Is this a breach of contract? U.K. employment

[MotherofKitties]

Hi, just looking for some clarity really.

Apologies if this is long but I want to give all the facts so I can get some honest opinions back;

I have been with my employer for 9 years and I had my contract changed 6 years ago to reflect my part time working hours following maternity leave. My contract confirms that my holiday entitlement was pro-rated as a result of my drop in hours. In a separate sub section it confirms that I am entitled to carry over a certain amount of annual leave to the following year if approval is granted by my line manager.

Contract clearly states the amount of leave I am entitled to carry forward and makes no reference to this being pro-rated. I have previously carried forward the amount of annual leave as stated in my contract with my managers approval in previous years with no issue.

My HR team are stating that I am not entitled to carry on said annual leave despite my contract and my line manager having confirmed and authorised it. HR have said it's due to a new policy so I'm not entitled to it. The new policy in question makes no reference to a set amount of annual leave or any restrictions regarding the amount part time staff can carry forward.

If the company is successful in refusing to allow my annual leave being carried forward I have will have lost the annual leave in terms of time off or if I had wanted to, it's monietry value as the company does allow you to 'sell' the leave back to them.

My thought is this - I have a signed contract from 6 years ago clearly stating what I'm entitled to. HR and the senior management are refusing to honour it. There is no policy that states that part time staff are pro-rated the amount of leave they can carry over that may supersede my contract. On the basis of this, this is a breach of contract isn't it, if they refuse to honour it?

[prh47bridge]

Since this is in your contract, it cannot be overridden by a policy. They are clearly trying to change your contract. They cannot do that without your consent.

[NoMoreEventsToday]

What are the numbers?

What's your fte?

How many days/hours are you wanting to carry over?

[Acornsoup]

If leave policy is changed there would usually be a grace period to allow excess leave to be used or recovered by pay. Did they not give a leave year to fall into compliance?

[MotherofKitties]

Hi all, thanks for your responses.

So my work have now said they'll 'honour' the days I had signed off by my manager to carry forward 'this year', but they have made it clear that they believe my contract was a 'mistake', it shouldn't have said a certain number of days, and if I want to carry forward the same amount of leave next year it will be challenged and they have referenced changing my contract if I make a fuss.

The policy they have referred to doesn't actually state anywhere that the time allowed to be carried forward is pro-rated for part time staff and my manager has challenged this on my behalf. Unfortunately my contract does state at the very end that management reserve the right to make 'reasonable adjustments' to the contract at their discretion so if they want to, I think they can change my contract without consultation.

I get the impression that they've realised that they've been giving a lesser allocation of carried over annual leave to newer or more recent part time members of staff in their contracts, and me having a larger allocation to other staff may cause them problems. Even if that's the case, and they made a mistake with my contract like they state, I feel penalised for no reason and it's all just made me feel very demoralised. Thanks for the responses anyway x