Is it hard to get time off from work in the UK?

As the dream of being with my Scottish partner begins to become more of a reality, I'm beginning to get really scared about a few things. Mainly if it will be possible to get a week off at a time so that I can go and visit my family in the US, maybe once or twice a year.

I have no idea what job I will be doing there; I haven't thought that far ahead in my plan.

But, what are your experiences? Has it been hard for you to get a week or two off at a time?

I have read that full time workers are entitled to 28 days of paid vacation leave. However, I've also read that an employer can tell you to just take 1 day off a week, instead of allowing you to use them all at once. This makes me very nervous, since obviously there's no way I could visit my family that way.


Honestly, I do not care if it's paid or unpaid leave, and nor does my partner. It's just important to me that I am able to visit my family sometimes. I am terrified that once I am there and start working, I will never be able to get the time off to see my family.

Like the US, it depends on your employer. My husband has never had trouble taking his holiday time as and when he dictates, whether that's in large stretches or one day at a time.

But, what are your experiences? Has it been hard for you to get a week or two off at a time?

I've never had any trouble getting as much time off as I would like and all my employers have been very flexible and accommodating with leave. From day one of every UK job I have had, I've been entitled to 5 weeks of paid leave per year and with the exception of having a leave ban at Christmas (both of my most recent jobs involved working over the holidays), I've always been able to take leave when I wanted it, and as much as I wanted.

One things I love about the UK (I'm British born and raised but have lived in the US) is how much paid time off we get each year compared to the US, and how we're encouraged to use it all.

I have had UK employers in the past basically telling me I HAVE to take a week off, even when I wasn't going to (I had just started back at my old vacation job one year and after a week my manager said: "Would you like to take a week off next week? You have leave to use up and if you don't use it now, you'll lose it").

That job was a bit annoying though as I wasn't allowed to just book 1 day at a time, I had to book a full week off (not helpful if I just wanted one day off for an event or an appointment) - plus I had to choose all 5 weeks leave for that year in February (leave year was April to April), even if I hadn't decided when I wanted to take them... so I had to just pick random dates that I may or may not want to take as leave and then try to adjust them later. We had to give 1st and 2nd choices for our 5 weeks off and then hope we got the ones we wanted.

At my current job, as long as I book it far enough in advance that no one else wants the same weeks off (we can request leave up to 12 months in advance), it's not been a problem. In some cases, if it's important to have leave on a certain date that someone else has booked too, you can negotiate with them to work it out.

Right now, I get 25 days of leave, plus 8 bank holidays, plus 2.5 privilege days, and due to working shifts and often having to work the bank holidays and Christmas, I can take the extra 10.5 days whenever I like during the year. My leave year runs April to April and I can carry over up to 10 days into the next year (also, if I run out of leave, I can request to bring some days forward from the next year, although we're not really supposed to do that).

In the last couple of years I have taken the following leave:

Early May 2012: 1 week just because I felt like it
Late May 2012: 1 week for my birthday
November 2012: 2 weeks for a trip to the US
(No leave in the summer because I was working a 3-month research placement)

March 2013: 3 weeks for a trip to China
Early May 2013: 1 week for a trip to Italy
Late May 2013: 1 week for a trip to Paris
November 2013: 3 weeks leave between overseas deployments

March 2014: 3 weeks leave after second overseas deployment
May 2014: 2 weeks for another trip to Italy
September 2014: 2 weeks for a trip to the US

I totally agree with ksand.  My experience is that the UK values and encourages family/holiday time MUCH more than the US.  I am encouraged to use all my time and taking it in 2 or 3 week "chunks" has been perfectly okay.  The UK practically shuts down in August as so many people take a big stretch of time off (seriously, I work in finance and my August targets are less as so many people are out).

I'm currently expecting my first child and they are PAYING ME for a full six months off with the baby.  And I could take a year off.  It's incredible how much more the UK values family time!

It depends.  My current job needs special special approval for anything more than two weeks and almost no one gets it.  Due to work patterns, we aren't allowed any leave in September/beginning of October or January/beginning of February.

Also, far from being shut down in August, my area of work has one of its busiest times.  At my old job, in a different sector, I didn't notice it either.  That must depend on your area of work as well. 

It depends.  My current job needs special special approval for anything more than two weeks and almost no one gets it.  Due to work patterns, we aren't allowed any leave in September/beginning of October or January/beginning of February.

Actually, it does depend where you work within our company. We have a main HQ, with scientists working 9-5, plus the 24/7 operations centre. Then we also have dozens of out-stations dotted around the country and abroad, some of which are M-F, some are 24/7, some are mornings/evenings, and so it depends on shift patterns and staff rosters as to how much leave you can take and when.

I think the people who work in science can just take leave independent of each other, as they work at their own desks on individual projects, while the people working shifts have to co-ordinate their leave so that all the shifts are covered and someone is always manning each desk, so you can't have more than so many people on leave at once.

