Public Bank Holidays
The number of bank holidays per year vary for the countries that make up the UK:
- England & Wales - 8 days
- Scotland - 10 days (includes 2nd January and St Andrew's Day)
- Northern Ireland - 10 days (includes St Patrick's Day and Battle of the Boyne)
There may be 1 or 2 added public holidays for specific years for special occasions usually relating to the Royal Family. These public holidays may be followed or you may decide a day in-lieu option given enough notice.
Part-time employees are entitled to the pro-rated amount of bank holidays per year, in hours. You may agree with the employee how this will be used e.g. half days of bank holidays or 4 days. We recommend that you keep a record of public holidays agreed and taken with the employee.
Bank holidays that fall on a weekend will be carried forward to the next working day which will usually be Monday or Tuesday.
An employee may be required to work on a public holiday if:
- It is included in the employee's employment contract that the employer may require them to work on a public holiday and you have given them reasonable notice OR;
- The Client and the employee agree for the employee to work on a public holiday in advance of the public holiday. We will always suggest this to be in writing and Cc Global Teams.
Employees are not legally entitled to higher pay for work on a bank holiday.
Annual leave
All employees are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave per year or more if their contract states a higher amount. This equates to 20 days' paid annual leave (or more as per their contract) per year (excluding public holidays) and the prorated amount for part-time workers. Annual leave for UK employees are usually provided upfront but this depends on their employment contract.
You must approve the leave requested on the Employment Hero platform before the holiday date (cutoff?) otherwise this may be recorded as unpaid leave.
You may require an employee to take annual leave at certain times such as during a Christmas Shutdown but you must provide reasonable notice and at least double the amount leave days to be taken.
Your employees cannot carryover annual leave unless:
- You have agreed a carryover request in writing
- Agreed otherwise in their employment contract
- Annual leave entitlement is unused due to maternity leave/paternity leave or long-term leave (Employees can carryover up to 20 days' annual leave including bank holidays)
- The employee was not given reasonable opportunity to take the leave e.g. not available on a critical December period
Employees must use carried over leave by the deadline stated in their employment contract.
Sick Leave
There is no maximum sick leave entitlement in the UK.
Statutory Sick pay:
- The first 3 calendar days off-sick will be unpaid unless you operate a Company paid sick leave which will pay from day 1 of the sick leave. This is quite a standard practice in the UK or at least after probation.
- Employees who are off sick for at least 4 calendar days are entitled up to 28 weeks of statutory sick pay. You may have also agreed a Company paid sick leave policy in addition to the statutory sick pay.
- Statutory sick pay will be £116.75 per week.
After 3 days or when it is reasonably practicable, the employee must provide a sick note to you or this may be recorded as unauthorised unpaid leave. Whilst an employee is off sick, they will continue to accrue their leave entitlements and can be used during their sick leave period should they wish to.
Any statutory annual leave entitlement that is not used because of illness can be carried over into the next leave year.
Bereavement or Compassionate Leave
This type of leave is not a legal requirement in the UK unless it is a dependent of the employee who passes away. The norm in the UK is 3-5 days paid leave for Bereavement or Compassionate Leave with an additional day for attending a funeral but in actual practice the situation is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Bereavement or Compassionate may often be used interchangeably but usually Compassionate will include time off to care for a loved one whereas bereavement is only for death of a loved one.
The entitlement of the employee will depend on the terms of their contract or employee policy.
Parental Leave
If an employee has informed you of their pregnancy, please notify Global Teams. We will guide you on how to manage their maternity or paternity leave requests. This may include:
- Proof of Pregnancy form (MatB1/SC3)
- Risk Assessments
- Leave Confirmation Letters
- Keeping in touch days
- Managing Leave
- Shared Parental Leave
Mothers must take a minimum of 2 weeks' leave after the birth of their child and are entitled up to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave. The Maternity Leave must have started by the birth of their child.
Maternity and Paternity Leave pay will depend on their employment contract or policy.
If the maternity leave and pay entitlement is statutory, the following will be paid to the employee:
Week 1-6: 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings (before tax)
Week 7-39: Whichever is lower between 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings (before tax) OR £172.48 per week
Week 40-52: Unpaid
Paternity leave must be taken in 1 or 2 week blocks and the employee will be paid up to 2 weeks. The pay will be whichever is lower between 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings (before tax) OR £172.48 per week.
To be entitled to maternity/paternity pay, the employee must have worked for you or Global Teams for at least 26 weeks by the qualifying week (15th week before the expected week of childbirth).
If in the unfortunate case of miscarriages, please inform Global Teams immediately.
Adoption Leave
Employees are also entitled up to 52 weeks for Adoption Leave if they have been employed by you/Global Teams for at least 26 weeks by the date they were matched with a child and can provide proof of adoption. Please contact Global Teams for guidance on managing Adoption/Shared Adoption Leave.
Jury Leave
If an employee is summoned by the court to be part of a jury for a criminal trial, the employee may not reject. The employer may write a letter to the court to provide a reason why the employee cannot attend at the time otherwise, the employee will need to take unpaid Jury leave. This usually lasts 3-10 days.
Carer's Leave
Employees will be able to take a half day, up to one whole week of leave to care for a dependent who has a physical or mental illness/injury. This will be unpaid unless you agree otherwise.
Unpaid Leave
Unpaid leave is completely discretionary to you unless the leave relates to any of the above categories. Employees will continue to accrue leave whilst on unpaid leave.
If you are unsure how to manage a leave request, please contact Global Teams and we will guide you.