Employers must act on bank holidays and holiday entitlement before the end of March 2025

Employers with a holiday year running from April 2024 to March 2025 need to be aware of a reduction in the number of bank holidays this year, which could result in non-compliance with statutory holiday entitlements.

Typically, there are eight bank holidays in England and Wales each year. However, due to the timing of Easter in 2025 — which falls later than usual on 18-21 April - there will only be six or seven bank holidays in 2024/25 depending on the employer’s particular holiday year.

What do employers need to know?

Most full-time employees are entitled to a statutory minimum holiday entitlement of 28 days. An employer can include bank holidays as part of that 28-day entitlement, or some employers offer bank holidays off in addition.

The reduced number of bank holidays in the 2024/25 year will impact employers with holiday years which started anywhere between 30 March 2024 and 21 April 2024, as some employees might only receive 26 or 27 days off rather than 28, potentially breaching the Working Time Regulations 1998 (“WTR”).

If the employer’s holiday year began between 30 March and 1 April 2024 or 19 April and 21 April 2024 (ending between 29 March and 31 March 2025 or 18 April and 20 April 2025 respectively), there will only have been seven bank holidays during that period.

If the employer’s holiday year began between 2 April 2024 and 18 April 2024 (and ends between 1 April 2025 and 17 April 2025), there will only have been six bank holidays during that period. 

Actions needed before the end of March

All employers with holiday years which started on any of the dates mentioned above will need to review their employment contracts and policies to ensure compliance with statutory holiday entitlements.

If the employment contract provides ‘20 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays’, action is needed as employees would only have received 26 or 27 days’ holiday this year, falling short of the statutory minimum. To resolve this issue, employers should offer affected employees an additional 1 or 2 days’ leave as appropriate, to be taken before the end of the current holiday year. This ensures compliance with the statutory minimum holiday entitlement and avoids a potential claim for unlawful deduction from wages.

However, if the contract states that employees are entitled to ‘28 days’ annual leave including bank holidays’ then there should be no breach of the WTR, as employees will have been entitled to take 28 days off in total, irrespective of the number of bank holidays. That said, if employees have only booked 20 days’ holiday on the assumption that they would take 8 bank holidays this year, then they may have 1 or 2 days’ holiday remaining. 

Employers have a legal duty to give employees a reasonable opportunity to take their holiday entitlement and must encourage them to take it. Therefore, if there is insufficient time for affected employees to take their additional leave before the end of the current holiday year, then employers should consider allowing them to carry forward their remaining holiday entitlement into the next year. 

Talk to us

Employers must act quickly to avoid breaching the WTR and prevent unnecessary legal challenges. By checking contracts and offering additional leave where necessary, employers can ensure that they meet legal requirements and afford employees their full entitlement to time off from work.

For further advice or support, contact our expert employment team by calling us on 0333 004 4488, emailing us at hello@brabners.com or completing our contact form below.