More than half of employees (52 %) aren’t allowed to carry holiday days over into the next year, the research suggests. So with employers now requiring anything up to a months’ notice for time off, many could have missed the boat already and find that they have lost out altogether.
According to the study the Welsh are best at taking their holidays, with an average of just 3.4 days left to take while the Northern Irish are the worst with an average of 6.6 days of holiday left this year.
The research also revealed that the older you are, the more likely you are to have time off left to take; 18-23 year olds have on average 3.7 days left, while those over the age of 55 have a whopping 6.5 days left. And out of those over 55, more than one in six (17.5 %) have eleven or more holiday day’s remaining.
Bob Atkinson, travel expert at Travelsupermarket.com, said: "Many workers are likely to end up disgruntled having found that they can’t actually take the holiday that they had been saving up over the year.
"It’s a misconception that employees have the right to take their holiday as and when then want – in most cases it is dependent on it being approved by their superiors and in December, many will find that this won’t be."
