Can my work do this? Ah!

No she won’t.

Ring ACAS to get the proper wording, then forward your resignation letter to HR with a curt cover email using ACAS’ advice.

The question you need answered is can leave entitlement be withheld on leaving in lieu of notice. Where I work, it cannot. Add to that you gave sufficient notice to your manager then I'd be fighting it.

That’s right; my organisation is March- February.

Good point. Most companies I know have switched to Jan-Dec but of course not everyone has.

OP, if you gave notice according to your contract to your manager (unless your contract has a specific notice process) you have given your notice and they cannot do anything about it. Tell them that, in writing. And yes, speak to ACAS.

Surely this depends when the company's annual leave year commences / ends?
For some companies, the annual leave = calendar year, but that is not always the case. At my current employer, it runs 1 Sept - 31 Aug, in the past I have had 1 April - 31 March.

@Workdilemmma any update on this? Hope you are enjoying your final week of annual leave & HR have realised you'd told line manager & have stopped yanking your chain anoot deductions in this month's payroll!

Good luck for the new job, but do let us know how it all worked out!

This ☝ You have done everything correctly, they are obliged to pay outstanding annual leave. Write again informing HR of this and copy in CEO informing them you are taking legal advice.
Get any communications in writing, print everything off including your annual leave dates, every scrap of evidence you might need inc names of any persons involved and all contact numbers.
Nah they can't do this, your Manager cocked up not you.
Given your HR is outsourced, are they in the UK?

My own company has.a policy that you can't roll over holidays to following years. This also raises the question as to why the OP has not taken any holidays in over a year. That in itself is illegal so if they didn't let her take holidays she has another major bone to pick with them.

Well the first post said she had only taken 3 days since last July, so I imagine she might well have a full month's worth to take!

Call ACAS, they can help with this.

Look at the resignation policies, and check if this is stated in their policy (sending resignation to HR) otherwise it seems they think they can do whatever they want, when they cant.

They are obliged to pay you everything you are owed

Exactly this 👆🏼

Just gobsmacked at the complete lack of understanding 🤦🏻‍♀️

Join a union folks!

Especially those of you saying they can’t see why OP is disadvantaged🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes too many variables and I agree the above scenarios would work assuming she has 1 month annual leave to take.
This won't likely be the case unless her annual leave entitlement was ridiculously above the standard minimum and she hadn't taken any annual leave this year...

Any update op?

But e.g. imaginary scenario below.

Scenario 1:

I have 1 months notice and a month's accrued annual leave. I hand my notice in (imaginarily) on 1st September to leave by 1st October. I get paid 2 month's pay (1 month actual + 1 month accrued annual leave) on my pay day, 29th September. I start my new job on 1st October, and get paid my normal salary at the end of the month.

I've been paid everything I'm entitled to, happy days.

Scenario 2:

I have 1 months noticed and a month's accrued annual leave. I hand my notice in (imaginarily) on 1st September to leave by 1st October. My boss doesn't pass it onto HR so they say they can't process it in time so I'll have to use my next month's leave instead. I get paid 1 month's pay on my pay day, 29th September. I start my new job on 1st October. On 29th October I get paid 2 month's pay: 1 in relation to my new job, and 1 for the annual leave for my old job. I've technically been employed by two places in October.

I've been paid everything I'm entitled to but my annual leave came through a month later. Not a problem unless I have a cash flow reason to need it.

Scenario 3(what I think is being threatened here):

I have 1 months noticed and a month's accrued annual leave. I hand my notice in (imaginarily) on 1st September to leave by 1st October. My boss doesn't pass it onto HR, so they say I'll have to forfeit my annual leave in compensation for my lack of notice. I get paid 1 month's pay on my pay day, 29th September. I start my new job on 1st October. On 29th October I get paid 1 month's pay again 1.

I've not been paid everything I'm entitled to and I need to take my employer to court for wrongful deduction of wages (I think!).

So there are ways the AL thing could not result in wrongful deduction of wages I think?

