9 out of 10 Brits pass up on £650 of paid annual leave a year

annual leave

Hard working Brits are working through much of their annual holiday entitlement, losing out on over £650 and 10 days annual leave each year.

Nearly nine out of ten workers failed to take all of their holiday allowance last year, with almost one in 20 missing out on more than ten days of paid leave, new research has revealed.

The study, which looked at British workers’ annual leave entitlement, also found that 43 per cent of us don’t take our full allowance because we are simply too busy to do so and that over half  are entitled to more that 25 days of paid holiday per working year, with 7 per cent reaching the end of the year with at least half their allowance untaken.

More than a third of us were unable to carry over our remaining holiday days to the following year or sell it back to our employers meaning that 35 per cent of Brits had to simply lose their annual leave, losing out on an average of £674.60 a year.

The top reason Brits gave for not taking their full holiday entitlement was that almost half of us felt that our work place was too busy and therefore felt they couldn’t book any time off whilst one in ten said that they had holiday requests denied by their bosses.

A whopping 81 per cent of us admitted to working up to nine hours’ unpaid overtime each week, effectively missing out on a further £434.40 in unpaid labour over the year.

Sezer Yurdakul, Global Head of Online Marketing at Voucherbox stated; “It’s concerning to see almost 90 per cent of employees are missing out on valuable time off, which is so important to retain an engaged and happy workforce. Not only that but the amount of money employees are losing through missed annual leave and unpaid overtime is the equivalent of, if not more than, a family holiday.

“A well-earned break away from work doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and there are often great travel and holiday deals available. This 8 per cent of hotel bookings at Expedia is a good place to start.”