Consultation — working time and annual leave

The coalition government launched a consultation in May 2011 on changes to the WTR, in particular to bring the WTR into line with European law according to the Stringer and Pereda cases. The consultation, Modern Workplaces: Working Time Regulations, is available at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-modern-workplaces.

The UK government wants employers to be allowed to insist that unused leave due to sickness absence is taken during the current holiday year if there is still time left in which to take it. It also wants to give employers the right to require employees to take that leave in the following year, if there are good business reasons for carrying it forward. However, it is not clear whether ECJ case law allows either option.