GOV.UK has published new guidance on the changes to statutory holiday pay rules from 1 January 2024. You can read the guidance on GOV.UK.
The guidance isn’t the “go to” resource that it could have been, because it says that:
‘It does not provide definitive answers to all individual queries. It is not intended to be relied upon in any specific context or as a substitute for seeking advice (legal or otherwise) on a specific circumstance, as each case may be different.’
The new rules are set out in the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 which arose due to the Government’s post-Brexit intentions of returning law making back to UK control. For most employees with predictable working patterns, these new rules mostly restate our existing understanding of statutory holiday entitlement.
However, changes begin for irregular hours and part-year workers for holiday years starting from 1 April 2024. What are the practical implications of these new rules?
For today’s update, we will deal with what isn’t going to change.
The new legislation essentially puts the substantial case law development of our understanding of the UK Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and EU Working Time Directive under one roof:
- Permitting the carry-over of unused annual leave arising from sickness, maternity/family leave, failure to recognise worker status or failure to allow and facilitate the taking of leave, and
- The difference between regulation 13 and regulation 13(A) Working Time Regulations 1998 is preserved, so that workers continue to receive 4 weeks at their “normal” rate of pay (with guidance on how to calculate this) and 1.6 weeks at basic rate of pay.