Holiday policy template: the rules people need before they ask.
A plain-English structure for leave years, requests, clashes, carry-over and leavers.
What should a holiday policy include?
A holiday policy should explain the leave year, entitlement, bank-holiday treatment, how to request time off, how decisions are made, notice, carry-over and what happens when employment starts or ends.
The policy should match the calculation and approval behaviour employees actually experience.
What matters
Start with the rule
A holiday policy should explain the leave year, entitlement, bank-holiday treatment, how to request time off, how decisions are made, notice, carry-over and what happens when employment starts or ends.
Write down the decision
Keep the policy, dates, calculation inputs and decision together so another person can understand what happened.
Check the current source
Check current holiday entitlement and pay guidance, particularly for irregular-hours and part-year workers.
A practical checklist
For a small team, a short repeatable process beats an impressive policy nobody follows.
- Leave year and entitlement
- Bank holidays
- Part-time and irregular-hours treatment
- Request and approval process
- Notice and busy periods
- Carry-over and family/sick-leave rules
- Starters, leavers and unused leave
Where software helps — and where it does not
HollyHR can keep the relevant people record, dates, documents, leave and working pattern in one place. It cannot decide a legal, medical or employee-relations question for you.
Check current holiday entitlement and pay guidance, particularly for irregular-hours and part-year workers.
Check the source, not just our summary
Rules and product pages change. These are the first-party references behind this page.
Questions people ask
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary for UK small teams. Check the linked official guidance and take qualified advice for a specific or disputed case.
Why keep the source with the calculation?
Rates and rules change. Recording the inputs, date and source makes the answer reviewable instead of becoming an unexplained number in a spreadsheet.
Can HollyHR track this?
HollyHR can hold the underlying employee, working-pattern, leave and document records. It does not present itself as a legal-advice engine.
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Keep reading: Annual leave guide · Time off