Holiday pay and entitlement question and answer session

Holiday entitlement and pay can be a contentious area for employees and employers. It can be a complicated area of law and with dental practices often operating with a small workforce, it is important for practices to ensure they implement a clear process and manage holiday requests effectively. These questions and answers address some common queries and explain the holiday entitlement that applies in different circumstances.

From their first day of employment, employees will begin to accrue statutory holiday. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (the ‘Regulations’) all employees (and workers, which is defined broadly and includes agency workers and casual workers) are entitled to receive a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ annual leave per year if they work full-time. An employee working 5 days per week will therefore be entitled to 28 days per year. Of course a practice can, at its discretion, offer more generous holiday entitlement.