Understanding the law and your employee’s rights is really important when delegating annual and sick leave. Before you promise your staff that extra holiday, be sure to know the facts and the legal pay for a planned and unplanned holiday.
Annual leave
Full-time employees, working a 5 day week, are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year. Multiplying 5.6 by 5, the number of days worked will equal to 28 days of annual leave. It’s up to the employer whether bank holidays are counted as part of the annual leave which means an employee is legally entitled to 28 days including bank holidays. To calculate a part-time employee’s entitlement, multiply the number of days they work a week by 5.6. If an employee works irregular hours or in particular shifts rather than a set number of days a week, you can calculate their holiday entitlement using this calculator. The legal entitlement is capped at 28 days, however, an employee can choose to offer more.
Sick leave
There aren’t a certain number of entitled sickness days, however, after 7 days leave, a sick note is required from the employee’s doctor as evidence of sickness. If on sickness leave for over 4 weeks, the employee can be referred to a fit for work program which will help them plan and ease back into the work environment.
During the sick leave, employees are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for the days that they would have been at work, for up to 28 weeks. This is equal to £88.45 per week. You are required to start paying SSP on the fourth day in a row that they have been ill and not at work.
If you’d like some assistance with organising SSP and holiday entitlement, you may want to consider outsourced payroll with Cintra Payroll Services. We have over 40 years’ experience and offer an efficient and effective way to manage payroll. Get in touch by filling out a contact form.