Annual Leave. Policy: HR51

Transcription

1 Annual Leave Policy: HR51 Policy Descriptor This Policy applies to all employees excluding Bank staff and Medical and Dental Staff, for whom separate provisions apply. This policy will ensure that the calculation and granting of annual leave and public holiday lieu time is carried out fairly and consistently in accordance with the entitlements and arrangements defined under Agenda for Change while ensuring the quality of care provided to patients and clients remains high. Do you need this document in a different format? Contact PALS or dpn-tr.pals@nhs.net If this document has been printed please note that it may not be the most up-to-date version. For current guidance please refer to the Trust Website. Document Control Policy Ref No & Title: HR51 Annual Leave Version: V8.1 amn October 2016 Replaces / dated: Previous policy dated March 2014 Author(s) Names / Job Title responsible / Ratifying committee: Director / Sponsor: Primary Readers: Additional Readers Date ratified: June 2016 Date issued: June 2016 & January 2017 Date for review: June 2018 Date archived: Jessica Hobbs, Workforce Business Partner Jessica.hobbs@nhs.net Local Partnership Forum Darran Armitage, Interim Director of Workforce & Organisational Development All Staff

2 Contents 1. Introduction Purpose Definitions Duties Entitlements for Complete Years Calculation of Reckonable Service Reappointment of previous NHS employees Entitlement on joining Entitlement on Changing Contract Hours/moving posts within the Trust General/Public Bank Holidays Requesting Annual Leave Carry Over of Leave Sickness during annual leave or public bank holiday Working in secondary employment whilst on Annual Leave Entitlement on Leaving Time off for Religious Holidays Late return from Annual Leave Term time only and Annualised Hours Monitoring References... 9 Appendix 1 - Annual Leave Entitlement For Complete Years Exclusive of Bank Holidays Appendix 2 - Basic Annual Leave Calculations for Inpatient Units

3 1. Introduction 1.1. The Trust realises that the ability to spend time away from the workplace is an important component of work-life balance and helps reduce stress. The Trust aims to ensure that employees are given the opportunity to take the leave they are entitled to and managers should endeavour to ensure that the work load does not prevent this, taking into account the service needs of the Trust. Equally employees have a responsibility to ensure that they take ownership of the management of their own annual leave 1.2. This policy has been written in partnership by management and staff side 2. Purpose 2.1. This policy will ensure that the calculation and granting of annual leave and public holiday entitlement is carried out fairly and consistently in accordance with the entitlements and arrangements defined under Agenda for Change while ensuring the quality of care provided to patients and clients remains high This Policy applies to all employees excluding Bank staff and Medical and Dental Staff, for whom separate provisions apply. 3. Definitions 3.1. The annual leave year for all employees runs from the 1 April to 31 March Part-time staff will receive annual leave and public holiday entitlement pro rata to full time hours. 4. Duties 4.1. Managers To record, authorise and monitor annual leave including updating ESR and the electronic roster if using these systems. To describe at local induction the ward or departmental arrangements for annual leave, including what is considered to be a reasonable number of employees on leave at any one time. To prepare a leave card for all employees using the calculation information outlined in this policy, ensuring that any verified reckonable service is included. To review employees outstanding leave on a 3 monthly basis to ensure that annual leave is taken appropriately avoiding large amounts of leave being requested at the end of the annual leave year. The Ward Manager or delegated person to ensure that when rosters are being planned they have the appropriate level of annual leave on a monthly basis. To calculate an employees outstanding/overtaken annual leave entitlement on leaving the Trust and ensure this is either taken prior to leaving, or payroll are notified of any overtaken annual leave Employees If applicable to check that the annual leave card is accurate, including that any previous evidenced NHS service has been taken into account. 3

4 To submit leave requests to their line manager giving an appropriate amount of notice. Where possible this should be at least 4 weeks, but not more than 12 months in advance. It is expected that annual leave will normally be taken in periods of not less than ½ day. To request annual leave through ESR and the electronic health roster if using these systems and ensure it is correctly recorded. To understand and accept that some annual leave requests may not be agreed because of service requirements, which may affect a managers ability to arrange cover. Not to book or pay for a holiday without first obtaining annual leave approval. To hand over any outstanding work which may need to be dealt with during annual leave to an appropriate colleague or line manager. To ensure that annual leave is evenly distributed throughout the leave year. Not to undertake any work in excess of section 14 within this policy. 5. Entitlements for Complete Years 5.1. The basic annual leave provisions under AfC are contained in Table 1 below Annual Leave Entitlement (Whole time equivalent) (Table 1) Length of service Annual leave + General Public Holidays Equivalent Time expressed in hours On appointment 27 days + 8 days hrs + 60 hrs After 5 years service 29 days + 8 days hrs + 60 hrs After 10 years service 33 days + 8 days hrs + 60 hrs 5.3. Annual leave entitlement is determined in hours not days for all employees, regardless of whether the employee is full time or part time. This provides equity for all employees by ensuring that staff who work variable hours/shifts do not receive either more or less leave than colleagues who work a standard shift pattern The calculation of annual leave entitlements is contained within Table 1 of Appendix 1. Hours have been rounded up or down to the nearest 0.5 decimal point (i.e. the nearest ½ hour) In addition to an annual leave entitlement, full time employees are also entitled to 8 paid Public/Bank Holidays. Part time staff receive this entitlement on a pro rata basis based on their contracted hours worked. This provides a fair and equitable approach. Table 3 contains the Bank Holiday entitlement for all staff per Bank Holiday and for a full leave year. Please see section 10 for more information Staff required to work or to be on-call on a general public/bank holiday are entitled to equivalent time off in lieu at plain time rates in addition to the appropriate payment for the duties undertaken To calculate an employee s total leave entitlement inclusive of annual leave and general public/bank holiday entitlements, Tables 1 and 2 should be added together. They are shown separately so that the composition of an employee s full entitlement is clear. 4

