This blog focuses on an employer’s guide to annual leave in 2022, as the cold nights draw in many people will be thinking about when they can jet off to sunnier climes or where they may go on their staycation. With the New Year dawning, and many businesses about to start a new annual leave year many employees will be considering their annual leave requests.
If you offer annual leave on a first-come, first-serve basis no doubt you will have an employee or two who will submit their request on the first day they can, but, there are additional factors to consider in 2022.
Employment Law Solutions can help all FRA Members when it comes to calculating annual leave entitlements, whether it be for part-time staff, zero-hours workers, or those who have only worked part of a year, our lawyers remain available to make sure you’re not providing more annual leave then you intend to.
New changes to annual leave – Queen’s birthday
Annual Leave in 2022 is going to be different for employees across the country. The Government has announced that there will be a four-day weekend to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne – the first British Monarch to reach this milestone.
The late Spring Bank Holiday in May will be moved to Thursday, 2 June 2022 and an additional Bank Holiday will be created on Friday, 3 June 2022.
If you do not want to pay an additional day’s annual leave, employers should ensure that their contract of employment states that employees are entitled to “20 days annual leave plus the usual 8 bank holidays (or the pro-rata equivalent).” This means that the extra bank holidays can be ordered to be part of their usual holiday entitlement. This will not cost the business any additional money.
Moreover, should Her Majesty pass away in 2022 we project that there would be an additional 2 bank holidays, one for the day of her funeral and a second for the day of the coronation, should it take place in 2022.
Our lawyers have previously drafted blogs on this subject which can be found here:
Annual leave entitlement for employees – full time & part-time
With additional bank holidays, entitlement might increase for full and part-time staff alike, however, part-time staff will accrue a pro-rata equivalent.
When looking at annual leave for part-time staff you must remember that should a bank holiday fall on their usual day off, their accrued entitlement will not change. Annual leave, including bank holidays, cannot be taken if the employee was never due to work.
Don’t forget that part-time employees should not be treated any less favourably than their full-time counterparts.
Making annual leave less of an HR headache
Annual leave calculations can be confusing. They can cause all sorts of problems for employers. We aim to work with employers to make annual leave calculations simple and accurate.
Our Annual Leave How to Guide, which we drafted specifically for FRA Members, sets out the method which the law prescribes is used to calculate annual leave. You can download a copy of the How to Guide here.
Annual leave is vital to promote good physical and mental health in the workplace and will improve employees work-life balance. It allows individuals to take time to rest and re-energise which can result in stress reduction and improve mood, benefiting staff morale. For more information on annual leave, click here
To make calculating annual leave entitlement as simple as possible, we always recommend that employers keep accurate records of annual leave that has been taken. There is of course a wide range of software that can be bought to help with this process but a simple spreadsheet can prove an accurate way to monitor annual leave as well as absences.
We have created an annual leave absences tracker on Excel, this simple tool will remove many of the root causes of HR headaches, poor record keeping. If you want us to send you a copy of our Tracker simply get in touch.
Why stress?
Why stress yourself trying to work out the correct annual leave entitlement for your staff? Our lawyers can do this for you s part of your free hours worth of advice. Get in touch with us today.
Employment Law Solutions offer Employment Law advice and can assist with your contracts and handbooks. By offering a monthly retainer service you are able to benefit from legal advice and employment contract reviews 24/7, 365 days, all while spreading the cost over 12 monthly payments.
