Managing Summer Holidays: How UK Employers Can Avoid Chaos

Every year, British employers face the same challenge: between June and September, a wave of annual leave requests lands at once. School holidays, family trips abroad, and the promise of decent weather mean everyone wants the same weeks off. Without a clear plan, you end up short-staffed, resentful employees, and managers firefighting coverage gaps. Here is how to get ahead of it.

Why summer leave is uniquely difficult

The statutory 28-day annual leave entitlement gives UK workers plenty of time off, but most of it clusters in the same 12-week window. CIPD research consistently shows that July and August account for nearly 40% of all annual leave taken across UK businesses.

For parents, the constraint is non-negotiable: English and Welsh school summer holidays run from mid-July to early September. That means employees with children are competing for the same dates, and those without children can feel squeezed out if parents always get priority.

First-come-first-served vs rotation: which is fairer?

Most UK employers use one of two approaches to resolve clashing holiday requests. Both have trade-offs.

There is no single "right" answer. The important thing is that your leave policy states the approach clearly so employees know the rules before they book.

Should you use blackout periods?

A blackout period is a window during which no (or limited) annual leave is approved. Some businesses use them around critical deadlines, product launches, or peak trading weeks. They are perfectly legal in the UK, provided:

• They are communicated well in advance (at least a month before the blackout starts).
• They do not prevent employees from taking their full statutory entitlement within the leave year.
• They are applied consistently and do not indirectly discriminate (for example, permanently blocking the only weeks school-age children are off could disproportionately affect parents).

Setting a maximum number of people off at once

A more practical alternative to blackout dates is a concurrent leave cap: a rule that limits how many team members (or what percentage of the team) can be on leave at the same time. For example:

• No more than 2 of 8 team members off in any given week.
• Maximum 25% of the department off simultaneously.
• At least one senior team member must be available at all times.

This preserves cover while still letting people take summer leave. It also makes approval decisions less subjective — if the cap has not been reached, the request is approved.

How to set the right cap

Look at last year's data. What was the maximum number of people off in a single week? Did it cause problems? If you use LeaveApprove, the team calendar view makes it easy to visualise historical overlap and set a cap that reflects real operational needs rather than guesswork.

Communication: the most underrated tool

Many summer holiday disputes stem not from bad policy but from poor communication. Employees do not know the rules, managers interpret them inconsistently, and frustration builds. Here is a simple communication timeline:

Part-time and flexible workers

Summer leave planning becomes more complex when your team includes part-time employees and those on flexible working arrangements. Remember:

• Part-time employees receive pro-rata leave, but they are equally entitled to take time off during popular periods.
• Employees who work compressed hours (e.g. 4 longer days) may need fewer leave "days" to cover a full week, which can look unfair to colleagues unless you explain the maths.
• Remote workers should follow the same leave request process as office-based staff — do not let remote working become an informal substitute for annual leave.

What about unused summer leave?

Some employees avoid booking summer leave altogether, intending to "save it for later." This can create a rush of requests in November and December, or trigger carry-over disputes at year end. Encourage employees to spread their leave throughout the year, and flag anyone who has not booked any summer leave by July.

How LeaveApprove makes summer leave manageable

Handling summer holiday requests with spreadsheets or email chains is a recipe for errors and arguments. LeaveApprove gives you the tools to stay on top of it:

• Team calendar — see at a glance who is off when, with overlap alerts so you can enforce concurrent leave caps.
• One-click approvals — approve or decline requests from your phone in seconds, with automatic balance updates.
• Fair queueing — requests are timestamped, so first-come-first-served policies are transparent and auditable.
• Balance tracking — employees can see exactly how many days they have left, reducing last-minute surprises.
• Manager notifications — get alerted instantly when a new request overlaps with an existing booking.