The Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide an exception relating to the effects of coronavirus to the bar on carrying forward untaken leave under Regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (“WTR”). They come into force on 26th March 2020.

Regulation 13 WTR entitles workers to 4 weeks of annual leave in each leave year. Where any of this leave remains untaken at the end of a leave year, regulation 13(9)(a) prevents that leave being carried forward into the next year. This is amended by regulation 3 of these Regulations, which inserts an exception to this bar on carrying forward untaken leave. The exception applies where at the end of a leave year it was not reasonably practicable for a worker to take some or all of the leave to which the worker was entitled under regulation 13 as a result of the effects of coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society). In this case the untaken leave may be carried forward and taken in the following two leave years.

Regulation 14 WTR provides for a payment in lieu of any untaken annual leave where a worker’s employment terminates. This regulation is amended by regulation 4 of these Regulations to provide for a payment in lieu of any leave that carried forward under the exception inserted by regulation 3 and remains untaken on the date of termination.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as this is a temporary, emergency measure and no significant impact on business, charities, voluntary bodies and the public sector is foreseen.