Furlough and annual leave

[MegUffin]

Hi all,

Can anyone help please?

Is it compulsory that If an employer asks you to take annual leave whilst on furlough that you have to take it?

I think it's grossly unfair. I did not ask to take furlough and certainly do not want to take annual leave as well.

Please can anyone advise on this...

www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1263646/martin-lewis-money-coronavirus-holiday-annual-leave-covid-advice

An employer has the right to require you to take annual leave as long as they give you twice as much notice as the length of leave they want you to take.

Now we have the full conditions of the furlough scheme there is nothing in them saying furlough funding isn’t applicable if staff are on annual leave, so yes they can do this. They would need to pay you at full pay not the 80%.

On another note you have to agree in writing to be placed on furlough- have your employer not done this?

That Martin Lewis link is entirely irrelevant. Just because an employer can allow holiday to be carried over doesn’t mean they have to do it!

We were told that we still accrue annual leave as normal and will be able to take this over 24 months. Booked leave is automatically cancelled and added to the entitlement. But my company does everything by the book ans some is above & beyond.

I was asked to cancel any leave that I'd pre-booked as furloughing "trumps" it. I'd still be entitled to any leave for this year when the furlough ends.

Is anyone being paid for their usual bank holidays? These should be full pay too surely?

We have all been furloughed at my work and have been asked to take all but a week's annual leave by the end of August and we get Christmas off anyway.

Our firm was worried that there would be too much annual leave crammed in at the end of the year.

We are getting full pay for annual leave and bank holidays.

For anyone it.causrs a major problem for eg.2 week holiday booked in October etc. They will make an exception.

As far as I know no one has moaned.

The original info said holiday accrued as usual and you cojuldn;t be on holiday and on furlough.

Updated info now states you can take holiday on furlough but you must be paid your normal rate for it.

Which is just great AFTER I've already run payroll covering the bank holiday good Friday.

The government guidance has always, until yesterday, been absolutely silent on holiday.

There was a risk that HMRC might decide that holiday ‘broke’ furlough so cautious employers were making sure that holiday was carried over (including bank holidays) or taken on a ‘3 weeks furlough, then a bit of holiday, then back on furlough’ basis.

How much to pay people on holiday has never at any point been anything to do with HMRC and would have required a change in legislation to be anything other than 100%. Holiday has to be at ‘normal pay’, or, if pay is variable, at an average amount.

We run a holiday credits scheme whereby the company pay an amount according to a workers grade into the scheme, then draw it out when they take holiday.

I definately remember seeing somewhere that holiday accrued during furlough and the wording implied that you couldn’t take both but it was somewhere on the site very early on when they first announced it.

Does anyone know if entitlement to Parental Leave will be affected by furlough? If we are made to use all/most of my AL, I was planning to use Parental Leave to cover school holidays in the second half of the year. Will the entitlement change?

You are still continuously employed whilst on furlough so entitlement to unpaid parental leave won’t be affected.