Your employer has the right to say when you take your holiday, unless your contract says otherwise. However, most employers let staff go on holiday when they want provided they have given enough notice, and there will be enough staff to make sure the workload is covered. 

If your employer tells you to take holiday at a particular time, they must give you at least 2 days’ notice for every day of holiday they ask you to take. 

How much notice do you need to give?

If you have a contract of employment it might say how much notice you should give.

If it doesn’t, you have to give notice of at least twice as long as you want to be away for. So, if you want a 2-week holiday you must give at least 4 weeks’ notice. 

Your employer can refuse a leave request or cancel leave but they must give as much notice as the amount of leave requested. For example, if they decide you cannot have two weeks off at the time you have asked for, they need to tell you at least two weeks before the date you asked to go on leave. 

Although your employer can refuse to give leave at a certain time, they cannot refuse to let you take the leave at all.
 

It depends on the reason why you haven't used up your full holiday allowance.  Here we explain a few different situations and what to do. 

1.    You just never got around to it 

Unfortunately that's bad luck unless you have the right to carry over holiday. Check your contract for details.

2.    There’s a sudden rush of extra work to do

Talk to your employer and see if they will allow you to carry some, or all, of your remaining leave over into the next leave year.

3.    You are off sick or on maternity, paternity, or dependants leave

You may be entitled to carry over up to 4 weeks of unused statutory holiday into the next leave year. See the Acas guide to Sick pay and holiday pay for details.

4.    You leave your job or are sacked

You are entitled to pay instead of the holiday you have been unable to take so far (you may hear this called ‘pay in lieu’). For example, if you have worked half a year and not yet taken any holiday, you will be entitled to at least 2 weeks extra pay.

How do I calculate holiday pay for a zero-hours contract? 

Holiday pay is either calculated on the basis of average earnings calculated over a 52-week period or, alternatively, can be paid as "rolled-up holiday pay" (permitted for "irregular hours workers") where an additional amount for holiday is added on to your wages (12.07% of hours worked). 

Holiday entitlement for casual workers is usually calculated in hours rather than weeks. For further information, see the government guidance on holiday pay and entitlement.

Is holiday pay based on my average earnings? 

Yes. It should be paid at your normal rate.  If you have irregular work, how much holiday pay you should get is based on your average earnings over the past 52 weeks that you were paid. If you have been with your employer for less than 52 weeks, you use your average earnings since you started with that employer.

Can my employer refuse to let me take my holiday?

They can say you cannot take it on a particular date but they cannot refuse to let you take it at all. If they refuse to let you take it at all, you could either take the issue to the employment tribunal or take the issue to the Fair Work Agency (once that is up and running). See What should you do if you are not being given paid holiday you are entitled to?

Do migrant workers get the same holiday rights?

Yes. Employment rights do not depend on your immigration status. If you are allowed to work in England and Wales, you have the same rights as everyone else.  

What is the 12.07% holiday pay rule?

This rule is to ensure that irregular hours workers or those who only work for part of the year (often agricultural workers) still get paid holiday. How this works is that you get your holiday pay in your usual payslip - then you can take holiday when you are not expected to work. 

If your employer is doing this, the holiday pay must amount to 12.07% of your normal pay and must appear on a separate line in your payslip. 

My employer says my holiday pay is ‘rolled-up’ in my normal pay – can they do that?

This is not allowed for full-time or part-time workers.

This is only allowed for irregular hours workers or those only employed for part of the year. 

Where this is allowed, the holiday pay must amount to 12.07% of your normal pay and must appear on a separate line in your payslip. If it isn’t clearly marked in your payslip, you haven’t been paid holiday pay. If it’s 'hidden' in your hourly rate, you might be being underpaid.
 

1. Alert your employers. 

Send them an email outlining the problem. See the template below for a suggestion for how to phrase it.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.

Acknowledgements 

This guide was produced by Advicenow. We would like to thank everyone who has commented or helped with the guide including editorial teams at Thomson Reuters who kindly reviewed this updated version.

This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice under the Online Support and Advice Grant.