date: 7 April 2006

embargo: For immediate release

TUC welcome government ban on 'rolled-up' holiday pay

Commenting on today's change in rules on paid annual leave (Friday) banning rolled-up holiday pay (where holiday pay is already included in workers' hourly rates and people are not actually paid when they take any leave), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'By acting swiftly on the recent ruling from the European courts that rolled-up holiday pay breaks EU law the government will make it harder for bad employers to cheat their staff out of their holiday pay. In the past it has been all too easy for employers to say they are paying staff for their holidays without ever coughing up an extra penny.

'After almost ten years of campaigning unions have won up to a million construction workers and agency temps their proper holiday pay.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Following an ECJ judgment in March the DTI have today amended their regulatory guidance as follows:

Following an ECJ Judgement on 16 March 2006, Rolled Up Holiday Pay (RHP) is considered unlawful and employers should renegotiate contracts involving RHP for existing employees/workers as soon as possible so that payment for statutory annual leave is made at the time when the leave is taken. Where an employer has already given RHP in relation to work undertaken, and the payments have been made in a transparent and comprehensible manner, they can be set off against any future leave payments made at the proper time.''

http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/wtr7.htm#section7

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07881 622416

Press release (300 words) issued 7 Apr 2006