The Trades Union Congress claims one worker in 12 do not take the time off to which they are legally entitled.
Workers at risk of ‘burn out’
2.2 million people in the UK do not get the legal minimum of five and a half weeks holiday per year, and another 1.2 million workers do not get paid annual leave at all.
According to the TUC, unrealistic workloads and deliberate denials of holiday requests were to blame for workers missing out on their legal entitlements.
This lack of holiday leave had a knock-on effect on the physical and mental health of workers, said the union, who called on the government to do more to protect workers and ‘clamp down’ on employers not granting the legal requirements.
The retail sector – along with the education and health and social care sectors – was the worst for staff losing out on holidays.
In total, more than £3bn in paid leave is lost every year. Women are affected more than men, with almost ten per cent of female workers missing out on their holiday entitlement.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: ‘Employers have no excuse for robbing staff of their well-earned leave. UK workers put in billions of hours of unpaid overtime as it is’.
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