We have submitted a response to the government’s consultation on calculating holiday entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers. Whilst reform in this area would be very welcome, we note that when it comes to the detail, one size does not fit all.

Earlier this year we wrote about the government’s proposal to legislate to ensure that holiday entitlement is proportionate to time worked. This would remedy the problems highlighted by last year’s Harper v. Brazel decision and hopefully make this complex area of law easier for both employers and employees to navigate.

We have now submitted our response to the consultation and this can be seen here.

Although we are supportive of the principle underpinning the government’s proposed look-back method of holiday accrual, we have observed that this should not be the only way of calculating holiday entitlement. In our response we therefore propose an option for a suite of lawful calculation methods, the most appropriate of which could be set out in the relevant contract.