Yes. A UK employer can refuse an annual leave request for particular dates, and they do not have to give a reason. What they cannot do is refuse leave so persistently that you are unable to take your statutory 5.6 weeks within the leave year.
That distinction — refusing these dates versus refusing the leave — is the whole of the law here, and it is where most workplace disputes go wrong. This guide covers the notice an employer must give to turn a request down, the four situations where a refusal becomes unlawful, and what to do when you have already paid for flights.
Key Takeaways
- An employer can refuse leave on specific dates under regulation 15(2)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, but must give counter-notice at least as many days before the leave was due to start as the number of days requested.
- An employer cannot refuse to let you take your statutory leave at all. ACAS is explicit on this point.
- The statutory notice rules apply only where your contract says nothing different. A “relevant agreement” overrides them.
- A refusal that is discriminatory, retaliatory, or that makes it impossible to use your entitlement is challengeable regardless of the notice given.
What the Law Actually Says About Refusing Leave
The Working Time Regulations 1998 give workers the right to elect when they take their leave, and give employers a matching right to block those dates.
Regulation 15(1) lets you name your dates by giving notice. Regulation 15(2)(b) lets your employer serve a counter-notice requiring you not to take leave on those days. Neither party has to justify themselves — this is a notice regime, not a reasonableness test.
The limit sits in regulations 13 and 13A, which create the entitlement itself: four weeks plus 1.6 weeks, capped at 28 days. Regulation 13(9) says that leave “may only be taken in the leave year in respect of which it is due”. Put those together and an employer who refuses every request has broken the law by the end of the year, even though each individual refusal was valid on its own terms.
How Much Notice Must an Employer Give to Refuse Annual Leave?
Under regulation 15(4)(b), a counter-notice must be given as many days in advance of the first day of the requested leave as the number of days being refused. GOV.UK phrases the practical version as “as much notice as the amount of leave requested, plus 1 day”, because the notice has to land before that relevant date.
| Days of leave requested | Minimum notice to refuse | Practical deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 1 day | 2 days before the leave starts |
| 5 days | 5 days | 6 days before the leave starts |
| 10 days | 10 days | 11 days before the leave starts |
| 15 days | 15 days | 16 days before the leave starts |
Two things surprise people about this table. First, the notice runs in calendar days, not working days. Second, it is short — an employer can lawfully kill a two-week trip with eleven days’ warning.
If your contract or a collective agreement sets a different process (a rolling booking window, a cut-off date, a cap on how many people in a team can be off at once), that agreement applies instead. Regulation 15(5) allows the statutory rules to be varied or excluded by a relevant agreement, and in most UK workplaces they have been.
When Is a Refusal Unlawful?
A refusal that follows the notice rules can still be unlawful for a different reason. There are four to know.
- It leaves you unable to take your entitlement. If your requests are refused often enough that 5.6 weeks cannot fit in the remaining leave year, your employer has failed in its duty to provide the leave. Under the carry-over provisions added to regulation 13 in January 2024, leave a worker was not given a reasonable opportunity to take carries into the next leave year rather than being lost.
- It is discriminatory. Refusing leave requests for religious festivals while approving equivalent requests, or consistently blocking a disabled worker’s medical appointments, engages the Equality Act 2010 regardless of the notice served.
- It is retaliation. Refusing leave because someone raised a grievance, joined a union, or blew a whistle is unlawful detriment.
- The leave is not annual leave at all. Statutory rights such as time off for dependants, jury service, or antenatal appointments sit outside the Working Time Regulations and cannot be refused as if they were holiday.
A worked scenario
Nadia asks on 1 June for 10 days off starting 1 August. Her employer says nothing until 25 July, then refuses. That is 7 days’ notice against a 10-day request, so the counter-notice is invalid and the leave stands — unless her contract sets a different notice rule, in which case the contract wins.
Now change one fact. Her employer refuses on 15 July, 17 days ahead. That refusal is valid. But if Nadia’s five previous requests were also refused and she has 22 days left with three months of the leave year to run, she has a strong argument that her employer is not giving her a real opportunity to use the entitlement.
Can an Employer Refuse Leave You Have Already Booked and Paid For?
Legally, yes. Neither the regulations nor ACAS guidance treats a paid-for flight as creating a right to the dates. ACAS notes only that refusing in these circumstances “could have a particularly negative effect” on the working relationship.
In practice, most refusals of already-approved dates are settlements, not standoffs: the employer covers cancellation costs, or agrees an alternative week. It is worth asking for that in writing. If your employer approved the leave and then withdrew it, the separate rules on cancelling approved annual leave apply.
What to Do If Your Leave Request Is Refused
Work through this in order. It escalates properly and creates a paper trail.
- Ask for the refusal in writing, with the date it was issued. Without a date you cannot test the notice rule.
- Check your contract and staff handbook for a leave-booking clause. It almost certainly overrides the statutory default, in one direction or the other.
- Count the days. Compare the refusal date against the first day of the requested leave.
- Count your remaining entitlement against the working days left in the leave year. If it no longer fits, say so explicitly in writing.
- Propose alternatives. A refusal is usually about a specific week, not about you.
- Raise a formal grievance if the pattern continues. ACAS conciliation, and ultimately an employment tribunal claim under regulation 30, are the backstops.
What This Means for You
If you are an employee: your leverage is not “you must approve this”, it is “the year is running out”. Track your balance and put the arithmetic in your request.
If you are an employer: the statutory notice rules are a poor fit for most businesses, which is exactly why regulation 15(5) lets you replace them. Write a booking policy with a clear window, a stated blackout period, and a first-come-first-served rule, and apply it consistently. A documented policy applied evenly is far easier to defend than a series of ad-hoc refusals. Our guide to building a compliant UK leave policy covers the clauses worth including, and the complete UK annual leave entitlement guide sets out what you are obliged to provide in the first place.
The single most common cause of an unlawful refusal is not malice — it is an employer who has no live view of who has how much leave left, and finds out in November that half the team is carrying three weeks.
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This article is general information about UK employment law, not legal advice. Check your own contract, and take advice on your specific circumstances.