Due to the way that the Easter holidays fell in 2016 and how they will fall in 2017 means that employers whose holiday year is from 1 April to 31 March may not be providing their employees with the statutory entitlement of 28 days – 20 days holiday plus eight Bank Holidays for the current holiday year.
In 2016 the Easter Bank Holidays were 25 and 28 March, in 2017 they will be 3 and 6 April. Unfortunately, employers cannot rely on the fact that employees benefitted in a previous holiday year because there were two Easters to take no action in this holiday year.
In order to avoid being in breach of statutory entitlements, employers whose holiday year is 1 April to 31 March will need to “top up” their employees’ entitlement by two days for one year only. This can be done with a simple communication to employees, informing them that this is a "one-off" event and is not a promise for the future.