Surprise!! New Duty from 6 April 2026 to keep annual leave and holiday pay records
In a last-minute twist in the rollout of new measures in the Employment Rights Act, employers have a new duty from 6 April 2026 to keep records relating to annual leave and holiday pay, Personnel Today reports.
Hopefully you have been keeping records as part of your usual administration processes, however after Easter Bank Holiday all employers must maintain adequate records tracking their staff’s annual leave and any associated payments. This is the first time there has been an employment law duty to do so.
This can be done in any format the employer reasonably considers appropriate, but the information must be kept for six years. The information that must be recorded includes:
- Ordinary and additional annual leave
- Annual leave carried forward from previous years
- Details of holiday pay, including which pay elements have been included or excluded
- Any payments in lieu of annual leave, including for carried‑over leave.
There has been no explicit announcement from the government, and the new duty is omitted from the Department for Business and Trade’s timeline for changes being introduced in 2026.
According to Personnel Today, Employment lawyers have spotted the measure in legislation published this week. Reg 3(8) of the commencement regulations brings into force Section 35 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, namely a requirement to keep records relating to annual leave. This introduces a duty to keep holiday records under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) from 6 April 2026.
They also outline that there was barely a mention of this new duty in government press releases, consultations, roadmaps and timelines on the Employment Rights Act 2025.
At this point all employers should audit how they record workers’ annual leave entitlement and pay, and identify where there may be gaps. Particularly as the Fair Work Agency newly commences it’s role on 7 April 20206, as the single government enforcement body for employment rights in the UK and aim to transform how these rights are being upheld. At present the FWA is unknown quantity but we can expect that disgruntled employees may look to make reports to the body and that in the next year cases, fines and reports of actions will indicate to HR and employers learning to develop best practise.
The step to take NOW is to review/audit your current holiday pay and annual record keeping and consider where there may be gaps. Consider introducing HR record keeping systems or HRIS
