Who approves leave at work? UK rules explained
Your contract names who signs leave off. The law sets the notice both sides must give, and stops your employer wiping the entitlement.
Your manager can refuse a week off. They cannot make your right to paid holiday disappear. If the supermarket rota, care round or warehouse shift is always “too busy”, ask when you can take your leave and keep the reply. The answer matters more than who signs the form.
- 5.6 wks
- statutory annual holiday, pro rata where applicable
- 11 days
- default notice to request five days’ holiday
- 6 days
- default notice to block five days’ holiday
- 6 mths
- most tribunal limits for problems from 1 October 2026
Who signs it off?
Look for the holiday clause in your contract, an incorporated handbook or a collective agreement. It should tell you who receives the request, who can approve it and whether you must use a form or booking app. HR is not a statutory gatekeeper. In a small restaurant, the owner might decide; in a supermarket, it might be the department manager.
For agency work, ask both the agency and the hirer which procedure applies. The person running the rota and the organisation paying your holiday can be different. Do not let each send you back to the other.
Under regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, the default is notice, not a requirement to obtain consent. You specify the days you will take; your employer can issue a timely notice blocking them. An agreed approval procedure can change that default. A missing written policy does not prove there are no agreed rules.
If the statutory default genuinely applies, you have enough accrued leave and you give valid notice, the notified dates stand unless your employer validly blocks them. But do not treat an unanswered booking-app request as automatic permission where your terms require approval. Get advice before risking an unauthorised absence dispute.
The notice you must give for holiday
The default rule is often shortened to “twice the leave length”. That misses a detail. Regulation 15 says the notice must arrive before the date twice that number of days ahead of the first day of leave. GOV.UK expresses this as twice the leave length plus one day. Use that practical calculation unless an agreed rule says otherwise.
Count the days of holiday you are actually taking, not automatically every calendar day you will be away. A care assistant taking three scheduled shifts off might use three days of leave, even if the break covers a whole week. Specify the dates and the duration of any part-day leave. Count the notice backwards from the first leave day.
| Action | Notice | Example |
|---|---|---|
| You request holiday | At least twice the leave length plus one day | Five leave days require 11 days’ notice |
| Your employer refuses or cancels dates | At least the length of leave blocked plus one day | Blocking five leave days requires six days’ notice |
| Your employer requires you to take holiday | Notice before the date twice the leave length ahead | For 10 leave days, tell you before the date 20 days ahead |
| A relevant agreement sets different rules | The agreed notice and approval rules apply | A contract may require a month’s notice and manager sign-off |
Most workers have 5.6 weeks’ statutory paid holiday for a full leave year. On five days a week, that is 28 days; on three equal-length days a week, it is 16.8 days. The statutory maximum is 28 days even if you work six days a week. Bank holidays can be included, unless your contract gives them on top. If you start or leave partway through the year, your entitlement is proportionate. First-year accrual rules can limit how much leave you can take at once.
Example: a care assistant’s October holiday
Amara works Monday to Friday and has five days of accrued leave available. She wants Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026 off. No agreement changes the notice rule, so she sends her notice by Thursday 15 October, 11 calendar days before the start. To block all five days, her employer must notify her by Tuesday 20 October, six days before the start. A late reply is not a valid refusal under that default. If her contract requires approval, however, she must follow that process.
Can they say no, cancel it or force dates on you?
Yes to particular dates. No to removing your entitlement. A restaurant can restrict holiday over a busy service period, and a care home can consider how many colleagues are already off. They still have to give you a real opportunity to take your statutory leave.
An employer can cancel approved holiday using the applicable notice rules. Ask for the cancellation, the reason and replacement dates in writing. If you lose money on flights or accommodation, do not assume there is automatic statutory reimbursement. Whether you can recover the cost depends on your contract and the circumstances. Ask for reimbursement, raise a grievance and get advice.
An employer can also require holiday during a Christmas shutdown or on bank holidays. Under the default, it must give notice before the date twice the leave length ahead; an agreement can change this. It cannot force you to take annual leave while you are off sick.
When sickness or family leave prevents holiday
If statutory family leave stops you taking holiday, all untaken statutory holiday carries into the next leave year. For sickness, regular-hours, full-year workers can carry over the core four weeks, while irregular-hours and part-year workers can carry over all their statutory holiday. Sickness carry-over must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it accrued. These are different rules from an employer simply refusing dates. See the government’s holiday guidance.
Your contract versus the statute
Regulation 15 lets a “relevant agreement” vary or exclude the default notice scheme. That can include an enforceable written agreement with you, a collective agreement or a workforce agreement. A contractual approval rule can be binding. But a new instruction in a handbook does not necessarily change your agreed terms.
No agreement can remove your statutory holiday entitlement. Statutory leave cannot simply be exchanged for a payment instead of time off while your employment continues. Rolled-up holiday pay, where permitted, changes when holiday is paid; it does not buy out your right to rest.
