The Working Time Regs provide that all workers are entitled to minimum holidays of 28 days (5.6 weeks) each holiday year. This entitlement continues to accrue while an individual remains in employment even if they are not actually present at work due to sickness.
Accordingly, where an employee is absent for part of a holiday year, he or she must be allowed to take accrued annual leave on return. It is lawful however for employers to provide that any holiday entitlement in excess of the statutory minimum will not accrue during the period of absence.
It also remains lawful for employers to have a provision preventing employees carrying forward holidays from one holiday year to the next. Where an employee fails to utilise his or her full holiday entitlement, despite having been given the opportunity to do so, the employee will forfeit that entitlement.
If however, by applying this rule, employees are unable to use their holiday entitlement through no fault of their own e.g. due to sickness absence straddling the holiday year, the employee must be permitted either to take annual leave while absent from work or alternatively allowed to carry forward any unused portion of their entitlement to the next holiday year.