Only 5% of employers offer Marriage Leave to newlywed employees

While marriage leave is a perk which is offered across Europe, with Spanish couples receiving 15 additional leave days from the date of their wedding and French businesses offering four days off to couples who are tying the knot, it’s not a widely enjoyed perk here in the UK.

New research from the UK’s number one wedding planning app, Hitched reveals that only 5% of those surveyed were given additional leave to give them time to celebrate their weddings, or take a honeymoon, while 91% said this was not something their employers offered.

Additionally, the survey found that for the majority of respondents (82%), their annual leave allowance was used in a way that meant they could enjoy time off to celebrate their newlywed status. For almost 1-in-10, unpaid leave was their only option when it came to taking any additional leave outside of their annual allowance, while for a small few (6%), their employers allowed them to purchase additional leave days.

Other ways newlyweds were able to take additional time off without going over their annual allowance or finding themselves out of pocket included rolling over unused annual leave days, accruing time off in lieu from overtime, taking advantage of half term holidays, and in one case, even getting married while on maternity leave.

Kate Palmer, HR Advice and Consultancy Director at Peninsula tells Hitched.co.uk that the UK government doesn’t appear to have the addition of a marriage leave law on the agenda: “There is no such statutory concept of Wedding Leave or Marriage Leave in the UK, where time off work is given to staff members who are getting married. Arguably, this is because employees in the UK already benefit from more statutory annual leave when compared to other countries in Europe.

“Some UK employers also choose to provide staff with a contractual annual leave entitlement over and above the 5.6-week statutory holiday allowance. In addition to annual leave there are also family friendly leave entitlements in place, such as Maternity, Paternity and Shared Parental leave. Neonatal Care Leave and Carer’s Leave will also take effect at some point in 2024. It could be argued that having additional time off specifically to get married or go on honeymoon is not needed on top of existing leave entitlements.”

It’s not just Spain and France that offer marriage leave as a perk of employment, with civil servants in the Republic of Ireland given an extra five days of leave to get married, and employees in Malta enjoying an additional two days of leave. Further afield, China’s minimum paid marriage leave is three days, while in Vietnam, employees enjoy additional days off for their own weddings, and those of a parent, sibling or child of theirs as well.

Here in the UK, more than two thirds of respondents (67%) believe that marriage leave should be rolled out across the country like it is in other parts of the world.

Zoe Burke, host of the podcast What Not to do When Planning a Wedding and editor of Hitched.co.uk says: “Here at Hitched, we get what it’s like to plan a wedding – we’ve helped countless couples on their wedding journeys, and we know it can be challenging to juggle planning with your everyday life.

“Offering employees marriage leave to allow them to fully enjoy their milestone moment, without having to worry about having enough leave left for things such as holidays, childcare and other considerations, is a really nice way to make your employees feel appreciated and alleviate some of that planning stress.”

For a quarter of respondents (24%), there was some worry for employees who don’t plan to get married, and how any additional leave could be spent. The answer may very well be more flexible benefits packages for employees, as almost half of those surveyed (46%) said they would happily exchange one of their other current benefits for the opportunity to have more paid time off to celebrate their wedding.

Kate Palmer says employers who choose to introduce marriage leave should anticipate complaints from members of staff who won’t benefit from the additional benefits. “They will likely express concerns about any decision that means they will miss out on days off work, just because they are not getting married.

“This could have an impact on employee morale, retention rates and even, worst case, company reputation. An employer may be better off looking at increasing their flexibility around the taking of annual leave for all employees where there is good reason to do so. For example, this might include allowing an employee to take 3 weeks annual leave in one block to get married, or to visit family abroad, when the usual cap is two weeks. That way, it is something that will potentially benefit all employees.”

While the seemingly generous benefit of ‘unlimited holidays’ is a perk many employers are now offering their staff, Kate Palmer says participation is still fairly low in the UK. “The number of employers currently offering unlimited holidays in the UK appears to be very low. This could be because of the risk of employees abusing the system or the potential impact on productivity and, in turn, the performance of the business.”

“Offering ‘unlimited holiday’ to all employees means that everyone is treated the same and employees can then choose what to use their annual leave for, whether that be to get married, go on honeymoon, or just go on a holiday. This, however, might create more issues for an employer if a large number of employees take advantage of the scheme.”