If you are one of the lucky people who has secured a holiday over the festive season, or the cold weather has got you thinking about warmer climates, you may be concerned about how much you will be paid for time away from work. This article looks at how much you should be paid, under the law, when you take holidays.

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Holiday Pay, UK Law

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) outline that you are entitled to be paid for annual leave. Furthermore, the Regulations state that you are entitled to be paid an amount that is equivalent to a week’s pay, for each week of leave you take.

There have been a number of cases clarifying exactly how much employees should be paid for annual leave, in the case of Williams v British Airways ECJ C155/10, the ECJ ruled that holiday pay must be reflective of what you would normally earn had you been at work. This led to developments at Tribunal level determining that holiday pay must include things such as payments reflecting regular overtime, travel payments, shift or weekend premium payments and anti-social hours payments. If you have only received basic pay for holidays, but you normally receive additional payment for any of these working conditions, you may be able to make a claim for backdated pay.

You can make a claim for outstanding holiday payments where you have not been paid these additional sums, or your employer has paid you less than you are due for holiday pay. However, the Government introduced a change to the Employment Rights Act 1996, in light of the legal developments outlined above. Claims for holiday and backdated pay made on or after 1 July 2015, will only be able to claim back pay a maximum period of two years from the date that the claim was first made.This means that if you have been in a job for a number of years, you will not be able to make a claim for the additional funds you have not been paid for holidays that were more than two years prior to beginning your claim.