With inflation still high, it’s essential for all UK workers to ensure they’re being paid correctly, but according Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert (MSE) employees may be missing out on hundreds of pounds each.
In a blog post, the consumer finance site detailed the story of a 17-year-old part-time worker who discovered she was owed £240 from her employer in unclaimed holiday pay.
While not everyone qualifies for holiday pay, if you do, you accrue a certain amount of paid time off based on your hours. If you then leave your job without taking all the time you’ve built up – regardless of whether you resign or are dismissed – your employer must remunerate you for any unused entitlement.
Even if you no longer work there, it’s still worth checking. So here’s what you need to know.
How to check for unclaimed holiday pay
According to MSE, your first step should be to double-check your employment status to work out whether you’re actually entitled to holiday pay, as it’s not automatic.
For example, if you are self-employed (and invoicing for your work to get paid), it is unlikely that you will be due any holiday pay.
If you received a payslip however, you probably are due holiday pay. This is because most who receive a payslip are likely classified as a ‘worker’ or an ’employee’, whether they work on a zero-hours, part-time, or full-time basis.
Your contract should outline your employment status, so it’s essential to double-check this too.
How to check how much holiday pay you’re owed
Holiday entitlement in the UK depends on how many days or hours you work and your employer’s policy.
The legal minimum is 5.6 working weeks of paid holiday per year, and this amount (which is formally known as ‘statutory annual leave’) applies to both employees and workers.
While some employers offer more, usually as an incentive to make the job attractive to applicants, they’re not required to. They can also include bank holidays in holiday time, though some give them in addition.
In terms of what this means for you, if you’re a full-time employee working five days a week, you’re looking at 28 days of paid holiday a year.
If you’re part-time, entitlement is worked out by multiplying the number of days worked each week by 5.6. For example, working one day a week means you accrue 5.6 days’ holiday, two days equates to 11.2 days, etc.
If your entitlement includes part of a day, your employer cannot round it down, but can suggest options (like starting later or finishing earlier) to use it. This ensures all staff, regardless of schedule, get their full statutory entitlement.
For seasonal workers or those with irregular hours, holiday builds up at a rate of 12.07% of hours worked, calculated weekly or monthly depending on when you are paid, and rounded up to the nearest hour, according to Citizens Advice. For example, someone working 30 hours in a week would earn about four hours of holiday.
Talk to your employer
If you think you are due holiday pay, then your first step should be to have a conversation with your employer, be they past or present.
Hopefully, this should be enough to rectify the situation. However, if they dispute what you are owed, you can also go to Citizens Advice for impartial guidance, or speak to your Trade Union, if you’re a member.
They can help you raise a formal complaint.
As a last resort, you can also contact ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) and look to take the matter to an employment tribunal – but keep in mind, there are time limits on doing so.
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