Company says 20 days holiday is the max, not 28. No contract.

[Gluteustothemaximus40]

So DH has now left his job (let go). We were expecting holiday pay. We based it on the fact the law states 5.6 weeks per year working out roughly to be 2.33 days per month.

we worked out that he had accrued 8 days. He took 5 during his time there as this was pre booked before starting. So we thought 3 days were left to be owed.

The HR person said there’s no more holiday owed as holiday is only 20 days, therefore nothing left to pay.

I thought 28 days was statutory? I will be calling ACAS tomorrow to see if they can help but if in the meantime anyone can help ,that would be most appreciated.

if it makes any difference, they close on bank holidays.

also, no contract.

thank you.

Lots of people talking nonsense here. You don't accrue bank holidays, they're not annual leave.
Minimum is 20 days the 8 days bh are totally separate.

The bank holidays are a red herring. 28 days is the minimum and bank holidays may or may not be included in that figure

Thanks for all the input everyone. The two options here are that bank holidays are not accrued, they are correct, or the minimum is 28 days regardless of what a company does with bank holidays, and we are owed two days. When job hunting, every penny counts.

He is definitely owed 2 days. Bank holidays can be included in the 28 days leave a year but it's still a statutory minimum. Call ACAS.

Ignore those saying bank holidays are separate or are somehow different. They are wrong. Also, from what you post, all the calculations based on 28 days holiday are wrong.

The law is that he is entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday a year. You say he worked Monday to Saturday, which is a 6-day week. If that is correct, his entitlement is 33.6 days a year, not 28 days. It sounds like he was there for around 3.5 months, so he accrued 9.8 days. He has taken 5 days leave plus 1 bank holiday, so he is owed 3.8 days holiday pay.

However, if he is only working a 5-day week, you are correct that he accrued 8 days of which he has taken 6, so he is owed 2 days holiday pay.

The fact his employer says he is only entitled to 20 days and is calculating his accrued holiday on that basis shows that they don't understand the law. Also, if staff are working a 6-day week, they are giving them less holiday than the legal minimum.

@prh47bridge the only thing I would disagree with is your 33.6 days leave calculation as, if they are offering the statutory holidays then that is capped at 28 days. From .gov website:

Limits on statutory leave
Statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days. For example, staff working 6 days a week are only entitled to 28 days’ paid holiday

Apologies. You are quite right. It is 5.6 weeks but it is, as you say, capped at 28 days. My bad.

I will phone acas today but I’m leaning towards (and hoping) that it’s the min 28 days regardless of BHs. Thank you.

That doesn't make sense. A minimum is a minimum, it can't differ. It's minimum 20 says if annual leave plus bank holidays. They're two different things but add up to 28 days per year.

But still 28 is the minimum they can offer regardless of whether they include bank holidays e.g. They can offer 21 days plus bank holidays making a total of 29 days. They can't offer 19 days plus bank holidays as that only adds up to 27 days which is less than the 28 day minimum.

You're not following. 20 days is the minimum annual leave they can offer. 8 days are bh that everyone has. They aren't annual leave, they can't be used in the same way as annual leave.

It's 20 a/l plus 8 bh not 28 a/L.

Phoned ACAS, they say BH’s are nothing to do with min amount, which is 28 days on a 5+ day week.

they said the government calculator is correct, to use it, then take away any
holiday used, and any bank holiday used and that’s the total. So he is owed 2 days and we knew they were BShitting us as they were quite agressive when asked about any holiday owed.

thankful for free advice helplines 🙏

will challenge after we get a reference as can imagine they will mess about with this if we chuck a spanner in.

You are making the classic mistake of thinking that bank holidays are somehow different. They aren't. Legally, an employer must give a minimum 28 days annual leave a year. Most, but not all, employers stipulate that 8 of those days must be taken on bank holidays, but that does not alter the fact that the minimum an employer can offer is 28 days.

To add to my message above, the minimum of 28 days applies if employees work at least 5 days a week. Below that, the minimum is 5.6 weeks. So, for an employee working 3 days a week, their entitlement is 16.8 days. Any bank holidays that fall on their normal working days come out of this.

They are different. Very obviously. Bank holidays are not annual leave. You're confused

There is no statutory entitlement to bank holidays.

There is a statutory entitlement to 28 days annual leave.

So 28 days is the minimum. An employer can decide to close on bank holidays and make employees use part of their annual leave on those days but the leave accrues in exactly the same way.

I am not confused. You are.

The position is set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998, regulations 13 and 13A. Employees working a 5 day week are entitled to 28 days annual leave.

For something easier to read, see Holiday entitlement: Entitlement - GOV.UK which says, "Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year" and, "An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave".

Bank holidays are annual leave.

When you say he worked Mon-Sat do you mean he worked 6 days every week, or do you mean his working days were on Mondays to Saturdays and he worked 5 of them each week?

Since statutory holiday entitlement is capped at 28 days (something I forgot up thread), whether he was working a 5-day week or a 6-day week makes no difference to his holiday entitlement.

Just admit you are wrong. 28 days annual leave is the minimum that should be offered. It doesn't matter if some of that includes bank holidays. Some employers choose to give more than 28 days, but they cannot offer less than 28.

I'm confused. If a whole year is worked, then entitlement is 8 days BH? But, don't bank holidays only accrue as you work through the year and pass them? If work year is Jan-December, you may be ok, except we haven't got to Christmas Day and Boxing day yet...

Many employers have X days amount of holidays, plus bank holidays, which I guess is where you're getting 28 days minimum for full time employees from. However, employees generally have to accrue bank holidays first to be entitled to take them/be paid for them if they leave. So in your husband's case, in the time he's been there only have the August bank holiday occurred. If his workplace was closed that day when it would normally have been open, then he's already taken that bank holiday so wouldn't be entitled to payment for it, or any of the others he has yet to accrue.

That should say X amount of holidays, including bank holidays, the minimum for FT is 28 days. The first thing to do is establish whether the bank holidays are included in his holiday entitlement or not.

No. When someone joins or leaves a business, you calculate their holiday entitlement pro rata from 28 days. So, if someone is with the business for 3 months, they are entitled to 7 days holiday regardless of the number of bank holidays that have fallen within that period. If the 3 months were, say, March, April and May, they will have had 4 bank holidays. If the three months were September, October and November, they will not have had any bank holidays. Their holiday entitlement will be 7 days regardless.

No, they accrue at the same rate as other holiday days pro rata throughout the year. Employment law does not distinguish between normal annual leave and bank holidays.

So if you start work on 1st July and end work on 1st November you will have accrued 8 bank holidays divided by 12 months multiplied by 4 months (2.6 days minus the August bank holiday that would have been taken).