Annual Leave and Bank Holidays on Maternity Leave: How Holiday Builds Up and When to Take It (Great Britain)

Maternity leave is a good moment to make the most of every day of holiday you have earned, and a little planning can add weeks to time at home with a new baby or a smoother return to work. This guide explains, using Acas and GOV.UK, how holiday behaves around Statutory Maternity Leave in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own employment rules, so the Great Britain guidance quoted here should not be assumed to apply there. It is general information, and an employer’s contract or the Acas helpline should be used for individual cases.

Holiday keeps building up

GOV.UK’s maternity pay and leave overview states that employment rights are protected while on Statutory Maternity Leave, and lists the right to build up (accrue) holiday alongside pay rises and the right to return to work. Acas puts it the same way: an employee accrues holiday entitlement during statutory maternity leave, and this includes bank holidays. The result is that a full year away can carry a full year of holiday with it.

What the leave itself looks like

GOV.UK explains that Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks, made up of 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave. A person does not have to take all 52 weeks but must take 2 weeks’ leave after the baby is born, or 4 weeks in a factory. The site’s guide to planning maternity leave covers leave and pay in detail.

Bank holidays and enhanced holiday

Acas says that where bank holidays are included in an employee’s holiday entitlement, they too build up during maternity leave. If the contract gives more than statutory holiday, sometimes called enhanced or contractual holiday, Acas advises that the employee should agree with the employer whether the extra days will be paid instead of taken or taken and potentially carried over. Contract wording therefore matters, and the first place to check is the written statement or staff handbook.

Carrying holiday over

Acas explains that an employer must allow an employee to take statutory holiday during the holiday year. Where the employee cannot use it because they are on maternity leave for all or most of the year, the employer must allow them to carry it over to the next holiday year. Acas’ carrying-over guidance repeats that someone who cannot use holiday because of statutory leave, such as maternity leave, must be allowed to carry it over, and that the arrangement should be made with the employer as early as possible.

Options for planning holiday around leave

Acas states that it is not possible to take two types of leave at the same time, but holiday can be taken before or after maternity leave. Its suggested options include:

• taking some annual leave before maternity leave and some after returning to work;
• using all of the year’s holiday before maternity leave starts;
• ending maternity leave earlier and taking annual leave instead; and
• taking most holiday after maternity leave and carrying some into the next holiday year.

Acas recommends agreeing with the employer how much holiday will be accrued before and during the planned leave, whether accrued holiday will be taken before or after the leave, and how much will be carried over where appropriate.

A worked example from Acas

Acas gives an example of a person with a contract giving statutory holiday entitlement of 28 days who plans a year of statutory maternity leave. They decide to take 3 days before the leave starts and 25 days when they return. Because of the time of year, 5 of those days carry into the next holiday year. The example shows that the timing of the holiday year, not just the length of leave, decides how much needs to be carried.

Taking holiday during maternity leave

Acas warns that taking holiday before the full 52 weeks of maternity leave have been used automatically ends statutory maternity leave. Its example is a person who takes 39 weeks of maternity leave followed by 2 weeks of paid holiday: taking the holiday ends the statutory leave, and the remaining 13 weeks cannot be taken after the holiday. Anyone planning a holiday block at the end of leave should therefore check the effect on the return date and on pay before booking.

GOV.UK adds that an employee who wants to change the date of return to work must give the employer at least 8 weeks’ notice.

If holiday is refused

Acas states that it could be discrimination if an employer does not allow an employee to take their holiday entitlement because of their sex, pregnancy or maternity. The Acas helpline is the route for questions about an individual situation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I lose holiday I cannot use because I am on maternity leave? According to Acas, an employer must allow statutory holiday that could not be used because of maternity leave to be carried over to the next holiday year.

Do bank holidays count? Acas says that bank holidays included in the entitlement build up during maternity leave.

Can I take holiday at the end of my leave? Yes, but Acas warns that taking holiday before the 52 weeks are used automatically ends statutory maternity leave.

The bottom line

In Great Britain, holiday and bank holidays keep accruing on Statutory Maternity Leave, and statutory holiday that cannot be used because of the leave must be allowed to carry over. The sensible step is to agree the plan with the employer early, deciding what to take before leave, after it and what to carry forward, and to remember that holiday taken mid-leave ends the statutory leave.

Sources

• Acas, "Holiday and maternity leave"
• Acas, "Carrying over holiday"
• GOV.UK, "Maternity pay and leave: Overview"
• GOV.UK, "Maternity pay and leave: Leave"