What is it?
Brazel vs Harpur is an employment case that was taken to the UK Supreme Court in 2022. Mrs Brazel, a music teacher who was employed on a term-time only zero hours contract by the Harpur Trust, raised concerns about the holiday pay calculations at the time being based on 12.07% of the hours worked in the previous term. It was argued that the way of calculating holiday pay was incorrect and should be calculated on the basis of the average weekly earnings over a 52-week reference period (Working Time Regulations 1998*).
The Supreme Court found Harpur Trust’s way of calculating holiday pay to be incorrect and that it did not meet the Working Time Regulations.
The Court confirmed the correct way of calculating holiday pay is to use the average weekly pay over the 52-week reference period prior to the holiday, no matter what part of the year they had worked.
The resulting decision was that term-time and part-time employees should receive holiday pay based on their earnings in the reference period (52 weeks average, not counting weeks not worked).
How does it affect your school?
This case impacts schools, especially those that employ workers during term time only or other part time employees.
Schools are being encouraged to review their calculations, and to make sure that holiday pay for their term-time only and part-time employees is calculated correctly based on the 52-week reference period and not the 12.07% calculation that was previously in use.
This may lead to increased payroll costs as some term-time only and part-time employees may be owed back pay. Policies and employment contracts need to be reviewed by schools and corrected where needed. Schools must be prepared to answer any questions employees might have about this situation as the review process might raise concerns.
HR&OD Education Solutions specialise in holiday pay miscalculations. Our team also works on National Joint Council Term Time Only Miscalculations. We have supported 62 maintained schools and academies so far in this process.
*Working Time Regulations 1998
Regulation entitles workers to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. Regulation 16 states that holiday pay should be based on “a week’s pay”, calculated using the average pay over a 52 week period.
Useful Links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplifying-holiday-entitlement-and-holiday-pay-calculations/holiday-pay-and-entitlement-reforms-from-1-january-2024#:~:text=All%20full%2Dyear%20workers%2C%20except,of%20the%20Working%20Time%20Regulations).https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/16#:~:text=periods%20of%20leave-,16.,of%20each%20week%20of%20leave
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2019-0209-judgment.pdf