Lydia Seymour and Elizabeth Grace secure holiday pay for Out-of-Hours GPs in Northern Ireland

Lydia Seymour and Elizabeth Grace have successfully argued that two Belfast doctors, Dr. Durkan and Dr. O’Neill, are entitled to holiday pay from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, following a long-standing dispute.

The case, which was a test case backed by the BMA and heard by the former President of the Northern Irish Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal, is likely to determine the terms of employment for a significant number of sessional Out-of-Hours GPs in the region.

The background to the case was that sessional Out-of-Hours GPs had originally been deemed self-employed by the Trust; however, in 2017 HMRC determined that they were employees. The Trust viewed them as workers, and acknowledged they were entitled to holiday pay as a result, but did not in fact pay the holiday pay, claiming it was a “rolled-up” arrangement and that the holiday pay was included in the doctors’ hourly rate. In addition to the fact that Rolled-up holiday pay remains unlawful in Northern Ireland, this would have meant that the doctors’ hourly rate remained unchanged but nonetheless now included holiday pay. The contract was, at best, ambiguous.

The Tribunal rejected the arguments put forward by the Trust that the doctors were not due holiday pay, and found for the claimants on the basis that, among other things, the contract drafted by the Trust “defies any logical or coherent construction”.

The Tribunal found that the Trust’s position was “inarguable” and “untenable”, and upheld the claimants’ claims for holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. The claimants will also be entitled to back pay for the relevant period, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew [2023] UKSC 33.

The decision can be read here.

Find out more

Lydia Seymour has a specialist pensions and employment law practice, including professional negligence claims in both areas. She has over twenty years’ experience of all aspects of employment and discrimination law. Latterly she has specialised in complex discrimination claims (including claims at the interface of pensions and employment law), whistleblowing and High Court bonus and restrictive covenant issues.

To find out more about Lydia, contact Matt Sale on +44 (0)20 7427 4910 or Andy Hunter on +44 (0)20 7427 4905 for a confidential discussion.

Elizabeth Grace is a leading junior in pensions and employment, and also has a growing commercial and private client practice. has a specialist employment practice and is listed as an ‘Up and Coming’ Junior in Chambers & Partner and a ‘Rising Star’ in the Legal 500. She represents both Claimants and Respondent and is adept at handling complex preliminary matters, as well as multi-day and multi-week trials and appellate work. She has a particular interest in claims involving discrimination and whistleblowing.

To find out more about Elizabeth, contact Nick Levett +44 (0)20 7427 4908 or Mark Gardner +44 (0)20 7427 4909 for a confidential discussion.

News 6 Jun, 2025