Since November 1998 all workers have had a statutory right to take and be paid for holidays due to the Working Time Regulations. From October 2007 the statutory minimum annual leave rates have been increased in two stages, 4.8 weeks paid holiday (part-timers pro rata) as from 1st October 2007 and 5.6 weeks as from 1st April 2009.

Under the Working Time Regulations, any time off for bank holidays provided by the employer in the contractaul terms of employment, can be included within the current statutory minimum 5.6 weeks paid annual leave.

However, many organisations, through their contractual terms of employment, provide holiday entitlements that are better than the statutory minimum. This may be because they give bank holidays as an additional benefit over and above the statutory minimum annual holiday, or they may also give additional annual holidays as well.

It is worth pointing out that the obligations under the Working Time Regulations only apply to the statutory 5.6 weeks holiday. Additional holiday benefits granted due to employers through contractual terms and conditions are not also subject to those rules.

Further information can be found in the following Advice Notes or by following links to other useful sites.

Working Time Regs Advice Note (Word)
Working Time Regs Advice Note (PDF)

Annual Leave Advice Note (Word)
Annual Leave Advice Note (PDF)

Where can I get more information:

More information and further links on annual leave is available at the Directgov website.

Or visit Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.