Accidentally missing minimum leave in 2024-25?

News  |   19 March 2025

Written by
James Millican, Trainee Solicitor

England and Wales typically have eight bank holidays per annum, but due to a late Easter bank holiday this year, there are only seven between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025. This will impact employers whose holiday year runs between these dates. An employee’s entitlement will vary depending on the construction of their annual leave provisions in their contracts of employment/holiday policies.

  • If the employment contract states that the employee has 28 days of holiday, which includes bank holiday, then employees would still get their full entitlement, as they will get the seven bank holidays off and will have 21 days to take at another time.
  • If the employment contract states that workers are entitled to 20 days plus all bank holidays, then affected workers would only receive 27 days which falls short of the statutory minimum.

It is important to note that even in the event that a Company may say employees have 28 days including bank holidays, some systems will automatically allocate 8 days to bank holidays, which may leave the employees with effectively fewer that the statutory minimum of holidays per annum.

Impacted employers are required to top up employees to the correct number of annual leave days or face a potential claim for unlawful deduction from wages.

If you're an employee or an employer requiring employment law advice, please get in touch with our Employment team on 020 8290 0440.

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