EEF has responded to the government’s detailed proposal for increasing the statutory annual holiday entitlement from 4 weeks to 4.8 weeks from 1 October 2007 and then to 5.6 weeks from 1 December 2008.
EEF’s response to the DTI consultation document expressed serious concerns about the complex legal requirements and administrative difficulties that the government’s approach to increasing statutory annual holiday entitlement will create for employers. In particular, we are concerned that the government’s proposed approach means that there will be 3 different legal regimes that will apply to the taking of annual holiday.
In order to address these concerns, we have suggested that:-
· Employers who, by contract, give their workers more than 5.6 weeks’ annual leave (most EEF members) should be exempt from having to comply with any requirements relating to the proposed additional leave entitlement
· Employers should be allowed, through either a collective or workforce agreement, to provide payment in lieu of the proposed 1.6 weeks’ additional statutory leave entitlement
and
· The government should make it clear that where a planned day of additional statutory leave falls on a day when the worker is otherwise entitled to leave for any reason (except maternity or parental leave) that planned day need not be replaced with a later day.
EEF’s response to this DTI consultation document can be downloaded in full from this page.