Paid holiday – what are you entitled to?
As a temporary worker you are entitled to your statutory paid holiday in the same way as any other European worker. You are entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year including bank holidays. This does not necessarily mean 5.6 calendar weeks. If you have only worked through a recruitment consultancy for a proportion of the year or you have not worked full working weeks, your paid holiday entitlement will be pro-rated accordingly.
Payment on account of your paid holiday entitlement that is rolled up invisibly into your pay rate (i.e. your pay rate is £20 per hour which includes your holiday pay) is unlawful. This is the established legal position as set down in a European Court of Justice (ECJ) Ruling in 2006. In that ruling the ECJ stated that holiday pay rolled up into a workers pay rate was unlawful but went on to say if it was impractical to pay a worker at the time they took their actual holiday then, provided the payment on account of paid holiday was made in a clear and transparent way in addition to the pay rate, it would be lawful.
The UK Government in its guidance on this issue states that if payment for statutory holiday is made at the same time as the pay rate is paid, this is rolled up holiday pay and is unlawful. This is not quite accurate. In fact the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) takes a different view (and decisions by the EAT override Government guidance) and has found in several cases that, in accordance with the second leg of the ECJ judgment, provided payment on account of paid holiday is made on top of the pay rate and is clearly distinguishable from it then it is perfectly lawful.
Your recruitment consultancy should state in your terms of engagement that holiday entitlement is paid together with and in addition to your hourly rate. Your pay rate should be agreed with you and set out in an assignment confirmation letter together with the calculation of the appropriate paid holiday entitlement that will apply on top of that hourly rate. Those two amounts are accounted for separately on your payslip and marked accordingly.
If you have any queries about this, please click here
