Am I entitled to paid leave and how should it be arranged?

Under the Working Time Regulations you are entitled to at least four weeks paid leave annually and the Government is planning to increase this to 28 days.

The employer may count bank holidays against this entitlement.

Part time workers are entitled to equivalent paid leave on a pro rata basis.

The arrangements for taking this leave are sometimes specified in the contract of employment and sometimes in the company 'rule book'.

Where there are no contractual arrangements for taking leave the rule is that you must give notice of at least twice the length of the holiday requested. So if you wanted two weeks' leave, you would have to give four weeks' notice. Even then the employer may refuse your application!

It works the other way too. If the employer wants you to take two weeks' leave unexpectedly, four weeks' notice must be given.

If the employer does not want you to take leave at a particular time, say for two weeks early in the year because of a big order, they must give the equivalent period of notice, i.e. in this case two weeks.

Of course, in all cases, the employee and employer may agree to relax or vary these rules.

There is a helpful and free leaflet from the TUC Take a Break. It is available on the web or from the know your rights line 0870 600 4882 (national rate, 8am-10pm).