Public holidays ‘eating into statutory leave’

A consulting firm has conducted a study which shows workers in the UK receive the most statutory holiday entitlement in Western Europe, but because of a loophole, workers in Britain actually have fewer annual leave days than across the rest of Europe. If the 28 days of holiday entitlement and eight public UK holidays were added together it would mean workers have 36 days off a year, equalling 10% of the yearly calendar – but businesses here are allowed to include the public holidays in the statutory 28 days. The study by Mercer showed that this actually means many UK workers have fewer holiday days than the rest of the EU. Cyprus has the most public holidays in Western Europe with 15, Malta and Spain have 14, Austria and Portugal have 13, but the UK and Holland have the least with just eight days each. The UK’s 28 days statutory leave compares with 25 in Greece, France, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland and Denmark, 24 in Malta, 22 in Spain and Portugal, 21 in Norway and 20 in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Ireland, Switzerland and Holland. Our Employment team provides advice on the employment aspects of all major business decisions. For advice, contact a member of the team: call us on 08456 381381 or email employment@ibblaw.co.uk.