Holiday entitlement - part time/term time work.

[Callisto88]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas how to work out my annual leave entitlement. I work 18 hours a week term time only. I don't get paid for the school holidays, I just get paid at the start of each month for what I've worked the previous month.

I've asked my employer about my leave entitlement. I don't want or need to take any days off during term time, but I know that legally I'm still entitled to paid time off or holiday pay. He's replied and said I'm entitled to five bank holidays a year, so he will pay me for those (40 hours total pay). This is great , BUT I'm wondering if as well as bank holiday entitlement I should also be entitled to annual leave, or if this is my annual leave entitlement and he's worded it wrong.

I'm the only person in the company working these hours (other employees are all 30 or 40 hours a week and work all year round) so it's a confusing one. I don't want to keep questioning it and come across as grabby, when I know how lucky I am to have a job that fits so well around home life!

I THINK on 40 hours a week you accrue a day and a half of annual leave per month, and this doesn’t include bank holidays. I could well be wrong, it’s been a while since I looked into it!

18 hours term time for 39 weeks is the same as 13.5 hours for 52 weeks
13.5 hours is 36% of a 37.5 hour working week
36% of minimum holiday allowance of 28days including bank holidays is 10.08 days so you should get 10 whole days of holiday pay per year this could alter marginally if full time was different to 37.5 hours.
What matters is what is full time for your post not what would be considered full time in various other jobs as it varies from 35-40 hours
you do need to consult on how this is managed as it varies

There isn’t quite enough information to work things out exactly, would need to know what is full time at your place of work and how your 18 hours is broken down could be useful. But roughly speaking, I would make it that you are entitled to about 10 days too.

If somebody worked full time for 52 weeks not 39 weeks they would be entitled to at least 28 days including bank holidays. So your weekly hours are about half of full time weekly, then you only work 39 weeks rather than 52 so you get:

28 days / 2 = 14
14 days x 39/52 = 10.5 days

The employer can insist that leave should be used for bank holidays so if there are 5 bank holidays during your working time, that still leaves you about 5 days of leave for you to take at your choosing. You are definitely being short changed on holidays.