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NJC Circular: Updated Green Book Part 4.12 Term-Time Only Employees - 14/03/2024

The NJC has issued a circular that sets out updates to the Green Book Part 4.12. This updated version replaces the previous Part 4.12 guidance dated December 2022.

Part 4.12 contains joint guidance to ensure the pay and conditions of Term-Time Only (TTO) employees are transparent, consistent and fair and they are treated no less favourably than employees on all-year-round contracts. This guidance has now been updated to reflect the changes that have been made recently to the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) by the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 (for full details see Advisory Bulletin 718).

One of the key changes the Government has made to the WTR is the way that statutory holiday entitlement is calculated for certain workers. This has been done in response to the Supreme Court decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel. For workers who meet the definition of an irregular hours worker or a part-year worker, statutory annual leave will accrue at the rate of 12.07 per cent of hours worked. This allows an employer to pro-rate the amount of leave that a worker is entitled to, according to the amount of time that they have worked, as opposed to the current situation where all workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave, irrespective of their working pattern.

This change to the regulations on holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers will apply in respect of any leave year that begins on or after 1 April 2024. Up until that new leave year begins, the existing rules continue to apply, including as required by the Brazel judgment.

To view the NJC Circular, click here (pdf, 228kb).

Further background details can be found here Advisory Bulletin 718.