Employees cannot get sick pay and holiday pay at the same time.

Taking holiday while off sick

An employee can take holiday (annual leave) while off sick. For example, if they: 

• are not physically able to work, but physically able to take a holiday
• have a mental health condition that might be helped by a holiday
• are off sick long term and a holiday might help with their recovery

It’s up to an employee to request holiday while off sick. An employer cannot force an employee to take holiday while off sick.

If the employer approves the employee’s holiday request:

• sick leave can be paused while the employee takes holiday
• the employee should get holiday pay while they are on holiday

After the employee has taken the holiday, sick leave can continue if they’re still not well enough to return to work.

If an employee is sick on holiday 

An employee must report their sickness to their employer if they want to take any holiday as sick leave.

In this case the employee can:

• get sick pay for the time they were sick (as long as they areentitled to sick pay)
• keep the time they were sick to use as holiday another time

More information from ACAS can be found here

More information from the government can be found here