I work at a 24/7 out-station with only about 15 staff on 2 rosters, and my manager is very flexible on leave (either 1 or 2 people per roster can be on leave at once), but the people who work in the big operations centre (with about 200 staff) have much more trouble getting leave approved because of the number of people and the complicated shift rosters, so their managers keep enforcing a 'leave ban' during months where lots of people want leave - they also have waiting lists and priority lists for leave as well.

Also, far from being shut down in August, my area of work has one of its busiest times.  At my old job, in a different sector, I didn't notice it either.  That must depend on your area of work as well. 

As my job is 24/7, 365 days a year, we usually have a leave ban during December, so that we don't get everyone requesting leave over Christmas and New Year. On the plus side though, we get paid more for working the Christmas period.

We did also have restrictions on how much leave you can take during school holidays (no more than 2 weeks in the summer, no more than 1 week when there's a bank holiday), and if you wanted to take more than 2 weeks during the rest of the year, you had to send an email to all your co-workers to check that no one else wanted those dates and that no one minded if you took 3 weeks instead of 2. I think the office has recently had a vote though, and they will be lifting these restrictions, as not many people at work have school-aged kids (we're either young and don't have kids yet, or our kids are adults) and everyone thought it was a bit silly.

I agree that it will depend on what type of job you get.

I've held two posts in the UK. At the first, I had no trouble getting anything other than Christmas off. At my current position, it's a bit more complicated as we are a large department so I need to be a bit more flexible.

My last job in IT for a bank it was actually company policy that you took 2 weeks consecutive holiday a year and you had to have a good explanation to your manager if you didn't, it's something to do with FSA regulations on money laundering etc, if someone is doing stuff they shouldn't and they are off for 2 weeks a pattern is easier to spot!
Also, in the UK, employers generally recognise that it's good for their staff to have a decent break.

But it's common to have at least 22 days plus public (bank) holidays, I just started a job a month ago and got 2 weeks booked off in Nov to go back to the States. Had more trouble getting time off in the summer but that's because other people had got in before me (before I started), so asked manager when there was time and got a week in early June and then told DW who managed to swap her holiday to the same week.
Oh and I got Monday off cause it's the Superbowl!   

Thanks for all of the reassuring answers! It sounds like as long as I'm willing to be flexible, I'll be able to get a week off to see my family.

One things I love about the UK (I'm British born and raised but have lived in the US) is how much paid time off we get each year compared to the US, and how we're encouraged to use it all.

I agree with ksand24, although like other posters, I agree that different employers/sectors are different. As with any job, it's always wise to check with a new employer what their policy is with annual leave.

But in my experience, which is similar to ksand24's, I get more leave than any U.S. employee I know can dream of, and can take it more or less when I want to, and have to 'use it or lose it'. Culturally, too, I find that people here generally take their holidays, want to talk about their holidays or hear about yours. I don't get that US attitude which is all too often either pride in having never taken a holiday, or resentment at anyone who does.

For what it's worth, I think it's the best thing about living here. In many ways I would much rather not. But my [British] partner reminds me that unless I lived in the same U.S. city as my relatives, there's a good chance I wouldn't see them any more often if I lived over there, as I wouldn't have the minimum 4 weeks of leave.

Where I work, it's never a problem to book holiday. Breaks up to two weeks are signed off as a matter of course. Anything over two weeks needs to be referred up, but to be honest, it's rarely ever been a problem. Three weeks at a time is usually maximum though, unless it's a very special circumstance.

In the US (working for the same company) I actually had a generous vacation allowance but I was begrudgingly given only a week at a time, and made to feel I was given a special favor whenever I tried to take time off. Not helpful if you're in a long-distance relationship.

As others have said, it depends on the company you work for and your work pattern but I think you'll find attitudes here towards holiday very different from the US.

My last job in IT for a bank it was actually company policy that you took 2 weeks consecutive holiday a year and you had to have a good explanation to your manager if you didn't, it's something to do with FSA regulations on money laundering etc, if someone is doing stuff they shouldn't and they are off for 2 weeks a pattern is easier to spot!

I work for a bank, and it's the same for us... we get 25 days annual leave a year.  2 of the weeks have to be taken together, the rest is as-and-when, as long as there are no more than 2 people off in the team.

You'll find that the attitude toward holidays is nothing like what you've experienced in the USA!

It does depend a little on where you work - in industry it's almost universal for the site to shut down over Christmas so you aren't allowed to work between Christmas and New Year. At my previous employer you had to take 3 days holiday to cover it, at my current one it's treated like an extra bank holiday.

I've never had anybody blink an eyelid at getting 2 weeks off, no matter what time of year it is or how busy we are - provided they have a bit of warning they just work around it. Nobody has ever objected to me taking a 3 week block either, although I did get asked not to make a habit of it (I then went and took a pair of 3-week blocks of sick leave in the past 6 months, which they were fine with!).

The other thing to note is when you go for interview they will probably ask if you have any holiday booked. Don't worry about this question, it's so that they can make a note and they will do their best to accomodate the request, it may be that you have to have that unpaid if it's within the first couple of months but it isn't in order to rule you out because you want a few days off in a months time.

Good point, TykeMan. This really shows the difference with [most people's experience in] the US. Can you even imagine telling a prospective American employer that you plan to take time off? In the first year?