Annual Leave Carry Forward Rules UK 2026

The two pots of statutory leave

UK annual leave is built from two stacked entitlements that come from different bits of law, and the carry-over rules are different for each. Anyone writing or applying a leave policy needs to understand the split.

The total of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave per year for a full-time worker (which is where the familiar 28 days figure comes from) is made up of:

For most workers on regular hours, the Regulation 13 and 13A split still matters. For irregular hours and part-year workers, a unified Regulation 15B entitlement now applies under reforms that took effect for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. Both routes deliver the same total of 5.6 weeks, but the carry-over mechanics differ.

When carry forward is required by law

The Working Time Regulations 1998 were amended on 1 January 2024 to set out, in one place, the situations in which carry-over of statutory leave must be permitted. There are four scenarios, and they each have their own rules:

Outside these four scenarios, an employer is entitled to operate a strict "use it or lose it" policy. There is no general right to carry forward unused leave.

Carrying over for sickness: the 18-month rule

This is the most commonly applied carry-over right in UK workplaces, and the only one with a hard time limit baked into the legislation.

If a worker has been unable to take their statutory leave because of sickness, they can carry forward up to 4 weeks of their Regulation 13 entitlement into the next leave year. The carried-over leave must then be used within 18 months from the end of the leave year in which it accrued.

The 18-month rule applies only to the 4 weeks of Regulation 13 leave. The additional 1.6 weeks of Regulation 13A leave does not have a sickness carry-over right - so a worker on long-term sick leave loses any unused Regulation 13A days unless the contract is more generous.

How it works in practice

Carrying over for maternity and other family leave

UK case law had already established that a worker unable to take their leave because of maternity must be allowed to carry it forward. Since 1 January 2024, the Working Time Regulations have confirmed this in writing - and extended the principle to other forms of statutory family leave.

The full 5.6 weeks of statutory leave (both Regulation 13 and Regulation 13A) can be carried over where the worker has been unable to take it because of:

• Maternity leave
• Paternity leave
• Adoption leave
• Shared parental leave
• Ordinary parental leave
• Parental bereavement leave

There is no 18-month deadline for family leave carry-over in the legislation. In practice, most employers treat carried-over leave as the first to be used in the new leave year so the issue does not drag on.

Carrying over for employer failure

This is the most under-recognised category and the one most likely to surprise an employer in a tribunal.

Under the 2024 amendments to Regulation 13, a worker is entitled to carry over up to 4 weeks of their Regulation 13 leave (or the full 5.6 weeks if Regulation 15B applies) where the employer fails to:

1. Recognise the worker's right to paid annual leave;
2. Give the worker a reasonable opportunity to take the leave, or encourage them to take it; or
3. Inform the worker that any leave not taken (and not eligible for carry-over) will be lost at the end of the leave year.

Where any of these failures applies, the carry-over right continues for as long as the failure persists. There is no statutory cap on how much can accumulate. A worker who is not told about their right to leave for three years could, in theory, carry forward three full years' worth of Regulation 13 leave.

The three-line test for compliance

To stay safe under the employer-failure rule, an employer must, at minimum:

• Recognise the right - the contract should state the leave entitlement clearly, in writing.
• Give a reasonable opportunity - this is the active duty: encourage, remind, do not block requests on flimsy grounds, build leave into rotas.
• Warn about loss - tell workers, in good time before year-end, what will happen to untaken leave that does not qualify for carry-over.

Irregular hours and part-year workers

From leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours and part-year workers are covered by Regulation 15B. They no longer have the Regulation 13 / 13A split - instead they get a single 5.6 weeks entitlement, accruing at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period.

For carry-over, this means:

• The triggers (sickness, statutory family leave, employer failure) are the same.
• But because there is no Regulation 13 / 13A split, the full 5.6 weeks can be carried over (not just 4 weeks).
• The 18-month rule for sickness carry-over still applies.
• Outside the statutory triggers, carry-over is permitted only if there is a written agreement.

For a deeper dive on how the 12.07% accrual works for these workers, see our part-time and irregular hours holiday entitlement guide.

Voluntary carry-over: employer policies

Outside the four mandatory scenarios above, carry-over is entirely down to the employer. Most UK employers offer some form of optional carry-over, typically for one of two reasons: it reduces the year-end booking rush, and it stops staff feeling penalised when work pressures kept them from booking earlier.

The legal mechanism for voluntary carry-over is a "relevant agreement" - usually the employment contract or a written leave policy. The agreement can apply to:

• The 1.6 weeks of Regulation 13A leave (carry-over allowed for one leave year only).
• Any contractual leave above the 5.6 weeks statutory minimum (rules entirely set by the contract).

The Regulation 13 leave (the 4 weeks) cannot be carried forward by simple agreement - that pot only carries over for the statutory reasons set out earlier.

Common employer approaches

Sample policy wording

That second paragraph matters. A policy that purports to cap carry-over at 5 days with no carve-out for statutory rights will be unenforceable to the extent it tries to limit those rights, but it is bad practice to leave that uncertainty on the page.

When an employee leaves with carried-over leave

Any leave that has been validly carried forward, and is still untaken when the worker's employment ends, must be paid in lieu as part of their final pay.

This applies whether the carry-over arose from sickness, family leave, employer failure, or a contractual policy. The 2023 amendments expressly added carried-over leave to the list of entitlements that crystallise into a payment on termination.

The calculation method is the same as for ordinary accrued leave on termination. We've covered this in detail in our guide to unused annual leave when an employee leaves, including a worked calculator. The summary version: a week's pay multiplied by the number of weeks of untaken leave (whether carried-over or accrued in the current year), pro-rated for any partial weeks.

New record-keeping duties from April 2026

From 6 April 2026, employers must keep records of annual leave taken and holiday pay paid for each worker, for at least 6 years. The duty applies regardless of the size of the employer or the number of staff.

For carry-over specifically, this means keeping a clear record of:

• Any leave that has been carried forward from a previous year;
• Why it was carried over (sickness, statutory family leave, employer failure, contractual agreement);
• The deadline for using it (especially the 18-month sickness deadline);
• When it was eventually taken (or paid out on termination).

If you've been running carry-over informally - as many small employers do - this is a good moment to put it on a proper footing. A leave tracker that records the reason and use-by date is the simplest way to satisfy the new record-keeping duties without inventing a new system.

Common mistakes employers make

FAQs

Sources