Clarification of annual leave... and other stories

The Government has published its response to the consultation ‘Retained EU Employment Law’, which proposed reforms to the calculation of annual leave and holiday pay and the record-keeping requirements under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), and to the consultation requirements under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE).

It has also responded to the earlier consultation on calculating annual leave entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers following the Supreme Court’s decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel 2022 ICR 1380 (Brief 1153).

The response confirms that the Government will go ahead with the TUPE consultation changes and the proposed clarification of the WTR record-keeping requirements; will introduce ‘rolled-up’ holiday pay for irregular hours and part-year workers; and will allow for an annual leave accrual method of 12.07% of hours worked for irregular hours and part-year workers.

However, it will not take forward the proposal to merge the current ‘basic’ and ‘additional’ annual leave entitlements to create a single annual leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks governed by one set of rules.

The Government will also legislate to restate EU case law providing for the carry-over of annual leave where the worker has been on maternity/family-related leave or sick leave.
 

More details to follow.