Notice to Take Annual Leave During Furlough Letter

Notice to Take Annual Leave During Furlough Letter

This template letter can be used to nominate specified dates on which an Employee is required to take annual leave during furlough or the unworked period of flexible furlough.

Employers may require this in order to avoid Employees carrying over a large amount of annual leave to the next leave year or requesting to take annual leave during worked periods when it would be operationally difficult for the Employer to accommodate this.

To instigate this provision, the Employer must give the employee advance notice that is at least double the length of the period of annual leave that the Employee is to take (for example a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice must be given where the employee is required to take a week’s annual leave).

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) grant can be used towards holiday pay for furloughed Employees, hence the financial advantage to the employer of Employees taking annual leave during furlough.

However, Government guidance states that Employees should not be placed on furlough for a period simply because they are on holiday for that period. Doing so is likely to be an abuse of the CJRS.

Where Employees are on full furlough, so that Employers are not concerned with the timing of the holiday provided this is taken within the furlough period rather than on any return to work, Employers may prefer to ask Employees to submit holiday requests for their requested holiday dates to be taken during furlough.