The government has issued a consultation paper to address the issues arising from the Supreme Court’s judgment last year in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel.
As a result of the Harpur Trust case, part-year workers are entitled to a larger holiday entitlement than part-time workers who work the same total number of hours across the year.
The Government wishes to address this disparity to ensure that holiday pay and entitlement received by workers is proportionate to the time they spend working. The proposal is to replace the 52 week reference period when weeks in which no remuneration is earned are ignored, with a 52 week reference period which includes weeks with no remuneration.
The consultation seeks to understand the implications of the judgment on different sectors including agency workers who have complex contractual arrangements. The Government wants to ensure that any changes it considers does not have any adverse impacts on other parts of the legislation. Its impact assessment calculated that this change will save businesses £113m per annum.
The consultation closes on 9 March 2023.