A refusal can also raise discrimination issues if, for example, it is because you are pregnant or of a particular race. Disability-related requests can involve reasonable adjustments. Treatment linked to union membership or activities raises separate protections. “Business needs” is not a defence to every form of unequal treatment. Save the evidence and seek advice about the specific reason.
Zero-hours, agency and part-year staff
Holiday rights belong to workers, including employees. A zero-hours label, casual shifts or agency work does not remove them. A genuinely self-employed person has no statutory paid holiday entitlement; someone wrongly labelled self-employed may still qualify. Our employment-status guide explains the distinction.
Agency workers have statutory holiday from the start. After the 12-week qualifying period in the same role with the same hirer, equal-treatment rules can give you the annual leave you would have received if recruited directly. Ask the agency to check any enhanced entitlement. Do not assume every benefit called “pay” is covered by those rules.
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, statutory leave for qualifying irregular-hours and part-year workers accrues at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period, with statutory rounding to the nearest hour. These are defined categories, not synonyms for every shift worker. A fixed rotating rota does not, by itself, make you an irregular-hours worker.
An employer can choose rolled-up holiday pay for those categories. It must be an additional, separately itemised amount, calculated on total pay for the pay period. Otherwise holiday is paid when you take it. A missing holiday line on a normal payslip is not, by itself, evidence of unpaid holiday. If your employer claims holiday pay is “included”, ask for the calculation and the separate entry.
Example: a delivery worker’s holiday account
Jonas is a worker whose contracted hours vary. He works 100 hours in a pay period. The calculation is 100 x 12.07% = 12.07 hours, rounded under the statutory rule to 12 hours of leave. Suppose his only earnings are £12.71 an hour, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026. His work pay is £1,271. If his employer uses rolled-up holiday pay, it adds £1,271 x 12.07% = £153.41 as a separate item. The gross total is £1,424.41. He must still be allowed to take his accrued time off.
Family leave, sickness and emergencies follow different rules
The annual holiday booking rule is not a catch-all rule for absence. The statutory family rights below are generally for employees, not everyone with worker status. Eligibility and notice conditions still matter. A contractual benefit may be more generous.
| Absence | What you must do | What your employer can do |
|---|---|---|
| Unexpected emergency involving a dependant | Tell your employer the reason and expected absence as soon as reasonably practicable | Cannot deny qualifying reasonable unpaid time off. No advance notice period |
| Carer’s leave for a dependant with a long-term care need | Up to one normal working week unpaid every 12 months. Give at least three days’ notice for half a day or one day, or twice the length for longer leave | Cannot refuse. Can postpone for serious disruption, with written reasons and an agreed replacement date |
| Unpaid parental leave | 18 weeks per child, normally with 21 days’ notice. Check eligibility and rules on taking blocks | Can postpone for a significant business reason, normally by no more than six months and not beyond the child’s 18th birthday |
| Maternity leave | Up to 52 weeks. Normally notify by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, including the intended start date | Cannot refuse statutory leave where the conditions are met |
| Paternity leave following a birth | Up to two weeks. Notify the due date at least 15 weeks before it is expected, and give at least 28 days’ notice of when you want leave and its length | Cannot refuse qualifying leave. Adoption uses different notice rules |
| Sickness | Follow sickness reporting rules and provide required evidence | Can check eligibility and evidence. Annual holiday approval is not the reporting procedure |
For postponed carer’s leave, the employer must agree another date within one month of your requested date. It must give the reason and new date in writing within seven days of the request and before the original leave start. You do not have to supply evidence of the dependant’s care needs. See GOV.UK’s carer’s leave rules.
A school calling a kitchen porter because their child is suddenly ill is an example of a dependant emergency. Tell your employer as soon as you reasonably can. This is not a holiday request requiring the manager’s permission. A planned care arrangement needs a different route.
For ordinary unpaid parental leave, the usual limit is four weeks per child each year, taken in whole weeks. Your employer can agree more flexible arrangements; the whole-week rule does not apply if your child is disabled. An employer postponing leave must explain why in writing within seven days, suggest a start date within six months and leave the amount unchanged. It cannot postpone leave a father or partner takes immediately after birth or adoption.
Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one employment rights on 6 April 2026. That does not make statutory paternity pay a day-one right. Statutory Sick Pay also became payable from the first qualifying day of sickness, with no lower earnings limit. For birth-related paternity notice, check the current notice guidance, especially if you could not give notice on time.
Routine medical appointments are not automatically statutory sick leave. Paid time off for antenatal care has its own rules; disability-related appointments can involve reasonable adjustments. Otherwise, check your contract. Ask which right applies before a manager deducts annual leave.
