Carrying over holiday: when statutory leave can roll into the next leave year
The starting point in the Working Time Regulations 1998 is use it or lose it. Regulation 13(9)(a): leave “may only be taken in the leave year in respect of which it is due”, subject to the exceptions in paragraphs (14), (15) and (17). For irregular-hours and part-year workers, regulation 15D(1): leave “may only be taken in the leave year that it accrues”, subject to its own exceptions. The exceptions are set out below.
Where this applies: Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). The regulations below are marked as extending to England, Wales and Scotland on legislation.gov.uk. Northern Ireland has separate holiday rules and is not covered. Not legal advice.
Regular-hours workers (regulations 13 and 13A)
| Situation | What can be carried | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| A relevant agreement allows it | The additional 1.6 weeks, “into the leave year immediately following”. GOV.UK: “If a worker gets 28 days’ leave, they can carry over a maximum of 8 days.” | reg 13A(7) |
| Statutory leave (for example maternity, paternity or adoption leave) stopped them taking it | The untaken leave, “into the following leave year”. | reg 13(14), 13A(7A) |
| Sick leave stopped them taking it | The untaken reg 13 leave, “provided it is taken by the end of the period of 18 months from the end of the leave year in which the entitlement originally arose”. GOV.UK: “up to 20 of their 28 days’ leave entitlement if they work regular hours for the whole year”. | reg 13(15) |
| The employer failed to recognise the right to leave or holiday pay, give a reasonable opportunity to take it or encourage them to, or say that untaken leave will be lost | Leave “which is untaken in that leave year or has been taken but not paid in accordance with regulation 16”, but not “beyond the end of the first full leave year in which paragraph (17) does not apply”. | reg 13(16) to (18) |
Irregular-hours and part-year workers (regulation 15D)
For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 (see 12.07% accrual):
| Situation | What can be carried | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| A relevant agreement allows it | “part of the annual leave” accrued, into the next leave year. | reg 15D(2) |
| Statutory leave stopped them taking it | The untaken leave, into the following leave year. | reg 15D(3) |
| Sick leave stopped them taking it | The untaken leave, if taken within 18 months of the end of the leave year it arose in. GOV.UK: “up to 28 days of their leave entitlement if they work irregular hours or for part of the year”. | reg 15D(4) |
| The employer failed in the same three ways as above | Untaken (or taken but unpaid) leave, until the end of the first full leave year in which that no longer applies. | reg 15D(5) to (7) |
GOV.UK also lists not receiving “rolled-up holiday pay” the worker was entitled to as a case where they can carry over their whole leave entitlement (see rolled-up holiday pay).
Leave above the statutory minimum
GOV.UK: “If a worker gets more than 28 days’ leave, their employer may allow them to carry over any additional untaken leave. Check the employment contract, company handbook or intranet to see what the rules say.”
An example
Our own illustration: a regular-hours worker’s leave year runs from 1 January to 31 December 2026. They are off sick from October to December and cannot take 10 days of their reg 13 leave. Under reg 13(15) they can carry those days into 2027, and they must be taken by 30 June 2028, 18 months after the end of the 2026 leave year.
Carried leave when someone leaves
For regular-hours workers, regulation 14(6) requires a payment in lieu for leave still untaken on termination that was carried forward under reg 13(14), (15) or (17) or reg 13A(7) or (7A). See holiday pay when someone leaves.
What Leaveproof does
- Counts carried-in leave from your leave sheet: rows whose leave type says carried forward, brought forward or b/f are added to that leave year’s balance, with the note or reason column if you map one.
- Flags carried-in leave with no reason recorded, citing reg 13(14) to (16) and 13A(7), or reg 15D for irregular-hours and part-year workers.
- Flags carry-over larger than the previous year’s untaken balance.
- Flags hours left untaken at the end of a leave year, with a note that statutory leave can only be carried forward in the set cases above, so you can record what happened to it.
- Puts it in the records pack for each leave year, with “Carried in (h)” next to entitlement, taken and balance, kept for 6 years (see holiday records from 6 April 2026).
Leaveproof reads a payroll export saved as CSV, one row per worker per pay period (or per pay item), plus the employer’s leave sheet if there is one. It is designed for exports from Xero Payroll UK and BrightPay, but their report columns are chosen by the user and have not been checked against every layout, so Leaveproof shows the columns it detected and asks you to confirm which is which before it works anything out. It remembers that choice for each employer. Any payroll software that can export pay periods, pay, hours and holiday columns to CSV can be used the same way.
What it doesn’t do
- It doesn’t decide which carry-over rule applies or carry balances forward by itself. Carry-over comes only from your leave sheet.
- It doesn’t track the 18-month deadline for sick-leave carry-over.
- It doesn’t calculate leave accrued during sick or statutory leave under reg 15C; it flags it.
Try it on your own payroll export. Free, no account or sign-up, nothing uploaded: it runs in your browser. The Free plan covers one employer and the first 5 workers (by worker ID) in the records pack and exceptions. Standard ($19 per month or $190 per year) covers every worker for one employer; Bureau ($49 per month) covers any number of employers: see pricing.
Make a records packMore guides
- Holiday records from 6 April 2026: what GB employers must keep
- 12.07% holiday accrual for irregular-hours and part-year workers
- Rolled-up holiday pay: the 12.07% uplift and who it can be used for
- Holiday pay 52-week average: weeks with no pay and the 104-week look-back
- Holiday pay when someone leaves: payment in lieu of untaken leave
Not legal advice. This guide summarises the statutory minimum rules in the Working Time Regulations 1998 as they apply in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), checked against legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 27 October 2026. Contracts, collective agreements and individual cases can change the answer; take advice on a specific case. Leaveproof is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Xero or BrightPay. Xero is a trademark of Xero Limited; BrightPay is a trademark of Bright Software Group.