ABOUT THIS POLICY
1.1 This policy sets out our arrangements for staff wishing to take holidays (also known as annual leave).
1.2 This policy covers only those who fall into either or both of the new categories of ‘irregular hours worker’ or ‘part-year worker’.
1.3 This policy does not form part of any employee’s or worker’s contract of employment or engagement, and we may amend it at any time. We may also vary the policy as appropriate in any case.
2. YOUR HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT
2.1 The company’s holiday year runs from 1st April.
2.2 Unless otherwise set out in your employment / engagement contract or Assignment Schedule,
- your paid leave entitlement during a pay period in which you have not been on sick or (if you are an employee) statutory leave will be calculated in hours, and will accrue at the rate of 12.07% of the number of hours worked during the pay period;
- your paid leave entitlement during a pay period in which you have been on sick or statutory leave will be calculated in hours, and will accrue at the rate of 12.07% of the historic average number of weekly hours worked (disregarding weeks during all or part of which you were on sick or statutory leave), multiplied by the number of weeks in the pay period;
- your paid leave entitlement is subject to a maximum of 28 days per year;
- the number of hours of paid leave accruing during a pay period will be subject to rounding to a whole number of hours; less than 30 minutes will be rounded down, and 30 minutes or more will be rounded up.
2.3 The rate at which you will be paid for such paid leave will be based on your average historic earnings per hour.
2.4 Except as set out in this policy, holiday entitlement must be taken during the holiday year in which it accrues. Any holiday not taken by the end of the holiday year will be lost and you will not receive any payment in lieu.
2.5 Unused holiday can only be carried over to another holiday year:
- (a) in cases involving sickness absence, as set out in Paragraph 5;
- (b) in cases of maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave, as set out in Paragraph 6 (this only applies to employees, and not to ‘limb (b) workers’);
- (c) if otherwise required by law.
3. TAKING HOLIDAY
3.1 All holiday must be approved in advance by your line manager or the client on whose site or for whom you are working. Please give as much notice as possible of holiday requests. You should not make travel bookings until approval has been given.
3.2 We may require you to take (or not to take) holiday on particular dates, including during any notice period.
4. SICKNESS DURING PERIODS OF HOLIDAY
4.1 If you are sick or injured during a holiday period and would have been incapable of work, you may choose to treat the period of incapacity as sick leave and reclaim the affected days of holiday.
4.2 Employees already on sick leave before a pre-arranged period of holiday may choose to cancel any days of holiday that coincide with the period of incapacity and treat them as sick leave.
4.3 Dishonest claims or other abuse of this policy will be treated as misconduct under our disciplinary procedure.
5. SICKNESS ABSENCE AND HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT
5.1 Holiday entitlement continues to accrue during periods of sick leave (see section 2 of this policy).
5.2 If you are on a period of sick leave which spans two holiday years, or if you return to work after sick leave so close to the end of the holiday year that you cannot reasonably take your remaining holiday, you may carry over unused holiday to the following leave year.
5.3 Any holiday that is carried over under this rule but is not taken within 18 months of the end of the holiday year in which it accrued will be lost.
6. FAMILY / STATUTORY LEAVE AND HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT (only applies to employees, not to ‘limb (b) workers’)
6.1 If you are an employee and not a ‘limb (b) worker’, you may be entitled to family/statutory leave. Holiday entitlement continues to accrue during periods of maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave (referred to collectively in this policy as family/statutory leave) (see section 2 of this policy).
6.2 If you are planning a period of family/statutory leave that is likely to last beyond the end of the holiday year, you should discuss your holiday plans with your manager in good time before starting your family/statutory leave. Any holiday entitlement for the year that cannot reasonably be taken before starting your family/statutory leave can be carried over to the next holiday year.
6.3 Any holiday that is carried over under this rule but is not taken by the end of the holiday year after the holiday year in which it accrued will be lost.
7. ARRANGEMENTS ON TERMINATION
7.1 On termination of employment, you will be paid in lieu of any accrued but untaken holiday entitlement for the current holiday year to date, plus any holiday permitted to be carried over from previous years under this policy or as required by law.
8. ACCRUED, ADVANCED, AND ROLLED-UP HOLIDAY PAY
8.1. We may offer you the choice of having your holiday pay accrued or advanced. If we do, you may change your decision by notifying us at any time.
- If your holiday pay is accrued, it will be retained by us and then paid at such time as you take holiday.
- If your holiday pay is advanced, we will advance the accrued amount to you each time we pay you; the advance will be deemed to be repaid as and when you take holiday, and so you will be due no further payment at that time. The amount advanced will be shown on your payslip.
8.2. Alternatively, we may choose to roll-up your holiday pay. If we do, and if we then
- calculate your holiday pay as a 12.07% uplift to your remuneration for work done, and pay it each pay period
- in each pay period whilst you are on sick or statutory leave, pay you an amount equal to a historic average of the amount of holiday pay paid during previous pay periods, and
- show the amount so paid on an itemized payslip,
then we will be discharged from our obligations to pay you holiday pay.
