Changes to paid holiday entitlement

The minimum level of holiday entitlement is changing.  The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007 - which increase the holiday entitlement to 4.8 weeks from 1 October 2007 and to 5.6 weeks from 1 April 2009 - were made law on 19 July.

 If your holiday year starts on or after 1 October 2007 the legal minimum is 4.8 weeks a year (24 days if you work a five day week); bank holidays can be included in this. If you have a holiday year that does not start in October employees will be entitled to a proportion of the additional days (see below for links to guidance for help with this calculation).

Part-time workers are also entitled to 4.8 of their usual working weeks as holiday regardless of what days of the week they work.

The holiday entitlement will increase again to 5.6 weeks (capped at 28 days if you work full time) from 1 April 2009.

The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly the DTI) have offered an exclusion or incentive for those complying with the terms of the regulations on or before 1 October 2007.  This incentive is aimed at those organisations that already give at least 28 days annual leave (pro rata for those working part time, regardless of what days they work). To qualify, they must also not allow payment in lieu and if they offer carry over of unused holiday it must be for a maximum of one year. Eligible organisations will need to continue to meet these requirements. There is no application process for the incentive - if satisfied they meet the requirements an organisation would carry on as normal.  The incentive has been introduced to answer concerns by organisations that already give 28 days leave many of whom have set up complex systems to deal with the 3 different types of leave – statutory, contractual and bank holidays. To change these systems would cost time and money – and could be seen as punishing "good employers".

 Detailed guidance on the changes can be found for employers on the Business Link website: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.l1=1073858787&r.l3=1074414642&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1079422234&r.l2=1073858926&r.s=sc .An online calculator for the increased holiday entitlement is also available here. A list of Frequently Asked Questions and a ready reckoner table to help calculate the leave allowance where your leave year is not October to September can be found on the BERR website here: http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/holidays/index.html.

How to Calculate Holiday Pay – from 1 October 2007

As most SPPA groups do not work on a 52 week basis and the playworkers are not full time, holiday pay should be paid in proportion to the length of the holiday year worked. Holidays that have already been taken should be deducted from the total holiday entitlement before payment is calculated.

We would recommend the following formula to calculate paid holiday entitlement:

Number of hours worked per week x number of weeks worked per year x 4.8 divided by 52.

The resultant figure is the annual number of hours paid entitlement.

Groups should discuss with their playworkers the weeks that will be paid. SPPA recommends that groups pay one week at October, two weeks at Christmas and one week at Easter. We do not advise groups to authorise paid holidays over the summer period.

Have a written agreement with your staff, which should form part of their employment contract. The contract should also identify the group’s holiday year so that if a worker leaves part way through the necessary calculations can be made. SPPA advises that the group’s holiday year ties in with school term times.