Government Proposals To Increase Statutory Holiday Entitlement

[Guest]

Today I found out that the Government are proposing to increase holiday entitlements from 20 to 28 days for someone working a 5 day week, phasing it in as 24 days from 1 October 2007 and the remainder from 1 October 2008. See www.dti.gov.uk/employment/holidays/index.html for further info and details on consultation responses.

 

I am a bear of very little brain but I am concerned that the Nursery Education Funding will not be increased to take account of this and for groups like mine (small voluntary sessional pre-school) this could well be the final nail in the coffin.

 

Comments please - hopefully you lot will understand the implications of this better than me!

[belle06]

we have also heard this I know there has been talk of increasing the funding to 15 hours a week and then to 20 hours a week but have not heard about the increase of weeks on the bright side the holiday entitlement is able to include bank holidays so that is 8 days away from the entitlement that staff will need to take while we are open. This is going to have a knock on effect with a lot of settings.

[Guest]

the increase in the holiday entitlement was talked about last year I think sometime during the summer. It will mean that your 38 weeks of grant money will have to stretch to 5 weeks holiday instead of the 4 that people get now.

I have just been to a meeting with our LEA and the 15 hours is being piloted and will not come into force between 2008 and 2010.

We have just been told that we will now be allowed from April to use the granted session over a lunch, which is good news for me as I will be able to do 9.15 to 11.45 as one session and then 12.00 to 2.30pm as a 2nd session.

It means that I might even be able to start the hot meals for the children as the parents won't have to pay for lunchclub on top of paying for the meal.

 

The Nurseries won't be taking part as it was optional.

Also found out our grant money is going up to £8.25 for a session.

not alot but we are in discussion for next year to see if we can get more . they are using a consult to advice the LEA it would be interesting to know how much that is costing but thats another discussion.

[Guest]

Gosh! Ours is £6.85!!

[narnia]

ours has been £8.25 for a while now

[Guest]

Phew, don't get me started on funding....

[Guest]

I cannot understand why there is so much difference across the country. not just on funding but on everything even Ofsted procedures seem to vary from county to county.

Thank goodness for the forum so we can all keep in touch

Steph

[Guest]

Because my staff only work 38 weeks a year their holiday entitlement is pro rata at 3 weeks per year. Not sure how I will work it out with the increase or how I will find the money for it.

 

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Presiumably it is prorated ( gosh how do you spell that then) have you given it any further thought on the impact Peggy over 38 weeks and what it will mean?

Nikki

[Chill]

Peggy My staff also work 38 weeks a year but I thought they still had to have 4 weeks holiday. This is based on advice I sought when holiday pay entitlement was introduced. Do you have any references I could look at that confirms that if you only work for term time then the statutory four weeks can be reduced. This would help me out when the entitlement goes to five weeks as I have no idea how I will fund this. Many thanks

[Beau]

To work out holiday pay you need to multiply the number of hours worked each week by the number of weeks worked. Then you multiply this number by 4 (which will be 5 if it increased to 5 weeks per year) and divide by 52. This then gives you the amount that staff will be paid for their 4 (or 5) weeks statutory holiday per year. Hope this helps.

[Deb]

Peggy My staff also work 38 weeks a year but I thought they still had to have 4 weeks holiday. This is based on advice I sought when holiday pay entitlement was introduced. Do you have any references I could look at that confirms that if you only work for term time then the statutory four weeks can be reduced. This would help me out when the entitlement goes to five weeks as I have no idea how I will fund this. Many thanks

 

We are the same Chill, we pay 4 weeks holiday per year and always have done, as advised when HP was introduced.

 

Ie

 

Hourly rate or monthly total divided by 52 weeks per year to get weekly rate x times 4 weeks (HP).

 

Will watch this topic with interest. I didn't know the entitlement was increasing.

[Guest]

I e-mailed our Early Years Officer at the LEA and am hopeful she will lobby on our behalf. I'll keep you posted on any action. I am going to go to our local forum meeting and tell everyone about it too. The more people who apply pressure to the LEA to increase our funding the better. Particularly when I hear how much people get in other counties!!!

[Guest]

Same as Peggy here. Staff work 38 weeks per year and receive pro-rata holiday pay based on this.

 

As far as I am aware, even in a business working all year, holiday pay is accrued. How can staff accrue holiday pay during the twleve weeks they are not there?

Edited February 25, 2007 by Guest

[Guest]

Good point! That makes me feel much better. I will hand all my info to an accountant at our committee meeting tomorrow and get her to tell me in plain english what it actually means for our setting.

[Chill]

Casting back into the dim and distant past I think because staff worked on a continuous contract i.e. were employed term after term after term, they were entitled to four weeks holiday even if they only worked 38 weeks a year. I would be very happy to hear you could legally pro rota it thus helping us when it somes to five weeks holiday. (Of course it is already pr rotaed for their hours per week). Just had a thought I wonder what local authorities do for classroom assistants?

[Guest]

My Development Officer at the LEA sent me this website which voluntary groups might find helpful!

http://www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#annualleave

Edited March 12, 2007 by Guest

[Guest]

Another thing - you can register for updates here:

http://www.sandy-a.co.uk/legal.htm

[Guest]

Ive just been on to one of those sites as it reads:

 

STATUTORY ANNUAL LEAVE TO INCREASE

 

Added 1/3/07. This information updates s.28.4.1 in The Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook 2nd edition.

Statutory annual leave is expected to increase from 20 to 24 days on 1 October 2007 and from 24 to 28 days on 1 October 2008. Some employers include the eight bank holidays as part of the current 20-day entitlement. The change in effect ensures that all full-time workers working a five-day week get the current 20 days, plus time off equivalent to the bank holidays. For part-time workers, the entitlement is pro rata.

 

We work 38 weeks per year and under 4 hours per day. Surely this counts as part time and this is why our holiday pay is pro rata.

 

Is anyone reading this any differently?

[Chill]

Yes I read it as part time hours get pro rata hol pay i.e. if you work 10 hours a week then you get four weeks entitlement of 10 hours a week not pro rata by the number of weeks you work. I took legal advice when hol pay became compulsory nd this was how it was laid out to me. However I would love to be proved wrong as for employess working 38 weeks then hol pay is a huge funding issue and increasing. From reading the posts here we all seem to be applying the law differently. Plese please does anyone know the right answer.

[Guest JPH]

Just to add another financial headache, minimum wage looks set to rise to £5.52 for over 21`s in October.