You should receive 5.6 weeks paid annual leave.
In the past, some agencies have been getting round this by saying that your hourly pay rate includes holiday pay and that they therefore do not have to give extra pay if you take a break. However as a result of a decision by the European Court of Justice, this practice is now unlawful, and agency workers have a right to receive payment on days they take as holiday.
As an agency worker, your hours and pay may vary considerably over time. If this is the case, your earnings over the most recent 12 week period are divided by the hours worked over the same 12 weeks to give you an average hourly rate and this is used to determine your holiday pay. If you did not do any work at all in one or more weeks, you simply discount that week and move to the week immediately before it until you have a total of 12 weeks work and pay on which to work out your average hourly rate.
If you’re in doubt about your entitlement, seek further assistance from your union or one of the sources on our free help page.