If they keep blocking you or punish you for asking
One refusal is not proof of wrongdoing. Repeated refusals that leave you unable to take your entitlement, missing holiday pay or shifts cut after you assert a right need action. If a manager tells you migrants or casual staff “don’t get holiday”, keep the message. Your nationality and the name on your contract do not decide whether you have worker status.
- Keep the evidence. Save your contract, holiday balance, dated requests, approvals and refusals. Screenshot rotas before and after any disputed change. Keep payslips and copies you can access outside the work system.
- Ask for a workable date. Write: “You have refused these dates. Please confirm when I can take my remaining statutory holiday before the leave year ends, and the notice rule you are applying.” Ask HR or the agency to resolve conflicting instructions.
- Get support and raise a grievance. A union representative can help challenge a refusal or a pattern affecting the whole team. Depending on your workplace, try Usdaw for retail and distribution, UNISON for health and care, or Unite, GMB and IWGB for relevant hospitality, logistics and gig-work branches. Ask about help with an existing dispute before assuming membership covers it. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres can also help.
- Protect the claim deadline. Notify Acas promptly if a tribunal claim might be needed. Do not wait for HR to finish your grievance. Holiday refusal, unpaid holiday and discrimination can involve different claims and trigger dates. Ask an adviser to calculate yours.
According to Acas’s current time-limit guidance, most claims about problems on or after 1 October 2026 have a limit of six months less a day. For problems before that date, most still have three months less a day. In Scotland, tribunal breach-of-contract limits do not change until 9 November 2026. Those contract claims are not the same as a statutory holiday-pay claim.
For unpaid wages, the clock normally starts on the date you were paid incorrectly. A grievance does not pause it. Timely notification to Acas for early conciliation does pause the tribunal clock, but you must calculate the resulting deadline correctly.
Example: two payday deadlines
If holiday pay was missing on 30 September 2026, Acas’s example gives an ordinary deadline of 29 December 2026. If it was missing on 1 October 2026, the example gives 31 March 2027. Both are before any adjustment for early conciliation. One day’s difference in the payday changes which limit applies; the date you complain to HR does not.
The Fair Work Agency launched on 7 April 2026, but do not wait for proposed holiday-pay enforcement powers before pursuing an existing dispute. A planned enforcement route does not preserve your tribunal deadline. If you fear losing shifts, dismissal or consequences for an employer-sponsored visa, get confidential union or legal advice before deciding how to raise the issue.
Questions people ask
Does HR have to approve my holiday?
No law makes HR the approver. Your agreed procedure might name HR, your manager or the owner. Ask for that procedure. The statutory fallback is notice and a possible employer counter-notice.
Is silence approval?
Not automatically. If your terms require sign-off, an unanswered request is not that sign-off. Under the statutory default, validly notified dates stand without a timely, valid refusal, provided you have enough leave. Establish which rules apply before staying away.
Can my boss cancel holiday after it was approved?
Yes, subject to the applicable notice rules. Under the default, blocking five leave days needs at least six days’ notice. Ask for replacement dates and reimbursement of any lost costs, but reimbursement is not automatic.
Do I need permission for a family emergency?
An employee with a qualifying dependant emergency has a right to reasonable unpaid time off. Tell the employer the reason and likely duration as soon as reasonably practicable. Advance holiday-booking rules do not apply.
Does a zero-hours contract mean no holiday pay?
No. If you have worker status, you have statutory holiday rights. The 12.07% method applies if you meet the irregular-hours or part-year definition. Rolled-up pay must be separately itemised; it does not remove your right to take time off.
What if every holiday request is refused?
Ask in writing when you can take your remaining leave, keep the refusals and contact your union or Acas. Carry-over protections may apply. If you need a claim, check the deadline now: older disputes can still have the three-month limit.
Sources
- Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 15: dates on which leave is taken, legislation.gov.uk. Notice, relevant agreements and the agricultural exception.
- Working Time Regulations 1998, legislation.gov.uk. Statutory entitlement and holiday pay.
- Holiday entitlement: booking time off, GOV.UK. Requests, cancellation and compulsory holiday.
- Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024, GOV.UK. Accrual, rounding, carry-over and rolled-up pay.
- Unpaid carer’s leave, GOV.UK.
- Time off for dependants, GOV.UK.
- Unpaid parental leave, GOV.UK. Entitlement, notice and postponement.
- Maternity pay and leave: how to claim, GOV.UK. Notice for statutory maternity leave.
- Paternity pay and leave: how to claim, GOV.UK.
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK. Rate used in the worked example.
- Taking your holidays, nidirect. Northern Ireland guidance.
- Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, updated 1 October 2026. Transitional deadlines, Scotland and early conciliation.
- Employment Rights Act 2025, Acas. Commenced and scheduled reforms.
- Fair Work Agency delivery plan for 2026 to 2027, GOV.UK.
- Enforce for Good, Resolution Foundation, April 2023. Historical estimate used in the reality check.