Leave and time off work

Use this series of pages to understand your core legal responsibilities to your employees. For information about an employer’s responsibilities to its volunteers, read our guidance on involving volunteers.

This page is not a substitute for legal advice and doesn’t cover every aspect of employment law. For legal advice, contact an employment lawyer or human resources (HR) specialist.

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, workers are entitled to:

• a minimum of 28 days’ (5.6 weeks’) paid leave per year, including bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time or for irregular working staff)
• rest periods: 11 hours rest between finishing work and starting next shift 
• in-work rest breaks: 20 minutes should be provided after 6 hours of continuous work for adult workers
• health assessments in certain circumstances.

The regulations also limit the average working week to 48 hours and limit night working to an average of eight hours in a 24-hour period. Special rules apply to young people.

Acas provides more in-depth guidance on:

• annual leave
• working hours, including guidance on young workers and rest breaks.

The holiday entitlement calculator on the gov.uk website can help you calculate holiday entitlement.

Most people will have time off sick from work at some point. You must pay statutory sick pay (SSP) to any employee who:

• has an employment contract and has done some work under their contract
• has been off sick for four days or more (these are known as ‘qualifying days’)
• earns an average of £123 per week or more
• gives you proof of illness if needed.

The current rate payable for SSP is £116.75 per week.

Eligible employees can receive SSP for up to 28 weeks.

Some voluntary organisations will choose to offer employees more than SSP. For example, you could offer four weeks’ full pay and four weeks’ half pay in any rolling 12-month period. This enhanced payment would usually include SSP payments.

• For more information, read gov.uk’s guide to SSP.
• Acas has more guidance on absence from work.
• NCVO members can also download our guide to developing a sickness absence policy and procedure.

Subject to eligibility conditions, all employees have the right to:

• maternity leave
• paternity leave
• adoption leave
• shared parental leave
• unpaid parental leave
• parental leave
• parental bereavement leave
• carer’s leave
• neonatal leave.

Acas provides more detailed guidance on how to handle different types of parental leave and related pay.

NCVO members can also download sample documents to help develop policies and procedures on:

• maternity leave
• paternity leave
• adoption leave
• shared parental leave
• family leave.

All employees have the right to take a reasonable period of unpaid time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant.

A dependant could be a spouse, partner, child, parent, or someone who depends on an employee for care.

This time off could be taken:

• to deal with a breakdown in childcare or a problem at a child’s school
• to put longer-term care in place for children or elderly relatives
• if a dependant falls ill or is taken into hospital
• if a dependant dies
• to arrange or attend a funeral.

Acas provides more detailed guidance on time off work for dependants and time off work for bereavement.

NCVO members can also download sample documents to help develop policies and procedures on:

• emergency leave for dependants
• compassionate and parental bereavement leave.

Employees are entitled to time off for a range of other reasons, including:

• for public duties (for example, jury service)
• to look for work if declared redundant with at least two years' service
• for trade union activities, duties and training, where a trade union is recognised for collective bargaining
• to undertake duties as an employee representative, or for purposes of statutory consultation over redundancies or business transfers
• to carry out functions as a safety representative, or as a candidate for election to be a representative of employees who are not in groups covered by trade union safety representatives
• to perform the functions of a pension fund trustee or to do relevant training
• for study and training in certain circumstances
• for medical suspension if continued employment would endanger health (for example, during pregnancy)
• for religious observance.

gov.uk has further guidance on:

• giving staff time off for jury service
• the rights of trade union reps
• training and study at work
• parental bereavement pay and leave.