Christmas Shutdown & Leave UK: Employer Guide (2026)

Many UK businesses close between Christmas and New Year. But can you actually require employees to use annual leave for the shutdown? What notice must you give? And how does it work for part-time staff? This guide covers everything employers need to know about Christmas shutdowns in 2026.

Can employers force employees to take leave at Christmas?

Yes. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, employers have the right to tell employees when to take some or all of their statutory annual leave. This includes directing them to take leave during a Christmas shutdown period.

However, there is one critical requirement: notice. The employer must give the employee notice that is at least twice the length of the leave being required. So if you are requiring 3 days of leave, you must give at least 6 days' notice.

Christmas & Boxing Day 2026: the bank holiday dates

In 2026, Christmas Day falls on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday. Because Boxing Day falls on a weekend, the substitute bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. New Year's Day 2027 falls on a Friday.

This means a full shutdown from Christmas to New Year requires employees to use only 3 days of annual leave (29, 30, 31 December), since the other days are bank holidays or weekends.

Structuring your Christmas shutdown policy

A clear policy prevents confusion and complaints. Your leave policy should address:

• Shutdown dates — specify the exact dates the business will close each year.
• Leave deduction — state how many annual leave days will be deducted and confirm that bank holidays are separate (or included, depending on your policy).
• Notice period — when employees will be told about the shutdown (ideally in writing at the start of the leave year).
• Insufficient leave — what happens if an employee has already used all their annual leave. Options include unpaid leave, borrowing from next year's entitlement, or allowing them to work during the shutdown if operational needs allow.
• Essential cover — if some roles must be staffed over Christmas (e.g. IT support, customer service), explain how you will select staff fairly — rotation is common.

What if an employee has no leave left?

This is more common than you might think, especially if employees front-load their leave during summer. You cannot force an employee to take unpaid leave unless the contract allows it. The safest options are:

• Allow the employee to "borrow" from next year's entitlement (deducted in the new leave year).
• Offer unpaid leave by mutual agreement.
• Let them work during the shutdown if there is meaningful work to do.

Whatever you choose, document it in writing and apply the same approach to all employees in the same situation.

Part-time workers and Christmas shutdowns

Part-time workers must be treated fairly. If your shutdown falls on days they do not normally work, you cannot deduct annual leave for those days. Conversely, if the shutdown covers their normal working days, the deduction should be pro rata.

Religious and cultural considerations

Not all employees celebrate Christmas. Some may prefer to save their leave for Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah, or other celebrations. A mandatory Christmas shutdown limits their flexibility. Consider:

• Keeping the mandatory shutdown as short as possible (e.g. only the days between bank holidays).
• Offering a "floating holiday" that can be used for any religious or cultural observance.
• Allowing skeleton-crew working over Christmas for employees who would rather use their leave elsewhere.

This is not just about good practice — under the Equality Act 2010, policies that disproportionately disadvantage employees of a particular religion could amount to indirect discrimination unless you can objectively justify them.

How to calculate the cost of a Christmas shutdown

From a business perspective, the main cost of a shutdown is not the leave itself (employees are entitled to those days regardless) but potential lost revenue and the impact on holiday pay calculations for irregular-hours workers. Weigh this against the benefits: reduced overhead, higher morale, and simplified scheduling.

How Leavely simplifies Christmas shutdowns

Managing a shutdown across dozens of employees — each with different working patterns, leave balances, and pro-rata entitlements — is where spreadsheets break down. Leavely handles it cleanly:

• Company leave blocks — set a shutdown period once and it applies to all employees automatically, with correct deductions based on each person's working pattern.
• Bank holidays pre-loaded — Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day are already in the system for all UK regions.
• Balance warnings — flag employees who do not have enough leave remaining to cover the shutdown, well before December.
• Part-time auto-calculations — pro-rata deductions are handled automatically based on each employee's contracted days.