Carrying unused leave forward into a subsequent leave year


Except for the special position where a worker is unable to take annual leave due to sickness, under the WTR a worker with unused annual leave has no right to carry forward any of the four weeks’ annual leave from one leave year to the next. A “relevant agreement” (such as an employment contract) can be entered into to allow any of the extra 1.6 weeks of annual leave to be carried forward into the immediately following holiday year.


If a worker has a contractual right to holiday in addition to the basic statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks, worker and employer are free to agree anything they want about carrying forward (or even buying back) this extra holiday.