Under UK law all full time employees are entitled to 5.6 paid weeks annual leave which can be inclusive of bank holidays, translating to 28 days. The entitlement can vary in terms of hours / days worked or any additional contractual agreements.
GOV.UK provide a handy calculator which will help you in calculating part year and part time entitlement.
Holidays accrue from the start of employment and contracts of employment can also stipulate when an employee can take entitlement- for example you can specify that holidays can only be taken a month after employment commences. Holiday entitlement should be adjusted based on the working days and hours of an employee.
If you’d like to request employees to take time off during specific periods then this must be stipulated in the contract, for example shutdowns over Christmas or summer vacations. Good practice suggests that employees should give double the days notice to the entitlement they wish to use, for example if an employee wants to take 10 days leave, then 20 days notice should be given.
You can specify how many days of leave an employee can carry-over at the end of the year in the SeedLegals employment agreements too.
Our Employment Agreements and Founders Service Agreement all allow for you to customise the number of holidays to offer to employees, and how many days they can carry over. We also have the option to give employees an extra day off on their birthday - a great way to excite new employees joining the company. All Employment Agreements are found in the ‘Team’ tab.