If you're planning to close the business over Christmas and want everyone off at once, the question comes up every year: can an employer force you to take holiday in the UK? The short answer is yes, but there's a specific notice rule you need to follow, and a few practical wrinkles worth sorting out before you send anything round.
The short answer: yes, with the right notice
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, an employer can require staff to take annual leave on particular days, including a Christmas shutdown. There's no need for anyone's agreement in the moment, as long as you give the correct amount of notice.
The rule is set out in regulation 15: notice must be at least twice the length of the leave you're requiring. Want to shut down for three working days over Christmas, say the days between Christmas and New Year? You need to give at least six days' notice. Want everyone to take one day off? Two days' notice will do.
This works both ways. Just as you can require leave, you can also refuse a leave request already booked for those dates, provided you give notice of at least the same length as the leave you're cancelling.
The notice can be given at any point in the year and doesn't need to reference a shutdown specifically. Plenty of businesses build it into their annual leave policy so it's set out clearly from day one. If you haven't got round to that yet, our guide on how to write a leave policy covers what to include.
If your contract already deals with it, use that instead
If your employment contracts include a clause saying the business closes over Christmas and staff are required to take leave for those dates, you don't need to rely on the regulation 15 notice rule at all. The contractual term does the job.
If your contracts are silent on it, this is a good year to add a clause for next Christmas, and to fall back on the statutory notice rule in the meantime. Either way, put the shutdown dates in writing well before the deadline, even if you think everyone already knows the office closes at Christmas.
What if someone doesn't have enough leave left
This is the one that catches businesses out. If an employee has already used most of their annual leave by December, requiring three more days off can tip them into a shortfall you can't legally paper over.
You've got three options in that situation:
- Borrow from next year's entitlement. Common, and usually the simplest fix, as long as your policy allows it.
- Agree unpaid leave. This needs the employee's written agreement. You can't impose unpaid leave unilaterally, even during a shutdown.
- Avoid it altogether by tracking entitlement in advance. Check remaining balances well before the shutdown notice goes out, so nobody's finding out they're short at the same time everyone else is packing up for Christmas.
The third option is the one worth building into your process every year. If you're still working this out from a spreadsheet, it's easy for a leaver, a long spell of sick leave, or a run of ad hoc requests to throw the numbers off without anyone noticing until it's too late.
New starters, part-timers and part-year joiners
The same principles apply, but the numbers need adjusting. Someone who joined in October won't have accrued a full year's entitlement, and someone working three days a week needs their shutdown requirement calculated pro rata against their actual working pattern, not a standard five-day week. If a bank holiday falls during the shutdown, check how that interacts with their entitlement too. Our post on bank holidays and part-time staff walks through that calculation.
If someone joins after your shutdown notice has already gone out, tell them as soon as they start. It's a rough welcome to discover your first week includes three compulsory days off you didn't know were coming, particularly if it eats into leave you were hoping to save.
Being reasonable about it
A blanket Christmas shutdown works well for most small businesses, but it's worth remembering that not everyone marks Christmas, and not everyone wants their annual leave spent the same week as their colleagues. A quick conversation with anyone who'd rather take their days at another time, where the business can accommodate it, costs you very little and avoids the shutdown feeling like something done to people rather than for them.
Clear, early communication solves most of the friction here. Nobody minds a compulsory shutdown that's flagged in July. Plenty of people mind one that turns up as a surprise in November.
A simple shutdown notice you can adapt
Something like this covers the essentials:
We'll be closing the business from [date] to [date] inclusive. As set out in your contract / in line with the Working Time Regulations 1998, you're required to take these days as annual leave. This notice is being given on [date], which meets the required notice period.
If you don't currently have enough remaining leave to cover this period, please let [name] know by [date] so we can sort out the best option together.
Short, clear, and it gives anyone short on leave time to flag it before the shutdown starts, not after.
Keep it out of your inbox
Working out who's short on leave, calculating pro-rata entitlement for part-timers, and getting notice out with enough runway all get harder the more people you employ, and a lot harder if it's all sat in a spreadsheet somewhere. Absently keeps a live view of everyone's remaining entitlement, so you can see who's covered for a shutdown and who isn't before you send the notice, not after.