Holidays Procedure

This policy covers all employees at all levels and grades, including full-time, part-time, permanent and fixed-term employees, managers, Directors, trainees, and homeworkers.

This policy does not form part of any employee's contract of employment and we may amend it at any time. We may also vary the policy as appropriate in any case.

The company's holiday year runs from 1 January to 31 December. If your employment starts or finishes part way through the holiday year, your holiday entitlement during that year shall be calculated on a pro-rata basis rounded up to the nearest whole day.

Unless otherwise set out in your employment contract, you are entitled to 28 days' paid holiday in each holiday year, or the pro rata equivalent if you work part time. This entitlement includes the Bank and Public Holidays for England and Wales. If you work a Bank Holiday, you will receive a day off in Lieu.

Holiday will be increased by 1 day per annum for each full year of employment up to 24 days. For example, if you complete one years’ service in November, you will gain the additional day from the start of the new holiday year in January.

All staff are entitled to an additional 1 day annual leave for your Birthday. This day must be taken in the week your birthday falls and be approved by your Line Manager

In your probationary period, you are not able to exceed your accrued holiday allowance without express permission from your line manager.

For the avoidance of doubt, the first four weeks of the leave you take in any holiday year shall be deemed to be the leave derived from regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) and the remainder shall be deemed to be derived from regulation 13A of those regulations. Currently, the law states that regulation 13 leave shall be paid at the rate of "normal remuneration" whereas regulation 13A leave may

Except as set out in this policy, holiday entitlement must be taken during the holiday year in which it accrues. Any holiday not taken by the end of the holiday year will be lost and you will not receive any payment in lieu.

Unused holiday can only be carried over to another holiday year:

All holidays must be approved in advance by your line manager. You should normally give at least four weeks' notice of holiday requests to allow planning of rotas or work schedules where necessary. You must not make travel bookings until approval has been given.

Holiday requests should be logged through Bright HR in order to be approved.

We may require you to take (or not to take) holiday on particular dates, including when the business is closed (Christmas), during busy periods or during your notice period.

A holiday absence of more than five days will naturally result in a reduction of your overall target volume over the month. However, this will not be reflected in a reduction of your commission rate, as this will be paid at the rate you would expect had you worked the month in full

If you are sick or injured during a holiday period and would have been incapable of work, you may choose to treat the period of incapacity as sick leave and reclaim the affected days of holiday.

Employees already on sick leave before a prearranged period of holiday may choose to cancel any days of holiday that coincide with the period of incapacity and treat them as sick leave.

Dishonest claims or other abuse of this policy will be treated as misconduct under our disciplinary procedure.

Holiday entitlement continues to accrue during periods of sick leave.

If you are on a period of sick leave which spans two holiday years, or if you return to work after sick leave so close to the end of the holiday year that you cannot reasonably take your remaining holiday, you may carry over unused holiday to the following leave year.

Carry over under this rule is limited to the four-week minimum holiday entitlement under EU law (which includes bank holidays), less any leave taken during the holiday year that has just ended. If you have taken four weeks' holiday by the end of the holiday year, you will not be allowed to carry anything over under this rule. If you have taken less than four weeks, the remainder may be carried over under this rule. For example, a full-time employee who has taken two weeks' holiday plus two bank holidays before starting long-term sick leave can only carry over one week and three days. This limit does not affect your right to carry over holiday under paragraph 2.5.

Any holiday that is carried over under this rule but is not taken within 15 months of the end of the holiday year in which it accrued will be lost.

Alternatively, you can choose to take your paid holiday during your sick leave, in which case you will be paid at your normal rate.

Holiday entitlement continues to accrue during periods of maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave (referred to collectively in this policy as family leave).

If you are planning a period of family leave that is likely to last beyond the end of the holiday year, you should discuss your holiday plans with your Line Manager and the HR department in good time before starting your family leave. Any holiday entitlement for the year that cannot reasonably be taken before starting your family leave can be carried over to the next holiday year or paid to you.

For the avoidance of doubt this covers your full holiday entitlement.

Any holiday carried over should be taken immediately before returning to work or within three months of returning to work after the family leave.

On termination of employment you may be required to use any remaining holiday entitlement during your notice period. Alternatively, you will be paid in lieu of any accrued but untaken holiday entitlement for the current holiday year to date, plus any holiday permitted to be carried over from previous years under this policy or as required by law.