Annual leave
The leave year normally runs from 1 April to 31 March but may vary to suit service needs. Annual leave entitlement varies dependant by grade, and length of service. The local scheme of conditions of service and the national conditions of service give further information.
In addition to annual leave, employees are entitled to eight public and Bank Holidays per year. The UK Government provides these.
Entitlement
For annual leave entitlements see the local scheme of conditions of service.
Notes
- we ensure fair and consistent treatment for all as per the statutory requirement
- all eight bank holidays are added to annual leave
- pro-rata calculations will apply for part-time employees
- starters and leavers are entitled to annual leave proportionate to the amount of service completed during the leave year
- we award five days additional leave at five years of continuous service. This is effective on a pro-rata basis from the date the employee achieves five years' service
For more details, read our annual leave and pro-rata Bank Holiday guidance.
All employees have a statutory entitlement to a minimum of 28 days (207.2 hours) leave. This includes annual leave entitlement and public and Bank Holidays. The amount is is pro-rata for part-time employees. This complies with Regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and UK statute. We will automatically implement any changes to public and Bank Holidays, as advised by the Government.
All employees are entitled to Bank Holidays. Employees who work part-time will have a pro-rata leave entitlement. This will be proportionate to the number of hours they are contracted to work.
If a Bank Holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the leave day will be the day designated as a Bank Holiday. For example, if 26 December is a Saturday, then Monday 28 December will be the Bank Holiday.
Employees who work on days designated as Bank Holidays may be entitled to enhanced payments for time worked. Please refer to the local scheme of conditions of service.
Annual leave entitlement can be complicated for:
- part-time employees, particularly where the work pattern includes different numbers of hours worked on different days
- full-time employees working, for example, compressed hours.
Business World calculates overall leave entitlements based on an individual's contractual hours. Managers will support employees to clarify their specific entitlement.
We may designate up to two days' (14.8 hours) annual leave in any leave year. Employees must take this annual leave from their allocated allowance. This is where we consider it is economically beneficial to do so. We usually designate this over the Christmas period although we may allocate it at a different time of year.
Purchasing additional annual leave
Employees can purchase up to five days (37 hours) additional annual leave. Part-time employees, or those on flexible working schemes, can purchase the equivalent weekly hours.
Employees must submit their request during April or May, through the employee portal. We provide reminders of how and when to do this.
We deduct the cost from an employee's salary over the remaining months of the financial year. Employees must follow standard procedures to book time off on annual leave.
Read guidance on purchasing additional annual leave.
Booking annual leave
The employee's manager must approve all annual leave dates in advance. Employees must give as much notice as possible of proposed annual leave dates. This will ensure adequate business coverage at all times.
As a general rule, employees may request two weeks' annual leave over the summer holiday. Managers will consider requests for extended periods of annual leave.
Managers will consider operational requirements when agreeing or refusing annual leave. Where several employees request the same time off, managers will discuss this with them. They will aim to balance the needs of the business and those of other employees.
Illness during annual leave
Where an employee falls sick or is injured while on annual leave, the employee may transfer to sick leave. They may take replacement annual at a later time. This policy is subject to the following strict conditions:
- employees must comply with the sickness absence reporting procedure. Employees must notify their manager of their incapacity, as soon as possible
- employees must provide a fit note for any period of illness exceeding seven days. They must provide an equivalent document if outside the UK
- in exceptional circumstances, an employee may submit a written request no later than ten days after returning to work. They should:
- set out how much of the annual leave period was affected by sickness
- the amount of leave they wish to take at another time
- enclose evidence and medical certificates
If the request meets these conditions, we will grant the same number of days' replacement annual leave as days lost due to sickness or injury.
An employee must take any replacement annual leave as per our normal holiday policy. They should take the replacement leave in the same leave year in which they accrued it. If this is not possible, we may allow the employee to carry that leave forward into the next leave year.
Carry over of leave
We encourage all employees to take their entitlement to leave in the current year. Where this is not possible, an employee may:
- carry over up to five days (37 hours) of their leave entitlement to the following year
- bring forward up to five days (37 hours) leave to the current year
The amount of carry over is pro-rata for part-time employees. It must be with prior agreement with their manager.
In cases of long-term sickness, maternity or adoption leave, employees continue to accrue annual leave. They may carry it over to the following year, to take on their return from absence.
Disability leave
Disability leave is to enable paid time away from work for pre-planned appointments or treatments. This should relate to an employee's disability and help maintain health and wellness. It is not intended for use when an employee is not well enough to attend work or to extend sick pay. Standard sickness absence would apply for this.
Disability leave is in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. It can cover a range of disability-related appointments, such as:
- treatment related to an employee's disability
- hearing aid tests
- training with an assistance dog
- counselling or therapeutic treatment
- physiotherapy
- assessment for conditions such as dyslexia
- dialysis treatment
- having equipment serviced or fitted
- blood tests for diabetes
- related complementary medicine practitioners appointments
- maintenance chemotherapy treatments and recovery time. This applies where the employee is well enough to attend work but is signed off for short periods to avoid infection.
This is not an exhaustive list. We will consider other requests on a case-by-case basis.
Employees can use disability leave where it is not appropriate to remain at work or be redeployed while we put reasonable adjustments in place. We will base this upon medical evidence. We will not take this time off into account when calculating numbers of days off absent.
Any employee who considers themselves disabled under the Equality Act 2010, and needs disability leave, can request it.
Managers may grant a reasonable amount of paid disability leave, dependent upon the specific requirements. It is not possible to give exact guidelines for the amount of disability leave an employee may need.
An individual's disabilities, their personal management strategies and circumstances will differ. We will consider individual coping and management strategies to determine the amount of leave needed.
Managers may seek guidance from Occupation Health regarding:
- disability leave
- possible reasonable adjustments
We will consult employees about any decision we make or advice we receive. Employees must advise and update the manager of their disability status.
Special leave
Managers may provide employees with paid or unpaid special or discretionary leave for family or personal reasons. This covers periods of absence from work which are not covered by any other policy. Entitlements to certain types of leave may be covered by statutory obligations, such as dependants Leave. Other forms of leave are discretionary and managers may grant this. They will consider requests sympathetically. They are subject to the demands of the service and individual circumstances.
Employees on a flexible working hours scheme may be able to use this to meet their needs. If this is not possible, up to ten working days (74 hours) paid special leave may be approved in any 12 months. This would be pro-rata for part-time employees and is at the manager's discretion.
In exceptional circumstances, managers may approve additional paid, or unpaid, leave. We will decide this on a case-by-case basis. We may consider special leave for personal or domestic situations, or bereavement leave.