Honouring Pre-booked Holidays: What Employers and Jobseekers Need to Know

For most jobseekers, the interview stage is the first opportunity to mention any pre-booked holiday dates. From a legal point of view, the employer doesn’t have to honour a candidate’s pre-booked holiday. However, rejection is likely to leave a bad impression and may mean the loss of a valuable potential employee.

So how can employers and jobseekers get the best result from this situation? Let’s start with the perspective of both.

From the Employer’s Perspective

When a job candidate asks whether their pre-booked holiday will be honoured, the employer’s decision is based on how those holiday dates will impact their staffing cover. Their challenge is to balance employee satisfaction with their business needs.

This can be especially difficult for small businesses or if the holiday dates fall during a busy season.

From the Jobseeker’s Perspective

Jobseekers aren’t only workers. They have a life outside employment. Booking a holiday is exciting, provides something to look forward to, and may involve family events like weddings. Cancelling a holiday can be disappointing and costly.

Should an employer reject a candidate’s pre-booked holiday, this can sour their work relationship and give a bad impression of that company.

What Holiday Rights Do UK Employees Have?

Most employees in the UK have a legal right to 5.6 weeks paid holiday each year. This is their statutory holiday entitlement. Generally, this is reliant on working a five-day week. Part-time workers and those who work irregular hours receive a pro-rata entitlement based on their regular hours.

Example Pro-rata Calculation

An employee working five days each week is entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday each year.

An employee working two days each week is entitled to:

5.6 divided by 5 = 1.12

1.12 multiplied by 2 = 2.24 weeks paid holiday each year.

An employer may choose to include bank holidays as part of this entitlement. Or they may go beyond the basic statutory holiday entitlement and offer more than 5.6 weeks per year. Employees, however, only have a legal right to the statutory holiday entitlement for the hours they work.

The start and end dates of holiday years vary between employers. Some may start on the first day of January, the beginning of the UK financial year in April, or whenever is suitable for the employer. When an employee begins work part-way through a holiday year, they are only entitled to part of the annual holiday entitlement. How much holiday they are allowed will depend on how much of the holiday year remains after their start date.

Example Calculation

Sue begins her new job on the first day of March. Her holiday entitlement for the rest of the year (10 months in total) is:

Annual holiday entitlement = 5.6 weeks

5.6 divided by 12 months = 0.466

0.466 multiplied by 10 months = 4.66 weeks

Often employers will use an accrual system for calculating holiday entitlement. This means that employees will build up their holiday entitlement with each month or portion of a month that they work. This is especially true in the first year of employment. This holiday entitlement accrual continues even if you are absent from work due to illness or on specific types of leave such as maternity or paternity leave.

Example Holiday Accrual

Bob’s holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks each year. By the end of June, he has accrued 2.8 weeks paid holiday.

For more information on statutory holiday entitlement, visit the gov.uk website.

Practical Tips for Employers and Jobseekers

Whichever side of this conversation you’re on – employer or jobseeker – it’s important to understand how the topic of pre-booked holidays can be handled well during a job interview. Here are our practical tips for both employers and jobseekers to ensure a balance between business needs and employee well-being.

For the Employer

When a candidate asks whether their pre-booked holidays will be honoured:

• begin with an open mind. Don’t refuse pre-booked holidays without considering whether you can accommodate the candidate’s request.
• consider the request with a mindset of balance. While the needs of your business are important, so is employee morale. Weigh the short-term challenges against the impact your rejection might have on the candidate. Granting pre-booked holidays will leave the candidate with a good impression of your company and build future employee loyalty and engagement.
• be open about your staffing needs. If the pre-booked holiday will clash with important deadlines, say so but also discuss alternatives.
• consider whether temporary cover could be provided, or the role’s workload redistributed to accommodate the pre-booked holiday.

For the Jobseeker

When raising the topic of pre-booked holidays during an interview:

• be aware that the employer has a business to run, and staffing needs to cover.
• be completely honest about your holiday dates.
• balance the holiday request with your commitment to the role. Express your enthusiasm to work for the employer.
• understand that your holiday dates may not be acceptable alongside the company’s accrual system.

Wrapping it up

Employers have a legal obligation to provide statutory paid holidays to their workforce, but they’re not obligated to grant a job candidate’s pre-booked holidays. To get the best out of a holiday request during a job interview, both the employer and the jobseeker should approach the situation with a mindset of openness and flexibility.