Don't make workers wait too long for extra holiday, says TUC
Several million of the UK's hard-working employees should soon be enjoying more leisure time with their family and friends thanks to Government plans to increase the legal minimum holiday entitlement for all UK workers, says the TUC today (Wednesday).
But in its submission to a Government consultation on increasing the UK's minimum annual leave entitlement, the TUC is urging ministers not to bow to the business lobby and make employees wait until next autumn before they can get the extra time off work.
Under existing law, it is will be perfectly legal for employees unfortunate enough to work for mean employers to be forced to take this Good Friday and Easter Monday from their four weeks' statutory minimum leave entitlement.
This means that when this weekend's two bank holidays and this year's other six are taken into account, some full time employees could be left with just 12 days holiday, and some part-time staff could find themselves using up almost all their annual leave just on public holidays, says the TUC. The Government's proposals will prevent employers from doing this, by granting employees a minimum of 5.6 weeks leave a year - 28 days for a full-time worker.
In its submission, the TUC says that ministers should ignore the cries from some employers that bringing in the extra leave all in one go will be unaffordable. The TUC argues that UK workers should not have to wait another 18 months before getting the extra holiday as the economy is performing well enough to absorb the full change from this October.
The TUC's submission says that all previous increases in annual leave and any new bank holidays have come into effect with no detrimental effect on the economy, jobs, productivity or competitiveness. And most UK employees would be unaffected by the change because they already enjoy more holiday than the legal minimum (the average being 25 days plus eight bank holidays).
The TUC would also like to see tough proactive enforcement of the new rules to make sure that all employees are able to take all the holiday to which they are entitled.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Over-worked, stressed out, holiday- poor employees are not going to be a firm's best asset. On the other hand, those staff who are able to book time off work, return refreshed with their batteries recharged, and are much more productive.
'The extra leave on offer to employees will make a real difference to the lives of millions of working people. The Government must ignore those carping employers who say that the new holiday leave should not come in all at once. Workers should be able to take the extra holiday from this autumn and not be forced to wait another year to get their holiday in full.'
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- In its manifesto for the 2005 General Election the Labour Party proposed to extend the four weeks' minimum paid holiday guaranteed by the Working Time Regulations (1998). The Government proposes to add 1.6 weeks to the existing minimum statutory annual leave entitlement, thus increasing the entitlement for full-time workers by eight days, with a pro-rata increase for part-time workers.
The DTI intends to implement the increase to leave rights in two parts:
· 1 October 2007 - increase to 4.8 weeks
· 1 October 2008 - increase to 5.6 weeks
- The TUC submission 'Increasing the holiday entitlement: a further consultation' can be found at http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/holidayentitlement.pdf
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
- Register for the TUC's press extranet : a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet
