December 2025.  It was an absolute godsend as I’d been diagnosed as having severe arthritis earlier in the year (having had bad mobility for years) and been told I needed a hip replacement. In my area that’s a three year wait so I’d bitten the bullet and gone private in October using up my retirement savings.  This money has really helped! So thank you for posting such useful advice! 

MSE_Helen_K

purple_wellies said:

I read this back in July 2025.  

I retired in 2021 but the company I retired from asked me back during 2023 to do a bit of project work on a zero hours contract.  

Unexpectedly, that project work turned into doing a lot of hours.  My contract said that holiday pay would be paid at the end of the project. I must admit that I totally forgot about this, and it was only when I saw your article on MSE News that I thought it might apply to me because the project had not ended but I thought it odd it would go over holiday and tax years.  Some weeks I had worked over 25 hours, so I had quite a lot of hours accrued as well. 

I raised this with my employer and I eventually got a response just before Christmas, confirming that I was indeed owed holiday pay. 

Imagine my absolute shock and surprise when it was confirmed that I was owed just over £12,000 in backdated holiday pay, to the end of December 2025.  It was an absolute godsend as I’d been diagnosed as having severe arthritis earlier in the year (having had bad mobility for years) and been told I needed a hip replacement. In my area that’s a three year wait so I’d bitten the bullet and gone private in October using up my retirement savings.  This money has really helped! So thank you for posting such useful advice! 

Thank you for getting in touch purple_wellies – that's fantastic to hear