Originally written by Jane Mason on Small Business
As a small business owner, calculating holiday entitlement for new starters can feel like a daunting task – especially if you have staff who work part-time or have irregular hours.
But don’t worry, once you get your head around the calculations it’s much easier than you think. Here’s everything you need to know.
What does the law say?
UK law states that employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ annual leave per leave year, which equals 28 days for full-time employees.
This is made up of:
A minimum of four weeks’ annual leave as required by EU law
An additional 1.6 week’s annual leave which represents the number of UK bank holidays
Part-time workers are also entitled to the same leave as full-time workers proportionate to their hours worked, this is often referred to as ‘pro-rata’.
Regardless of working hours, all workers are entitled to holiday from their first day of employment.
So, how does this work?
There are two parts to holiday which are calculated separately.
Calculate how much holiday someone is entitled to take
Work out how much someone is entitled to be paid whilst on holiday
However, there are various types of employees, so you need to use different calculations for each.
Here’s how to