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.
One nursery that would be affected is Little Friends Day Nursery in Chester. Business manager Becky Ross said, 'It would definitely have a financial impact. We offer staff 20 days including bank holidays, rising to 25 days when staff have been with us for five years. We did review our policies in February but found we could not afford to offer extra paid holiday.'
Little Friends employs 30 staff, but Ms Ross said it would be forced to take on more to accommodate any changes and warned that the extra costs might have to be passed on to parents through increased fees.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said any change would have a significant impact on nurseries'
sustainability. She said, 'We must, however, work as a sector to improve conditions for nursery staff and recognise the important contribution nursery employees make. We therefore believe that bank holidays should not be counted as part of statutory leave entitlement.'