The move to extend holiday allowances was first proposed in Labour's 2005 election manifesto. Chancellor Gordon Brown then pledged to add bank holidays to the current minimum four-week entitlement in a speech at the Trades Union Congress conference on 13 September.
Annual leave has now been included as a clause in the new Work and Families Bill, published last week, and changes to holiday entitlement will be discussed as the Bill moves through parliament.
The planned changes would have the greatest impact on private nurseries, many of which include bank holidays in the legal minimum of 20 days leave.
The Nursery World Pay Survey 2005 (29 September) found that 25 per cent of private sector staff receive the minimum entitlement, compared with just 5 per cent of staff in local authority nurseries.
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