Can My Employer Refuse My Holiday Request?

Yes, your employer can refuse a holiday request for particular dates, as long as it gives you the right amount of notice. What your employer cannot do is stop you taking your statutory holiday altogether. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, you must be allowed to use your minimum leave within the leave year.

How much holiday you are entitled to

Most workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year. This comes from two rules: four weeks under regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and a further 1.6 weeks under regulation 13A. For someone who works five days a week, this is 28 days. The statutory amount is capped at 28 days, so a six day week still gives 28 days.

Part time workers get the same 5.6 weeks, worked out in proportion to the days they work. Someone working three days a week is entitled to 16.8 days. Your employer can include bank holidays in this total.

Your contract may give you more than the legal minimum. Any extra leave follows the terms in your contract, not the regulations.

When your employer can refuse

Regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 lets an employer tell you not to take leave on particular days. To do this, it must give you notice at least as long as the leave you asked for. GOV.UK explains this as the length of the leave plus one day, so a request for ten days off needs eleven days' notice of refusal.

The same rule applies to holiday that was already approved. Your employer can cancel it, but only with that notice. A refusal or cancellation given with less notice does not meet the regulations.

Your employer can also require you to take holiday on set dates, such as over Christmas or during a shutdown. For this, the notice must be at least twice the length of the leave. Your contract or a workplace agreement can change these notice periods, so check your contract and staff handbook first.

What your employer cannot do

Your employer can refuse particular dates. It cannot refuse every request so that you have no real chance to take your 5.6 weeks within the leave year. Statutory leave also cannot be replaced with pay in lieu, except when your employment ends.

Your employer cannot make you take holiday while you are off sick. A worker must be able to rest and enjoy their holiday.

Here is an example. A warehouse supervisor with three years' service asks in March for two weeks off in August. The manager refuses because August is the busiest month. That refusal is lawful if it is given with enough notice. But if every later request is refused and the leave year ends with ten days unused, the supervisor may have a claim and may also be able to carry the leave over.

Carrying holiday into the next year

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, statutory holiday must normally be taken in the leave year it is earned. There are exceptions.

1. If you are on long term sick leave, you can carry over up to four weeks. This must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year it was earned in.
2. If maternity leave or another family leave stopped you taking holiday, you must be allowed to carry it into the next leave year.
3. If your employer did not give you a real chance to take your holiday, or did not tell you that unused leave would be lost, you can carry over up to four weeks.

Holiday above the 5.6 weeks can be carried over only if your contract allows it.

If the refusals continue

If your employer keeps refusing leave, raise it in writing with your manager first. If nothing changes, raise a formal grievance under your employer's grievance procedure, which should follow the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

You can bring an Employment Tribunal claim if your employer refuses to let you take statutory leave or fails to pay you for it. Acas states that time limits for employment tribunal claims increased from 3 months to 6 months on 1 October 2026. The 3 month limit may still apply to problems that started before 1 October 2026. Check your deadline early and seek advice. You must start ACAS Early Conciliation within that time before a claim can be made.

What to do next

1. Check your contract and handbook for the leave year, notice rules and any extra holiday.
2. Make every holiday request in writing and keep a copy.
3. Keep every refusal or cancellation, with the date you received it.
4. Count the notice your employer gave against the length of the leave.
5. Keep a running record of how much leave you have taken and how much is left.
6. Raise a grievance in writing if requests keep being refused.

A refusal of particular dates is often lawful. A pattern that leaves you unable to use your statutory leave is not, and the record you keep now will show which applies to you.

Frances N.U