Holiday pay ― legal points

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Sarah Bradford
Employment Tax
Guidance

Holiday pay ― legal points

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Sarah Bradford
Employment Tax
Guidance
imgtext

The right to be paid for holidays is a statutory entitlement and there may also be a further contractual entitlement. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year (which can include bank holidays). Self-employed workers have no statutory leave entitlement.

ACAS provides guidance on all elements of holiday, sickness and leave.

Statutory holiday pay

The Working Time Regulations 1998 entitle a worker to be paid:

  1. •

    during his statutory holiday, entitlement of 5.6 weeks a year

  2. •

    in lieu of any statutory holiday entitlement accrued but unused on termination of his employment

This does not prevent an employer offering a more generous annual paid leave entitlement as part of a contract of employment.

Calculating statutory holiday pay

During any period of statutory holiday, a worker is entitled to be paid at the rate of a week’s pay for each week of holiday.

The Employment Rights Act sets out the method of calculating a week’s pay except that references to ‘employee’ in the ERA 1996 should be read as ‘worker’

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
TAKE A FREE TRIAL NOW
Sarah Bradford
Sarah Bradford linkedinicon twittericon

Director at Writetax Ltd

Sarah Bradford BA(Hons), ACA, CTA (Fellow) is the director of Writetax Ltd, a company providing tax technical writing services on tax and National Insurance, and also of its sister company, Writetax Consultancy Services Ltd. Sarah writes widely on tax and National Insurance and is the author of several books.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Tolley+™
  • 23 Jan 2024 14:40

Home/ Tolley Tax Guidance/ Employment Tax / Legal aspects of employment

Popular Articles

Personal Tax

Transferable tax allowance (also known as the marriage allowance)

Transferable tax allowance (also known as the marriage allowance)What is the transferable tax allowance (marriage allowance)?From 6 April 2015, an individual can elect to transfer 10% of the personal allowance (£1,260) to the spouse or civil partner where neither party is a higher rate or additional

14 Jul 2020 13:52 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more

Class 1 v Class 1A

Class 1 v Class 1AClass 1 and Class 1AClass 1 and Class 1A are the categories of NIC that can be charged on expenses reimbursed and benefits provided to employees. These classes are mutually exclusive. A benefit cannot be subject to both Class 1 and Class 1A NIC. Three requirements must be met

Read more Read more
Value Added Tax

VAT registration ― artificial separation of business activities (disaggregation)

VAT registration ― artificial separation of business activities (disaggregation)This guidance note should be read in conjunction with the VAT registration ― compulsory guidance note and is relevant to persons established or resident in the UK. Persons that are not established or resident in the UK

14 Jul 2020 13:57 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more