Training

Paid time off to train: who gets it from 2026

Updated 6 October 2026

Your day one rights, in plain English. You are entitled to one request per year for a qualifying training course of up to a set number of hours, paid at your normal rate. The hours are pro rata for part time staff and shift workers. The training must be linked to your existing job, a role you could reasonably do at the same employer, or an apprenticeship you are doing. Your employer must have a written policy in place. If they refuse, they must give written reasons within 28 days, and you can challenge the refusal through grievance, Acas early conciliation, or, where the law allows, an employment tribunal claim for an unlawful deduction of wages or breach of statutory right.

Who is entitled to paid time off to train

You qualify for the right if you are an employee or a worker, including agency workers, and you have started your job. The right kicks in from day one of employment, there is no qualifying service period to wait out. It is limited to workplaces where the employer has 250 or more staff on the day the request is made, which is a higher headcount bar than other rights like written reasons for dismissal.

If you are on a zero hours contract, you are covered in principle, but your paid time off is calculated on a rolling reference period of twelve weeks so that it matches your actual pattern of work. If you are on a fixed term contract that ends before the training, the right still applies during the contract, but your employer can refuse on the basis of the imminent end of the contract.

Part time staff are not excluded. The hours are pro rated to your usual working time. If you work three days a week, you are entitled to a proportional slice of the full entitlement, calculated to the nearest hour rather than rounded down.

What training counts as qualifying training

Qualifying training is any course that relates to your current job, a role that you could reasonably do for the same employer without a big jump in pay or status, or an apprenticeship that you are already enrolled on. It can be a course you need for a regulated profession, like a legal practice course for a paralegal moving into a training contract, or a short CPD module that keeps your professional registration alive.

The training must be delivered by a learning provider that is on a public list published by the Department for Education, or by the apprenticeship training provider named on your apprenticeship agreement. Short courses run by private training firms that are not on the list do not count, even if your employer is happy to pay for them. Self directed study, reading a book, or sitting an unaccredited exam is not qualifying training for the purpose of this right.

The training does not have to lead to a qualification. The law sets a floor on quality, not on whether you walk away with a certificate.

How much paid time off you are entitled to

You are entitled to a minimum of a certain number of paid hours per year. For a full time worker, the entitlement sits at the equivalent of one full working day at your contracted hours, capped at a set maximum per year. For most people that works out as eight hours in a year, which is the figure the Department for Education is consulting on at the time of writing and which is the working assumption for the October 2026 implementation guidance.

The hours are paid at your normal hourly rate, including any regular commission or premium payments that make up part of your contractual pay. Overtime, tips, and one off bonuses are not included. If the training is on a day you would not normally work, you are still paid the same amount you would have earned on a normal working day.

If the course is longer than the statutory entitlement, your employer can either agree to top up the time as paid, agree to top up as unpaid, or refuse to release you beyond the statutory hours. They cannot dock your normal pay to claw back the cost of a course.

How to make a request for paid time off to train

You make a request in writing. Email is fine, so is a message in your HR system. State that you are making a request under the right to paid time off to train, name the course and the learning provider, give the dates and the total number of hours, and explain how the course meets the conditions in your employer policy. Send it to the person named in the policy, or to HR if the policy is silent.

You can only make one request in a twelve month period, measured from the date of the last request rather than the calendar year. If you withdraw a request because the dates no longer suit, that does not count. If your employer refuses the first request, you do not get a second bite within the same twelve months, unless they have changed their mind and invited a fresh request in writing.

Keep a copy of the request, the policy you relied on, and any replies. If you have to escalate, this is the paperwork that matters.

When your employer can refuse a request

The law lets your employer refuse on a closed list of grounds. They can refuse if the training is not qualifying, if it would not be relevant to your work, if your workplace has fewer than 250 employees on the day of the request, if the course clashes with a genuine business need that cannot be reorganised, or if the request falls outside the entitlement window. They cannot refuse because they do not like the look of the course, because they would rather you did something else, or because they have already spent their training budget on someone else.

Business need must be specific. A vague statement that the team is stretched is not enough on its own. Your employer should show that they have looked at whether the work could be reallocated, whether agency cover is possible, and whether the training could be taken on a different day in the same year. The policy will normally set out the evidence they will consider, and you are entitled to see how the decision was reached if you ask.

If your employer refuses on a ground that is not on the list, the refusal is unlawful.

What your employer must do in writing

Your employer must give you a decision in writing within 28 days of receiving the request, starting from the next working day. The decision must say whether the request is accepted or refused, give the reasons if refused, and identify the ground for refusal from the closed list. If they accept, the decision must set out the dates, the hours, and how the pay will be calculated.

If the policy is silent on timeframes, the statutory 28 days applies. If your employer does not respond at all within 28 days, the request is treated as refused on the last day, and you can move to the next step as if you had received a written refusal.

You are entitled to a copy of the policy on request, free of charge, and you can ask for it in a format you can read, including large print if that is what you need. Your employer can charge a reasonable fee for multiple copies within a short period, but not for the first copy.

If your request is refused: what you can do

Start with a written grievance. Set out the request, the refusal letter, and why you think the refusal is on a ground that is not allowed or is not supported by the evidence. Your employer should respond under their grievance procedure, and the response is your evidence if you go further. Raising a grievance does not pause any time limit for a tribunal claim, so do not sit on it.

You can go to Acas for early conciliation before a tribunal claim. Early conciliation extends the time limit for bringing a claim, so it is worth doing if the deadline is close. Acas will look at the policy, the request, the refusal, and the grievance response, and try to broker an outcome, which is often a rescheduled training date, a different course, or a payment for the time.

Where the right has been breached, the usual route is a claim for an unlawful deduction of wages, for the hours you would have worked during the training, or a claim for breach of statutory right if the refusal was on a ground that is not allowed. Compensation is capped at a set number of weeks of pay, and the time limit is two months minus one day from the refusal, extended for the period of Acas early conciliation.

Acas has a code of practice on time off for training that sets out how employers and employees should handle requests and refusals. Tribunals take the code into account when looking at the fairness of a refusal, so it is worth reading the version that applies at the date of your request.

What to do in the meantime

Read your employer policy, then put your request in writing with the dates, the course, the provider, and the hours. Keep the request, the policy, the refusal letter, and any grievance paperwork in one folder. If the deadline is close, start Acas early conciliation now to extend the time you have. If you are refused on a ground that is not on the list, or your employer does not respond within 28 days, raise a grievance in writing and get advice from your union or from a free advice centre before you decide whether to bring a claim.