Holiday Entitlement
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 you are entitled to 5.6 weeks (for a 5 day week this is 28 days) annual leave including bank holidays if you work full-time in an assignment over the year. If you work part time, this amount is pro rata.
Your holiday begins accruing from your first working day. The accrual rate is based on your average hours in a working week and a day rate based on your average earnings.
As an agency worker your hours and pay may vary considerably over time. Here are 3 different shift scenarios showing what your holiday entitlement would be in a 12-month period for each:
- Your shifts are always the same length - regardless of which day or what time of day each shift falls on. In this scenario, you are entitled to the lower of the two:
- 6 weeks x average shifts per week, or
- 28 days’ worth of shifts
- Your shifts differ in length but the hours per week you work are the same. In this scenario, you are entitled to the lower of the two:
- 6 x average days worked per week (average day = hours worked per week ÷ days worked per week), or
- 28 average days
- Your shifts differ in length and the hours you work per week differ. In this scenario you are entitled to:
- 6 x average days/hours worked a week
All holiday accrued should be taken within a year of your start date and will not be carried over to the following year.
You must request any holiday online, via your HRGO Candidate Account and you must give at least one week's notice. Your request will be reviewed by a consultant who may need to liaise with your line manager. Your request will either be approved or declined and you will receive an email and text notification to inform you of the outcome. You must wait till you have received approval of your holiday request before taking the day off.
Where a bank holiday falls during an assignment, if you are not working and wish to be paid, you must book holiday, as bank holidays are included in your entitlement.
For further details please speak to your line manager or your consultant.
Holiday Pay
Your holiday pay will be based on a week’s pay. Here’s how we calculate that:
A week’s pay = the average of all earnings in the previous 52 weeks, or the number of complete weeks you have been employed (if less than 52 weeks). A day rate is then calculated based on your average weekly hours.
