Can contractors go on holiday?

As a contractor, you will want and you can take holidays as any employee.

However, there are some differences and dilemmas many contractors are facing. Many contractors do not include holiday provisions in their contracts. ICM Research took poll last summer and the results shown that a quarter of contractors choose not to take holiday at all.

45 per cent of contractors who did manage to get out on holiday, didn’t relax and worked on holiday, and a fifth had cancelled or abandoned plans for a holiday because of a heavy work schedule.

During the summer holiday season some contractors decide to stay and work, because many other contractors do go on holidays and there are more opportunities for work. Some others just can’t afford gaps in income.

Those who decide to take some time off should do some planning and make an assessment before booking a holiday.

Unless your contract is really short – less than one month, you will rarely be required to work every day during a contract.

If you decide to go on holiday during a contract you should consider the following:

– You will not be paid for the days you take off so, you will have to consider your bank balance and your client’s needs. The best solution is to take some time off during the slow periods. It will be more suitable both for you and the client. This saves the client’s money and does not affect project deadlines and you will be able to relax and to catch up with the work after your holiday.

– Most likely you will be allowed to take no more than two weeks off at a time.

– As a contractor you are not limited to a certain number of days per year, because your time off is not paid by the client. Even though you can take as many days off as you want, be sure that the client agrees and that you don’t miss any of deadlines. Keep in mind that it could affect your chances of a good reference and any further work with that client.

– As to whether the client has to grant you the holiday, this will depend upon the contents of the contract.

If you decide to take some time off between contracts you can consider taking more than two weeks.

However, in such case you should consider time involved in finding a new contract job.

Depending on circumstances, every contractor will have to make decision to have some rest.

However we suggest considering taking some time off and recharging, it will help you be more productive for the rest of the year.