Carrying over holiday in the UK

The default position

UK statutory leave splits into two buckets:

• 4 weeks (20 days for a 5-day week): the EU-derived portion. Must be taken in the leave year it accrues — no automatic carry-over.
• 1.6 weeks (8 days): the additional UK portion. Can be carried over by agreement between employer and employee — usually one leave year forward.

Sickness carry-over

If someone can't take leave because of long-term sickness, they can carry statutory holiday into the next leave year and it must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year it accrued in.

Family leave carry-over

Where leave couldn't be taken because of maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental or parental bereavement leave, the full statutory entitlement can be carried into the next leave year.

Contractual extras

If your contract offers more than the statutory 5.6 weeks (say, 30 days), you decide what happens to the extra. Common approaches:

• Use it or lose it: anything unused at year end is forfeited.
• Capped carry-over: up to X days can roll over, must be used by a fixed date (e.g. 31 March).
• Pay in lieu: sometimes offered for the extra portion — never for the statutory 5.6 weeks except on termination.

Encourage staff to take leave

UK case law puts a duty on employers to actively give workers the chance to take leave and to warn them if it will be lost. A quiet policy in the handbook isn't enough. Send reminders at the start of Q4 and again with two months to go, and log the fact you did.

Writing a fair policy

• State the leave year clearly (e.g. Jan–Dec).
• Say how many days can carry over, and by when they must be used.
• Cover sickness, family leave and TOIL separately.
• Explain how carry-over interacts with leavers' final pay.

Let Leavo handle year-end

Leavo tracks each employee's remaining balance, applies your carry-over cap automatically at year end, and prompts reminders before leave is lost. No more January spreadsheets reconciling what carried over from December.