From 6 April 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employers are required to keep records on annual leave and holiday pay for a period of six years.

This will be a major change for employers with the current approach tending to be more informal, perhaps through payroll spreadsheets or through an online HR absence portal, and for smaller businesses it may have been a secondary concern.

Now this will be a mandatory requirement with financial penalties for failure to comply.