annual leave / bank holidays - Mean!????????

[HmmmIwonder]

Does anyone agree that it's a bit tight if an employer offers you the minimum statutory leave entitlement and it has to INCLUDE bank holidays? How many people have employers like that?

I think it's quite common now isn't it, now that the minimum is 28 days? Most people I know get 28 (or pro rata). I agree that when the minimum was 20 days it was tight! I get 29 incl bank hols, rising to 31 next year, which I think is quite generous.

C

No I don't think it's tight. That's nearly 6 weeks off.

The statutory minimum used to be 4 weeks, with the expectation that most employers would also pay bank holidays on top. The government then increased the minimum to 5.6 weeks to basically make sure everyone benefited. Some employers are more generous but I don't think 5.6 weeks paid leave is tight.

But if it's pro rata, you work part time and it's only 16 days, then you take 8 bank holidays out of that, that's 8 days leave a year. You really don't think that's tight? Even with a partner using his leave, and never taking time off together, that doesn't stretch over much of the school holidays, does it....

No it's not tight. Nearly 6 weeks off is not tight.

Your particular holiday arrangement means that unfortunately you don't get to choose very much of it, which is irritating for you, but your employer can't be expected to increase everyone's holiday entitlement so that you get more of the school holidays off.

Have you thought about putting in a flexible working request to work longer hours during term time and less/none during holidays?

No HmmmIwonder - because you should only get the bank holidays pro rata too, you still get the same number of working weeks off as a full timer.

Just depends how many actual days you work though, if you only did 2 a week then thats 4 weeks plus the 8 bank holidays.

At our place, all of the part timers get all bank holidays off (not pro rata'd - how do you spell that?!) I think it's just because they are a bit dim haven't realised. If I ever go part time, I think I won't work Mondays as it works out much more beneficially as then you don't have to use them up.

How do you end up having to take 8 days of holiday to cover all 8 bank holidays. If you are part time, surely some of those fall on non-working days.

I think it's just about possible that they are all working days if you work three days and your normal working days are Monday, Tuesday and Friday, but that's quite an unusual pattern and it won't apply every year anyway.

If this is a real issue for you, you might want to think about changing your days. Generally not working Monday works out well, because you don't have to use holiday to cover any of the bank holiday Mondays.

lal123 Sorry to be dense but what did you mean when you said 'you should only get the bank holidays pro rata too, you still get the same number of working weeks off as a full timer.'? How do you pro-rata bank holidays?

I work on a Mon & Fri, so I cop for all the bank holidays apart from Xmas.

No, it's not tight, it's the statutory amount

(although I do think generally we spend so much of our time at work I'd love to have more holidays)

You pro rata bank holidays in the same way you do other holiday. Divide what someone working 5 days a week get by 5 then multiply by however many days you work.

So if full timers where you work get 20 days annual leave plus 8 day bank holiday, you as someone working 2 days a week should get 20/5x2= 8 days 'normal' holiday. Same for bank holidays, so 8/5x2= 3.2.

However to make life easier many employers just do a total leave allocation, sometimes with a requirement to take bank holidays off as part of that.

If you work 2 days a week and are getting 16 days that's loads more than the basic minimum so definitely not tight!

16 days a year if you work 2 days is not tight!

If you are finding it hard with so many bank holidays falling Monday and Friday (lots will,every year. Obviously bank holiday Mondays, then Good Friday too) is there any scope for doing different days? If you working Tuesday and Wednesday, as an example, you'd have loads of flexible holiday because you'd rarely need it for bank holidays.

I'm confused OP, how many days do you get a year annual leave?

If it's the statutory amount (28 days including BH, am I right?), and if you work 2 days a week, then getting 16 days is actually generous!

I work two days a week and get 40% of my annual leave entitlement (as I do 40% hours), so in your situation I would only get 11.2 days.

Just a thought - if there is an option to change your days, it might be a good idea to do it soon, otherwise you'll barely be in work for end April/May next year