Holiday Pay

[eXistenZ]

I'm new here so apologies if this question has already been asked. Didn't find anything relevant when I was looking.

So I'm a day rate contractor but was on a company's payroll (and still am until end of this month). I've now been told to move to an umbrella (Giant). They offer 28 days of leave.

From my calculations, if I work more than (250 working days in the year - 28 days) 222 days then the umbrella will basically pocket my pay beyond those days. Hence I should work only up to 222 days a year.

Now I usually work for maybe 235 days a year. Basically losing out on 13 days of income. Company usually has a 2 week furlough around Christmas/New Year as well so could be losing a lot more in income.

Is there a way for me to ensure I get paid for all 235 days without Giant keeping the income from the extra days I work? I've heard that it's been done. Not sure how? Any advice welcome.

Are there other Umbrellas that allow you to do this?

[cojak]

The easiest way to avoid losing 28 days holiday pay is to take those days off as holiday - then you will get paid for the days you are on furlough, if you take them as holidays.

[eek]

To begin with there are 260/261 work days a year so if you are working 235 days you are already taking 25 days off.

But it's also important to say that Employers have a duty of care to ensure you take appropriate holiday during the year which means you need to be paid properly when you take holiday - and that is both incredibly complex to get right and often results in things that may seem perverse when you look at edge cases (and a known daily fee is an edge case).

However, because you are an employee - what was furlough now becomes the equivalent of a "factory week" where the factory closed for a week for maintenance and most workers were sent home on paid holiday for the week. So if that is where you got your 250 days from there are both the 10 days you lost and 10 of those holiday days...

Now prior to Harpur / Brazel - my stock response would be to insist on receiving your holiday pay in advance but I'm not sure that is possible (and no-one knows I've had numerous conversations over the last 2 weeks and there is zero consensus) - so my advice would be to ensure you take appropriate days off and know how to claim holiday pay from the umbrella.

Finally I would be complaining about a lack of choice of umbrella - if you are paying for a service you should be able to choice which umbrella employs you... Not that Giant are particularly bad..

[eXistenZ]

Thanks for the reply. I've spoken with HR and it turns out there is a payroll/PAYE option so I don't need to go down the umbrella route. However, I did inquire about the holiday pay part and they said that it seems you have to notify Gaint (around YE) that you wish to encash your holiday pay. Something along those lines.