Calculator / Carry-Over
Holiday Carry-Over Rules UK 2026: Maternity, Sickness, and Untaken Leave
What happens to unused holiday? When can you carry it over? This page covers every scenario including maternity leave, long-term sickness, and employer refusal.
Updated 11 April 2026
The Two-Tier Carry-Over System
UK statutory holiday is split into two parts with different carry-over rules:
First 4 weeks (Reg 13)
Derived from the EU Working Time Directive. Generally cannot be carried over to the next leave year. Must be used or lost, unless specific exceptions apply (sickness, maternity, employer prevention).
Extra 1.6 weeks (Reg 13A)
A UK addition. Can be carried over to the next leave year if there is a relevant agreement (in the contract, staff handbook, or a workforce agreement). For a full-time worker, this is 8 days.
Maternity and Family Leave
You continue to accrue your full statutory holiday entitlement during maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, and shared parental leave. This is a legal right that applies regardless of whether you receive statutory or contractual pay.
Practical example
A full-time worker taking 39 weeks of maternity leave accrues approximately 21 days of holiday during that period (28 / 52 x 39 = 20.98 days). This can be taken before or after the leave period.
Maternity Leave Holiday Accrual Calculator
Holiday accrued during leave
21 days
(28 / 52) x 39 weeks = 21 days
Tips for Managing Holiday Around Family Leave
- •Discuss with your employer before leave starts to agree how accrued holiday will be handled
- •Consider adding accrued holiday to the end of your leave to extend time at home
- •If your leave spans two leave years, check carry-over arrangements with HR early
- •Keep a record of holiday taken before your leave to avoid disputes later
- •Holiday accrued during maternity that cannot be taken in the leave year should carry over
Long-Term Sickness
Holiday entitlement continues to accrue during sick leave. If you are too ill to take your holiday, you can carry over up to 4 weeks (the Reg 13 entitlement) to the following leave year. However, you must use this carried-over holiday within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it was accrued. After 18 months, the right is lost.
Sickness during booked holiday
If you fall ill during a pre-booked holiday, you can ask your employer to reclassify those days as sick leave. You then take the holiday days at a later date. Your employer can reasonably require medical evidence (a GP fit note) before agreeing to the reclassification.
Employer Prevented You From Taking Holiday
If your employer refused holiday requests, discouraged you from taking leave, or failed to tell you that unused holiday would be lost, untaken holiday carries forward. This comes from the case of King v Sash Window Workshop [2018].
The employer has a duty to actively facilitate leave-taking. Simply having a policy that says "use it or lose it" is not enough if the employer did not positively encourage and enable the worker to take their entitlement.
Contractual Carry-Over
Many employers offer more than the statutory 28 days. Any entitlement above 28 days is "contractual" and the carry-over rules are whatever your contract says. Some employers allow unlimited carry-over of contractual days; others impose a use-it-or-lose-it policy.
Following COVID-19, many employers introduced more generous carry-over policies. The Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 allowed workers to carry over up to 4 weeks of the Reg 13 entitlement into the following 2 leave years where it was not "reasonably practicable" to take it. This provision has now expired, but some employers retained more flexible policies.