Channel 4 admits errors in holiday pay calculation

A campaign by broadcasting union BECTU has led Channel 4 to change the way it calculates holiday pay.

In September, the BBC discovered that it was in breach of the Working Time Regulations, which require that employees' holiday should include additional payments for unsocial hours and additional responsibilities if these are a normal part of their salary.

To remedy the situation, the BBC gave payments of up to £4,000 to about 11,000 of its staff, representing the missing holiday pay backdated to October 1998 when the regulations were introduced. All night shift, Christmas and "extra responsibility reward" payments are now included when calculating holiday pay.

Following the BBC's decision, BECTU wrote to a number of other broadcasters, alerting them to the possibility that they too might be failing to calculate their employees' holiday pay correctly.

A number of employers have responded to the union, promising to investigate the issue, and this month Channel 4 was the first to admit that it too had been neglecting to include its night pay allowance in employees' holiday pay.

The broadcaster is to rectify the error for future payments, but does not intend to issue backdated payments until the House of Lords has heard an appeal in a legal case (Ainsworth v Inland Revenue) involving holiday pay.

BECTU national official Nigel Mason praised "the professional way Channel 4 have dealt with this issue since we brought it to their attention", but indicated that the union will claim the backdated amount if the appeal fails.