Back
Get in Touch Menu

Carrying over statutory leave

20 March 2024

The start of the year saw a number of updates relating to the carrying over of statutory leave.

From 1 January 2024, the following in regards to carrying over statutory leave will apply to all employees and workers:

  • Employees and workers can carry over their full statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks into the next year if they’ve been on a period of maternity and/or other family leave.
  • Employees working regularly throughout the year can carry over 4 weeks statutory holiday into the next year if they’ve been on a period of sickness absence, if they use it within 18 months starting from the end of the leave year in which it accrued.
  • Irregular hours and part-year workers can carry over their full statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks into the next year if they’ve been on a period of sickness absence, if they use it within 18 months starting from the end of the leave year in which it accrued.
  • A worker will be entitled to carry forward 20 days statutory leave into the next year if:
    • the employer has refused to pay a worker their paid leave entitlement
    • the employer has not given the worker a reasonable opportunity to take their leave and encouraged them to do so
    • the employer failed to inform the worker that untaken leave must be used before the end of the leave year to prevent it from being lost.

Carry-over will last to the first full leave year in which none of the above occurred.

We will be covering this in more detail in our employment law update in April. Keep an eye on our events page for a confirmed date in the near future.

If your business needs help with the latest updates to carrying over statutory leave, our employment law team can help.

Contact us

Our Legal 500-rated employment law team are experts in guiding businesses of all sizes and backgrounds through a range of issues that may arise, whether that’s redundancy and staff reorganisation, restrictions on competition post-employment, protecting confidential business information, employment and consultancy contracts and more.

Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
Contact
Hayley Ainsworth BA, MSc
Senior associate, solicitor
View profile
Related services
Share this article
Resources to help

Related articles

Employment status: EAT confirms approach

Employment

The determination of employment status has been made clearer as the EAT confirms its approach. The EAT has provided useful guidance on the approach to determining employment status in Plastic…

Hayley Ainsworth BA, MSc
Senior associate, solicitor

Settlement agreements & future claims

Employment

Our employment experts look into a case surrounding settlement agreements and future claims. Mr Bathgate worked for Technip Singapore PTE Ltd as a chief officer for over 20 years. In…

Klára Grmelová MGR (LLM Czech)
Solicitor

New legislation to simplify holiday entitlement & pay

Employment

The government has introduced new legislation to simplify holiday entitlement and holiday pay calculations. Our team of employment experts have summarised the key points below. New definition of ‘irregular hours…

Klára Grmelová MGR (LLM Czech)
Solicitor
Contact us