04 January 2024
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has published guidance that sets out the changes to the Working Time Regulations which the government introduced on 1 January 2024.
The government has introduced reforms to simplify holiday entitlement and holiday pay calculations, the changes include:
- defining irregular hours workers and part-year workers in relation to the introduction of the holiday entitlement accrual method and rolled-up holiday pay
- removing the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 which affect the accrual of COVID-19 carryover of leave
- maintaining the current rates of holiday pay where 4 weeks is paid at normal rate of pay and 1.6 weeks paid at basic rate of pay, whilst retaining the 2 distinct pots of leave
- defining what is considered ‘normal remuneration’ in relation to the 4 weeks of statutory annual leave.
The guidance also introduces the following reforms, that will apply to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024:
- introducing a method to calculate statutory holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers
- introducing a method to work out how much leave an irregular hour or part-year worker has accrued when they take maternity or family related leave or are off sick
- introducing rolled-up holiday pay as an alternative method to calculate holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers.
The examples provided for part-year workers is unfortunately as we expected. The example states that if a worker works for only part of the year, but is paid in instalments throughout the year, they do not meet the definition of a part-year worker. This will impact term time only staff working in educational establishments, like the infamous Ms Brazel. The policy team will be reaching out to our policy colleagues at DBT to discuss this.
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