Holiday Related Questions (Furlough)

How did employers treat Bank Holidays that fell in the furlough period?

If employees usually took Bank Holidays as leave, the employer had to top up the employee’s pay to their usual holiday pay rate or give them a day’s holiday in lieu.

Could employees carry forward holiday into the next leave year?

The Government advised that employees who had not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement (up to 20 days) would be able to carry it over into the next two leave years. This applied where, on account of coronavirus, it was not reasonably practicable for employees to take some or all of the holiday to which the employee was entitled. However, employers could still encourage staff to take their holiday entitlement during that current leave year.

Could employees have holiday paid whilst on furlough leave?

Yes, employees should have had holiday paid as normal. Employers could claim back the cost of an annual leave furlough day (subject to the cap of 80% of salary or £2,500 per month) and the employer had to make up the difference between that and the employee’s normal pay.

Were employers able to require employees to take holiday while furloughed?

Yes. If an employer required employees to take holiday during furlough, they had to be given twice as much notice as the length of the holiday they wanted the employee to take e.g. two days’ notice for one day’s holiday.