A little-known rule lets you claim back holidays from work if you fall sick before or during them.
Catching a cold, flu or other bug just as you take a well-earned break is a common occurrence, and it can scupper any plans to use that valuable time for ourselves. Most people working a five-day week are entitled to 28 days' paid annual leave a year, the equivalent of 5.6 weeks.
No one wants to spend those limited days bedbound feeling sorry for themselves, so you might want to consider claiming those days back so you can use them when you're feeling better. Employees are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) of £99.35 a week for up to 28 weeks if they've been sick for at least four days in a row, including non-working days.
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You only need a 'sick note' if you've been ill for more than a week, so you might decide the trade off is worth it if you feel your holiday has gone to waste. The government website said: "If an employee is ill just before or during their holiday, they can take it as sick leave instead."
You can do this by asking your employer to record your absence as a sick day instead of holiday. Similarly, if you don't qualify for sick pay, you can ask for your sick day to be treated as a paid holiday so you don't miss out on money.
However, this rule is often not known about by staff or managers, and people maybe unsure of how to exercise their right. Citizens Advice said: "You should think about how your employer might react.
"If you think it will cause problems or the illness is not very serious, it's probably not worth doing. For example, it's probably worth doing if you're confined to bed with illness and can't go out, but not if it won't affect your holiday too much - like if you have a cold.
"You should also think about how much money you'll get when you're sick. If you don’t get your full pay when you're sick, you might prefer to take it as holiday."
Statutory holiday entitlement continues to build up while an employee is off work sick, and up to four weeks of paid holidays not taken due to sickness can be carried over to the next year. If the days are still not used by the end of that next year, they can be carried over for a further six months.
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