Employees can purchase up to their maximum weekly contracted hours in additional annual leave. This includes employees on flexible working schemes. Managers must agree when employees can take this leave.
Employees should request to purchase additional leave during April or May via the e-form in the employee portal. We will deduct the cost of the purchased annual leave from an employee's salary in ten monthly payments starting in June 2024.
For the 2024/25 leave year requests to purchase additional leave can be made from 2 April to 10 May 2024.
Employees must take additional annual leave purchased under this scheme within the leave year.
We will use the salary as at 1 April of the relevant annual leave year to calculate the cost of the additional leave.
If an employee purchases additional annual leave and then changes job roles or working hours within the council the payment amount will not change. They will pay at the original rate.
| Example salary | Contracted hours per week | Cost of one hour | Number of hours bought | Total cost | Monthly cost for 10 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | 37 | £12.99 | 37 | £480.77 | £48.08 |
| £17,000 | 22 | £8.84 | 6 | £53.01 | £5.30 |
The cost of one hour is calculated by (salary / 52 / number of contracted hours per week).
By completing and submitting the form employees are consenting to the applicable salary deduction.
If an employee leaves and owes money for additional annual leave, we will deduct this from their final salary. By submitting the request for additional leave form, the employee is giving their consent for this.
Any additional leave bought will be added to the leave adjustment part of the annual leave balance on Business World to give a total entitlement for the year. Purchased additional leave will be deemed to have been taken prior to any normal annual leave.
Should an employee leave the council part way through the leave year the manager must notify payroll via a leavers form of any remaining annual leave balance.
We provide the cost of purchasing annual leave through salary sacrifice. It is an agreement with employees to vary their salary and benefits package under their contract of employment. Employees agree to give up part of their contractual salary in return for benefits of an equivalent value.
Purchasing annual leave through salary sacrifice reduces basic salary. It means employees pay a lower amount of tax and National Insurance. For further details, visit the HMRC website.
Term-time staff
It may be difficult to accommodate the purchase of additional annual leave for employees on term-time contracts. Managers may exercise discretion in approving this.
School employees
School employees on NJC terms and conditions will need permission from their headteacher before purchasing any additional leave.
