PA holiday: entitlement, requests, records and payroll hand-off

The written statement should identify the leave year, entitlement and request process. If no leave year is stated, the statutory default can depend on the employment start date, which makes administration harder. Record the opening balance and any valid carry-over before the first request is approved.

Statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks. Someone working five days each week is usually entitled to 28 days, which can include bank holidays. Someone working three days each week is usually entitled to 16.8 days. Hours-based, irregular-hours and part-year arrangements require more care; use the GOV.UK calculator and payroll advice rather than guessing.

Do not reduce the balance when a request is merely submitted. Reserve it when approved, then mark it taken after the date passes. If approved leave is cancelled or changed, retain the change rather than overwriting the original decision.

• —The PA submits the dates or hours and the date of the request.
• —The employer checks the balance, contractual notice rules and effect on support.
• —The employer approves or declines within an agreed response time.
• —The decision is communicated in writing and the balance updates.
• —Cover is arranged as a separate task; the leave record should not become a care diary.
• —Confirmed leave information goes to payroll by its cut-off.

The 12.07% accrual and optional rolled-up holiday-pay rules introduced for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 apply to workers who meet the statutory definitions of irregular-hours or part-year workers. A PA with regular weekly hours does not become an irregular-hours worker merely because the rota changes occasionally.

Where rolled-up holiday pay is lawfully used, it must be paid with normal pay and shown separately on the payslip. The payroll provider should determine the correct method and calculation.

Carry-over is not an automatic annual reset. It can arise where family leave or sickness prevented leave being taken, or where the employer failed to recognise the right, provide a reasonable opportunity or warn that untaken leave would be lost. Sickness-related statutory carry-over is time-limited.

Record the amount, source leave year, reason, date agreed, expiry date and evidence relied on. Ask for advice where the position is disputed.

For employers in Great Britain, the 6 April 2026 change created a specific duty to keep adequate records showing compliance with statutory holiday entitlement and pay and to retain them for six years. The record should allow someone to understand entitlement, leave taken, carry-over and the payroll treatment without reconstructing the year from messages.

Northern Ireland has separate employment legislation and guidance. Employers there should follow nidirect and Labour Relations Agency guidance for the current record requirement rather than assuming every 2026 Great Britain change applies on the same date.