With Easter not falling until mid-April this year, some employers may find themselves in breach of the Working Time Regulations.

The late Easter bank holiday break means that there will only be seven bank holidays between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025, and that might pose a unique challenge depending on your circumstances.

What Does This Mean for Employers?

Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.

If your holiday year runs from 1st April to 31st March, then this leave year you might be legally obligated to give any workers who are only entitled to statutory minimum holiday an extra day of holiday. This is because full time employees are entitled to a statutory minimum holiday entitlement of at least 28 days, including any bank holidays.

Holiday entitlement can be complicated due to anomalies like this one, making it easy to breach employment law if you’re not careful.

If you’re not sure whether you will need to give workers an extra day of annual leave, then it’s essential to check how the the holiday clauses are expressed in their contracts.

If the contract states they are entitled to 28 days of holiday each holiday year including bank holidays, you should fine because the worker will take the 7 bank holidays off and choose when to take the remaining 21 days.

However, if the contract has wording along the lines of the entitlement being  to 20 days of holiday ‘plus bank holidays’ then, due to only 7 bank holidays within this particular holiday year period, they will be one day below the statutory minimum of 28 days.

To correct this, you can offer the employee an additional day of holiday for this year only, to be taken before the holiday year runs out.

What is the Risk?

Although employers can determine how flexible they are about forwarding holidays allowing some limited flexibility, they can’t demand that employees carry forward any part of their statutory holiday, and must ensure that the statutory element of any entitlement is taken in each leave year.

Failing to correctly calculate holiday entitlement can result in breaches of the Working Time Regulations 1998, which sets out the statutory minimum requirements for paid leave.

If a worker thinks their rights to leave and pay are not being met this could lead to legal challenges. Miscalculations could result in penalties, tribunal costs and legal fees, as well as the administrative burden involved and risk of damage to the company’s reputation.

If you think any of your workers may be impacted this leave year, then HR or managers should assess the risk so you can take action to ensure you’re not in breach of the legislation.

Here to Help

WorkSmarter’s easy to use HR holiday management software helps you comply with complex HR legislation. The flexible holiday planner adjusts to the way different businesses operate their holiday and staff leave policies.

Our trusted HR Partners can also offer customers bespoke advice and guidance on employment legislation in relation to their specific business.

Get in touch or book a demo.