Our response to the government’s holiday entitlement consultation

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has recently consulted on proposals to change the way that statutory holiday entitlement is determined for part-year and irregular hours workers. 

Part-year and irregular hours workers currently receive the same statutory holiday entitlement as those that work full-time. The government has proposed that these workers should instead receive statutory holiday entitlement that is proportionate to the amount of time that they spend working throughout the year. 

Read a summary of the proposals.

To help inform our response to this consultation, NHS Employers undertook a survey to gather the views of employers in the NHS. Employers generally supported the government’s proposals, with some of the key points from our response including: 

• national NHS terms and conditions provide a more generous holiday entitlement than the statutory minimum, which restricts the impact of the proposed changes within the NHS
• employers agree that statutory holiday entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers should be calculated on a pro-rata basis
• it is important to employers that part-year, irregular hour and part-time workers receive consistent and equal treatment
• some concerns were raised about the potential administrative burden associated with some of the proposals.

Further information:

• Read our response to this consultation in full.  
• Read the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy consultation. 

We will share the government’s response to its consultation once published, and will outline how any confirmed changes to statutory provisions might impact the NHS.