Establish a policy on buying and selling annual leave

Key points

Employers that wish to demonstrate a commitment to helping employees to achieve a balance between work and personal life or to increase employees' control over annual leave might consider offering them the option of buying and selling annual leave days (although they will need to take into account the rules on statutory minimum annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998).
A policy on buying and selling annual leave should set out the conditions for employees to buy or sell leave, which will include a limit on the number of days that an employee can buy or sell. The employer should also reserve the right to refuse applications to buy or sell leave.
The policy should set out the adjustments that will be made to employees' pay if they opt to buy or sell leave.