Leave and Public Holidays Management for Full-Time and Part-Time Workers in the UK

How to Manage Public Holidays for Part-Time and Full-Time Employees in the UK public holidays, bank holidays, part-time, full-time

Calculating holiday entitlements can be a complex task in today's diverse working environment, where the traditional 9-5, five-day workweek no longer applies to many sectors. The question of how to manage leave entitlements is a common concern for HR professionals.

In the UK, leave entitlements are governed by employment law and can vary based on factors such as employment status, length of service, and any specific arrangements agreed upon in the employment contract.

Full-time employees in the UK are entitled to 28 days of holidays per year, which includes 8 public holidays.

However, for part-time workers, holiday entitlements accrue on a pro-rata basis.

  •  Annual Leave: Full-time employees are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks (28 days) of paid annual leave per year which includes public holidays. This entitlement includes both working days and weekends. It is important to note that this is the minimum requirement, and many employers offer additional leave days as part of their benefits package.
  • Part-Time Workers: Part-time workers have the same entitlement to annual leave, but it is calculated on a pro-rata basis. The number of days or hours they receive depends on their contracted hours compared to a full-time employee working the standard hours for the organization.
  • Public Holidays: Public holidays, also known as bank holidays, are additional days off granted to employees to commemorate specific events or holidays. In the UK, there are typically eight recognized public holidays. The entitlement to public holidays can vary depending on the employment contract and the industry in which an employee works.
  • Company-Specific Policies: Some employers may offer additional leave days beyond the statutory minimum. These extra days can be company-specific policies and may differ from one organization to another. 
  • Accrual of Leave: Annual leave entitlements may accrue based on an employee's length of service. This means that employees may earn additional leave days or hours for each year they work for an employer. Accrual rates can vary depending on company policies or collective agreements.

    To calculate leave for employees please see gov.uk 

How to manage these scenarios in HRLocker

Log in as Admin

Create your offices

Set up carry over if needed

Go to Office Time On settings

  • Import Public Holidays 

  • Add Office specific holidays. These can be deducted from annual leave if required.

  • Add different leave types

  • Enable TOIL if required. See Types of TOIL
  • Enable Annual leave accrual if required. Enabling this will allow your employees to have leave designated by hours instead of days. It will also give you the option to set employees to accrue leave, rather than be allocated. See Enabling Accrued and Hourly annual leave

Allocating employees Annual Leave

  • Add an employee to your office

  • Set annual leave days/hours. These can be accrued or allocated

See How to edit annual leave

See Assigning accrued leave