Christmas closure: holiday notice rules and carrying over leave

The diary for December fills up early. Two people have asked for the same week, someone wants the whole of Christmas off, and you are thinking of closing between Christmas and New Year. Then there is the spreadsheet showing three people with days still unused and a holiday year about to end.

Three dates sort most of this out: when the closure notice has to go out, when a refusal has to reach someone, and when your leave year ends.

As checked on 21 October 2026, the notice rules for taking and refusing holiday are in force. They sit in regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, which applies in England, Scotland and Wales, with an exception for some agricultural workers in Wales and Scotland. Regulation 15. The carry-over rules for sickness, family leave and missed opportunities to take leave were added on 1 January 2024. Regulation 13; SI 2023/1426. The duty to keep holiday records for six years has applied since 6 April 2026. Regulation 16B. Acas last updated its holiday guidance on 1 October 2026. Northern Ireland has its own rules and is not covered here.

Give the closure notice in calendar days

You can close for Christmas and tell staff to use holiday to cover it, even if you stayed open in previous years. Acas on bank holidays and Christmas. The law requires notice that names the days and reaches the worker before a set date. That date is twice as many days ahead of the first day of leave as the number of days the notice covers. Regulation 15.

Acas says the count is in calendar days, not working days. Its example is a five-day Christmas closure, which needs notice at least 10 days before the holiday starts. Acas on asking for and taking holiday. GOV.UK adds that the employer must tell the worker before the notice period begins, and it describes the general notice for a holiday request as twice the leave "plus 1 day". GOV.UK on booking time off.

Here is a worked example for this year, not a rule. In England and Wales the Christmas bank holidays are Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December (the substitute day for Boxing Day) and Friday 1 January 2027. GOV.UK bank holidays. Say you close from Thursday 24 December to Friday 1 January for staff who work Monday to Friday.

• If the contract already gives the bank holidays off, the notice covers four days: 24, 29, 30 and 31 December. Twice four is eight, eight days before 24 December is Wednesday 16 December, and the notice needs to reach staff before then.
• If the bank holidays come out of the 28 days and the contract does not already say they must be taken on those dates, the notice covers seven days. Fourteen days before 24 December is Thursday 10 December.

One notice can cover days that are not next to each other. The count runs from the earliest day it names. Regulation 15. A practical approach is to send the notice by the end of November, in writing, listing each date and saying whether it is a bank holiday or a day of annual leave.

Check the contract before you rely on these defaults. Regulation 15 lets a "relevant agreement" change or remove the notice rules. That means a workforce agreement, a collective agreement that forms part of the contract, or any other written agreement that is legally enforceable between you and the worker. Regulation 2. A signed contract that names the closure, or promises longer notice than the law sets, is the one to follow. A handbook page nobody agreed to may not count, so if you are unsure, give the statutory notice anyway. Acas also asks you to check for terms implied by custom and practice before changing how people take holiday. Acas on bank holidays and Christmas.

Count bank holidays the way the contract does

There is no legal right to have bank holidays off or to be paid for them on top of annual leave. GOV.UK says bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave and an employer can include them in statutory annual leave. GOV.UK on holiday entitlement. Most people who work a five-day week are entitled to at least 28 days a year, the equivalent of 5.6 weeks, and that figure can include the bank holidays.

Scotland has different dates. It adds Monday 4 January 2027 as the substitute day for 2 January, and St Andrew's Day falls on Monday 30 November 2026. GOV.UK bank holidays. Whether your Scottish staff get those days off depends on their contracts. If bank holidays come out of the 28 days, a closure that runs to 4 January adds a day to the notice count.

Part-time staff need a separate check. You can make someone take a bank holiday as part of their entitlement only if it falls on a day they usually work and the business is shut. If it falls on a day they do not work, you cannot make them use holiday for it. Acas on bank holidays and Christmas. All three Christmas and New Year bank holidays in England and Wales this year fall on a Monday or a Friday. If you close on those days, someone who works Tuesday to Thursday uses none of their holiday for them, while a colleague who works Mondays and Fridays uses three.

Staff who keep working through the bank holidays still need to get their full 5.6 weeks as paid time off. A worker can ask to work a bank holiday and take another day instead, but you do not have to agree. Acas on bank holidays and Christmas.

Refuse or cancel a request with the right notice

The law requires a refusal, or the cancellation of leave already agreed, to reach the worker before a date that is as many days ahead of the leave as the number of days requested. Regulation 15. GOV.UK puts it as the length of the leave "plus 1 day", so a request for 10 days needs 11 days' notice of refusal. GOV.UK on booking time off. Acas gives the example of a 7-day request, which can be cancelled no later than 7 days before it starts. Acas on asking for and taking holiday. Working to the GOV.UK figure meets both.

The worker's side has a timetable too. Unless a relevant agreement says otherwise, workers must ask at least twice as many days ahead as the leave they want. Regulation 15. If your contract sets different notice for requests or refusals, the contract applies instead. GOV.UK on booking time off. If it does not, a request left unanswered in an inbox until a few days before the leave can no longer be refused within the default rules.

You can refuse particular dates, but you cannot refuse leave altogether. "Although employers can refuse to give leave at a certain time, they cannot refuse to let workers take the leave at all." GOV.UK on booking time off. Acas recommends a good business reason for each refusal, and notes that cancelling leave someone has already paid for can do particular damage to the working relationship. Acas on asking for and taking holiday.

A practical approach for December is a short written rule: the dates when the business closes, any busy weeks when leave is restricted, the date by which requests must be in, and who decides them. Record each refusal with its date and reason.

