Part-year worker
A part-year worker has a continuing contract but works only part of the year, including at least one whole week when no work or pay is due.
Part-year is about weeks not worked
The key is a continuing contract with genuine non-working periods. Someone whose short fixed-term contract simply ends is not made a part-year worker by the weeks after it.
A rota or school calendar can show when work stops, but the contract establishes whether the legal category applies.
The Acas part-year guidance gives current Great Britain examples, including seasonal work under a contract that remains in place during unpaid weeks.
It is not another name for part-time
A part-time worker usually works fewer hours than a comparable full-time worker but may work throughout the year. A part-year worker may work full-time hours during working periods and then have whole unpaid weeks when the contract requires no work.
Term-time work can meet the definition, but the label alone does not prove it. Seasonal work can involve a continuing contract or a series of separate contracts. Check the actual arrangement.
Record the contractual pattern
Keep the contract dates, required working periods, whole unpaid weeks and pay arrangements together. Do not treat annual leave, sickness absence or another temporary unpaid absence as proof of part-year status.
The classification changes the current Great Britain holiday-accrual and pay rules. Northern Ireland follows separate holiday rules, and HollyHR's current regular-hours calculator does not cover part-year workers.
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