Annual leave: accrual, taking leave, expiry and payment

1. Calculate in hours and check accrual

For a complete year at unchanged hours, statutory leave accrual is at least 4 times your weekly working hours. At 32 hours a week, that is 128 hours. The number of days depends on the rota. With four eight-hour days, it is sixteen working days; a different distribution changes the days without changing the hours.

A cao or contract may add leave above the statutory minimum. If you join or leave partway through the year, check proportionate accrual. A change in working hours also requires separate calculations. Do not apply a new part-time factor to an old balance already expressed in hours without checking its effect. Ask HR for statutory and additional hours by accrual year.

2. Request leave and await the response

Submit a provable leave request using the normal procedure. State dates and hours. The main rule is that the employer follows your wishes unless weighty reasons prevent this. Where leave has not been fixed beforehand, the employer generally must object in writing within two weeks. Check the cao and any collective holiday arrangements too.

Preferably book after practical and legal clarity. A busy season can justify discussion, but not every inconvenience justifies refusal. Request a specific explanation and discuss other dates. If holiday periods are already fixed in a cao or written arrangement, the assessment may differ from an individual request. Keep the request and receipt confirmation for any later dispute.

3. When can statutory hours expire?

The main rule is expiry six months after the accrual year. Hours from 2026 can therefore generally expire on 1 July 2027. A longer written or cao period may apply. The main rule may also operate differently where you could not reasonably take leave. Illness is not an automatic exemption: actual possibilities matter.

The employer must also genuinely enable you to take leave and inform you clearly and promptly of the risk of losing it. Court decisions show that a general reference to a policy is not always enough. Ask which warning you received and when. Do not write hours off yourself merely because the system shows a lower balance on 1 July.

4. Keep additional hours and limitation periods separate

Leave above the statutory minimum generally has a five-year limitation period after the accrual year. A longer period may also be relevant to certain retained statutory hours. Expiry and limitation operate differently in law. For old balances, have the applicable period and need for a written claim to interrupt limitation assessed. An informal request to check the balance is not always sufficient.

Ask precisely which hours were deducted: the oldest balance, statutory hours or additional hours. An overview without their origin is difficult to check. Raise an error quickly with your own calculation. For discrepancies over several years, list each year’s opening balance, accrual, use and adjustments so the dispute does not concern only one unexplained final number.

5. Holiday during illness and falling ill on holiday

Statutory leave accrues during illness. If taking holiday while ill, discuss beforehand whether it hinders recovery or reintegration and record which hours are used. Normal holiday pay should be paid during booked leave, even if the sickness rate outside leave is lower during the second year. Additional leave arrangements can raise further questions.

If you fall ill on holiday, report it immediately under the absence protocol and ask what information is needed. Sick days and annual leave are not automatically interchangeable. Deducting holiday during illness is subject to conditions; do not agree to a general adjustment without understanding the consequences. Where necessary, preserve evidence supporting the sickness period.

6. Payment during employment or on leaving

Statutory leave is intended to be taken and cannot simply be bought out during employment. Payment for additional hours can be agreed. When employment ends, untaken hours that still exist must be settled. Ask for the number of hours, hourly rate and wage components included in the valuation. When changing jobs, unused statutory hours can also entitle you to unpaid time off with the new employer: the old employer has already paid them out. Ask the old employer for a statement of the remaining hours; changing jobs does not postpone their original expiry date.

Release from duties under a VSO does not automatically mean taking annual leave. Expressly agree what happens to the balance. Also check a negative balance: an employer cannot invariably deduct excess leave taken. Arrangements about leave, advances and termination matter. Compare the final payment with the latest balance statement.

7. Practically challenging an incorrect balance

Download the leave records before access ends. Include requests, approvals, contract and relevant cao. Make an overview of the calculation you consider correct for each year. Ask the employer to explain each difference. Specify whether you seek time off, restoration of hours or payment; these are different remedies with different consequences.

If disagreement continues, seek legal help on limitation, the information duty and valuation. At dismissal, much shorter deadlines for other payments may also run. Do not treat all of these simply as a final statement issue. Prompt checking is particularly helpful with old statutory hours, illness, lengthy release from duties or an agreement giving full and final settlement.

Practical checklist

• Request the balance by accrual year and type of hours.
• Calculate accrual in hours using the correct working pattern.
• Keep requests, approvals and expiry warnings.
• During illness, check leave, consent and holiday pay.
• Compare the current balance with the final statement before full and final settlement.