As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government has made several key changes to employment legislation.

Following earlier amendments to the statutory sick pay rules, the Government has now announced that employees can carry over statutory annual leave for two years, where it has not been reasonably practicable for the leave to be taken due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This change is set out in the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/365), which are already in force.

This latest legislation is designed to protect workers from losing their holiday entitlement and to provide employers with flexibility and staff to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.

Jo Stubbs, XpertHR’s global head of product content strategy, says, “While some staff may have been asked to take annual leave during the coronavirus pandemic, for example due to a lack of available work, others may struggle to take their leave entitlement as a result of the key role they are playing in the nation’s efforts to fight the virus.

“Responding to the coronavirus crisis, the Government has announced that workers will be able to carry over up to four weeks of their statutory annual leave entitlement into the next two leave years.

This applies where the effects of coronavirus mean it has not been reasonably practicable for workers to take their leave – and this includes the effects on the worker, the employer, the wider economy or society.