If she is forced to take it as annual leave she will be paid less. If she doesn't have to take it as annual leave, she will be paid for her accrued annual leave allowance.

Sounds stressful OP. As most others have said check your individual contract. For your own information I would also check with your Manager if he/she did inform HR. You only have HRs word it was not sent and as one of 2 are on annual leave perhaps it was sent to the one on leave. Either way not your problem but sad to leave thinking ill of a Manager when they may not be in the wrong.

You won't be taking your annual leave to your be jon though just being paid it so I don't see the issue?
Plenty of people use their leave as notice.

HR director here. It's unlawful deduction of wages. Email then with the managers confirmation stating you will be leaving on X date and require payment of holiday. State not doing so is unlawful deduction of wages. Raise a grievance at the same time citing emotional distress and stress. They will conform.

My company only has 15 members of staff so not feasible to have our own in house HR person, so we have no option but to outsource.

We have just had some bad advice from them though, which resulted in me wasting a lot of time, energy and, ultimately cost us money, which I'm not happy about, so I'm in a bit of a lose-lose situation at the moment!

And this is why outsourcing your HR is a very bad idea.

This is dreadful.

I think the only remaining question for me is is there another way you are meant to resign - i.e. filling in a form or something.

That is the only conceivable thing I can imagine that could mean what they said is legitimate (i.e. that you haven't adequately served your notice) and even then I'm not sure why they'd be allowed to not pay you (except for the time you didn't work). I'm not an employment lawyer though.

What a load of nonsense!

Yes it all comes down to the handbook

Ps forward to yourself any other emails where employer or colleagues were acting as if you are leaving on Friday. If you have friendly team mates, get them to email you now confirming that you’ve been working together and with line manager to organise your work for after your leaving date. Has your job been readveetised? Get a copy of the advert etc. If you present the evidence that you’ve resigned AND whole company (except Hr) acting accordingly then you can send that to HR when you leave as it will be evidence for an employment law case. Hr will have to cave, I’m sure

Where is your manager in all of this, sorting it out for you? And if manager is crap, what about the next manager up or head of department? Escalate!!!

Make sure you forward yourself to home email address, the emails you sent manager and that your manager sent you regarding your leaving. Has your manager been discussing leaving with you,have your colleagues been informed?

Also send your home email address downloads or screenshots of company holiday policies AND any company holiday portals or calendars that you’ll lose access to after you leave, to prove how much holiday you have taken and not taken in the current year. Forward yourself emails discussing earlier holiday approval with your manager, and anything to do with sickness you may have taken. It’s important to be able to prove your holiday.

did your manager tell you to inform Hr?

if your employer has been acting as if you were leaving, and if you have notified by email your resignation to your line manager, it is illegal for them to take your holiday pay. Ilegal.

I would write a strongly worded email to Hr and cc your line manager AND cc every senior person you can think of eg head of department, CEO, COO as follows:

Dear HR, I tendered my resignation by email on dd.mm.yy and received email acknowledgment on dd.mm.yy. My notice period is x which means my last day working here is y. My team was informed by manager of my leaving on dd.mm.yy and I have been working hard with my manager and team to complete a transition of my work in readiness for my leaving. I am shocked to receive your email on dd.mm.yy denying knowledge of my resignation and leaving date. I have complied with company policy. The company has been made fully aware I have resigned and has acted accordingly to date. I am owed a balance of holiday not used at my leaving date of x days, and I expect this to be paid out in full in my last salary payment. I was not offered an opportunity to use up this holiday by my manager after I rendered my resignation nor was I advised that the holiday balance would be forfeited. If you carry out your threat to withhold payment for my holiday, I will take legal action to recover the monies owed plus my legal costs. I am unhappy that in my final week at this company you have caused me so much anxiety about this situation and it is unfortunate that have not been able to resolve with my line manager your confusion about the circumstances of my resignation and leaving date. I would appreciate a timely reply to confirm that my holiday balance will in fact be paid out, if you are unable to provide this before I leave the company you will find my contact details below.

kind regards etc