Check who cannot cover the closure from their holiday

New starters are the common gap. In the first year of employment, a regular-hours worker may take only the leave that has built up so far: one twelfth of the year's entitlement at the start of each month of employment, with fractions rounded up to the next half or whole day. Regulation 15A. Someone who started full time on 1 November will have built up about five days by Christmas, not enough to cover a seven-day closure.

You have three options. You can let them use leave before it has built up, which Acas says employers could allow. Acas on asking for and taking holiday. You can pay the closure days as normal, or agree something else with the person. Acas says an employer can make workers take unpaid leave at times if it is agreed in the contract, so check the contract before treating closure days as unpaid. Acas on asking for and taking holiday.

Staff on irregular hours or who work only part of the year build up leave as they work, at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Regulation 15B. The closure notice rules apply to their leave too, but check what they have built up before the notice goes out. Our guide to holiday pay for zero-hours and irregular-hours workers covers the accrual and the pay.

Someone off sick when the closure starts is a separate case. GOV.UK says an employer who wants a worker to take leave has to make sure they can rest during it, and "cannot force a sick worker to take leave". GOV.UK on booking time off. Record the days as sickness, not holiday, and agree when the leave will be taken instead. Our guide to statutory sick pay from day one covers the pay side.

Settle what carries over before the leave year ends

Start with the date. The leave year begins on the date set in a relevant agreement. If there is none, it begins on the day each person started work and on every anniversary of that date. Regulation 13. If your contracts do not set a common date, your staff may each have a different leave year, and 31 December may not be a year end for anyone. Acas says an employer that sets a leave year should tell workers and write it in the contract or another agreement document. Acas on asking for and taking holiday.

Then split each person's leave into the three parts that the law treats differently.

• The first four weeks. These must be taken in the leave year and cannot be carried over by agreement. Regulation 13.
• The extra 1.6 weeks. A relevant agreement may let these carry into the next leave year. Regulation 13A.
• Any holiday you give beyond 5.6 weeks. The contract decides whether it carries over and how much. Acas on carrying over holiday.

Some leave carries over whatever the contract says. Leave that someone could not take because of maternity, paternity, adoption or other statutory family leave carries into the next leave year, under both regulation 13 and regulation 13A. Regulation 13; Regulation 13A. Leave someone could not take because of sick leave carries over from the four-week part and must be taken within 18 months of the end of the leave year it came from. Acas describes this as a maximum of 4 weeks. Acas on carrying over holiday.

The last route depends on what you did during the year. If you did not recognise someone's right to leave or holiday pay, did not give a reasonable opportunity to take leave or encourage them to take it, or did not tell them that leave which cannot be carried over will be lost, the untaken part of the four weeks carries over. It keeps carrying over until the end of the first full leave year in which none of those failures happens. Regulation 13. So "use it or lose it" applies to the four weeks only if you have done all of those things and the person was not prevented by sickness or family leave. Irregular-hours and part-year workers have equivalent rules in regulation 15D. Regulation 15D.

Statutory leave cannot be swapped for pay, except when someone leaves. Regulation 13; Regulation 13A. Buying out unused days at year end is not an option for the 5.6 weeks.

Two steps cover most of this, and the owner or whoever runs payroll can do both before the end of November:

1. Send each person a dated note of the days they have left, the date their leave year ends, and a line saying that leave which cannot be carried over will be lost. Acas suggests email reminders and holiday forms that say the same thing. Acas on carrying over holiday.
2. Keep the holiday record for six years from the date each entry is made. The law requires records that show whether you met the leave and holiday pay entitlements, in a format you reasonably think fit. Regulation 16B. Acas lists holiday taken, holiday carried over from previous years, holiday pay and any payments in lieu. Acas on keeping holiday records. Add the closure notice, the reminder and any refusals to the same file.

That file will be needed if a dispute arises. Since 1 October 2026 a worker has six months, not three, to complain about refused leave that should have started, or holiday pay that was due, on or after that date. Regulation 30; SI 2026/954. Our guide to the six-month tribunal time limit sets out a retention schedule. Where someone's position is unclear, such as a long absence over two leave years, check the current Acas guidance or call the Acas helpline before you decide what they are owed.

Common questions

How much notice do I need to give staff to take holiday over Christmas?

Twice as many days as the holiday you are telling them to take, counted in calendar days, given before that period begins. Acas's example is a five-day Christmas closure, which needs notice at least 10 days before the holiday starts. Acas on asking for and taking holiday. A written contract term can change this, so check the contract first. Regulation 15.

Can an employer refuse a holiday request in the UK?

Yes, for particular dates, but the refusal must reach the worker at least as many days before the leave as the days requested; GOV.UK says plus one day. GOV.UK on booking time off. An employer cannot refuse to let workers take their leave at all, and Acas recommends a good business reason for each refusal. Acas on asking for and taking holiday.

Can unused holiday be carried over to next year?

The first four weeks of statutory leave cannot be carried over by agreement, but they do carry over where sickness or family leave prevented someone taking them, or where the employer did not give a reasonable opportunity, encourage the leave or warn that it would be lost. Regulation 13. A relevant agreement can let the extra 1.6 weeks carry over. Regulation 13A. The contract decides for any leave above 5.6 weeks. Acas on carrying over holiday.

Do employees get bank holidays off on top of their holiday?

Not by law. Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and an employer can count them within the 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday. GOV.UK on holiday entitlement. Whether staff get them off, or get them on top, depends on the contract.