5 5.8. It is expected that annual leave will normally be taken in periods of no less than ½ day. Exceptions may apply for employees that are either leaving the trust, or at the end of the leave year find they have less than half a day s leave owed to them. In these situations employees will be entitled to take the hours owed in agreement with their Line Manager. 6. Calculation of Reckonable Service 6.1. An employee s previous service with a NHS employer counts as reckonable service when calculating annual leave, subject to the provisions of the Agenda for Change Staff Handbook. Employers have the discretion to take into account any period or periods of employment with employees outside the NHS where these are judged to be relevant to NHS employment. Please see Appendix 3 for further clarification or seek advice from the HR connect team. 7. Reappointment of previous NHS employees 7.1. On returning to NHS employment, previous NHS service, excluding periods of bank or agency work will count towards the employee s entitlement to annual leave In order to have previous service, as detailed above, regarded as reckonable service, staff will need to provide formal documentary evidence of any relevant reckonable service they wish to claim Only full complete calendar months will be counted as reckonable service For further clarification please see Appendix 3 8. Entitlement on joining 8.1. All new members of staff will be entitled to annual leave plus general Public/Bank Holidays in the year of joining the Trust, on a pro-rata basis Entitlement in the first year will be calculated based on the number of complete days worked after the date of joining and before the end of the annual leave year Annual leave and general public holiday entitlement accrues during the course of the relevant year. To enable leave to be taken, reflecting the needs of the employee, the full year s entitlement (on a pro rata basis) will be available to them from joining the Trust. 9. Entitlement on Changing Contract Hours/moving posts within the Trust 9.1. Annual leave will need to be re-calculated where staff increase or decrease their contractual hours. This calculation will be based on the number of complete days worked in the old contract from the beginning of the leave year, and the number of complete days worked after and including the date of commencing the new contract and before the end of the annual leave year Staff that move employment within the Trust partway through the annual leave will be expected to use any accrued annual leave before commencing in their new role. Staff will be responsible for informing their new line manager of any annual leave commitments that had already been approved by the previous line manager on appointment and prior to commencing the new role. 10. General/Public Bank Holidays A General Public/Bank Holiday shall be defined as a period of normal duty that starts within the period of 24 hours from midnight to midnight. 5

6 10.2. Employees will be entitled to all paid Public/Bank Holidays that fall in the leave Year. All part time staff are entitled to the Public/Bank Holidays pro rata to the full time allowance The 8 Bank Holidays that normally fall in the year are: Christmas Day Boxing Day New Year s Day Good Friday Easter Monday May Day Spring Bank Holiday August Bank Holiday Table 2 identifies the actual hours entitlement pro rata per Public/Bank holiday and for the total leave year. The total leave entitlement is calculated by adding the employee s annual leave entitlement per Table 1 to the Public/Bank Holiday hours entitlement in Table On each and every occasion an employee takes paid time off on a Public/Bank Holiday as part of their basic week, the appropriate deduction of their normal basic working hours for that day will be made from their overall entitlement (i.e. Tables 1+2 combined). Where operationally possible and subject to mutual agreement, an employee may change their days of working during a Bank Holiday week and therefore retain their leave entitlement in respect of the Bank Holiday. This can then be taken as time off at another time There will be some years when there will be more (or less) than 8 Public/Bank Holidays within a leave year simply because Public/Bank Holidays follow the calendar year and the Easter Bank Holidays can be in March or April. When this situation arises the appropriate hours adjustment i.e. plus or minus, will need to be made using the final column of Table Requesting Annual Leave Staff are responsible for keeping an accurate record of their annual leave in line with local recording procedures (ESR, Roster system). Requests for annual leave must be made to line managers using the annual leave card or ESR self service as soon as possible and within a reasonable timescale of the leave being requested. Very late requests for annual leave (made less than four weeks before date being requested) will be accepted at managers discretion and dependant on the needs of the service. A manager may refuse the worker permission to take leave requested. To do so, they must notify the worker within the period equivalent to the period of leave this is in accordance with Work Time Regulations The outcome of the request is recorded by the line manager and the annual leave card or electronic recording system (ESR/Roster system) is updated accordingly If a period of annual leave is not authorised by the manager using this procedure and the staff member does not arrive for work when expected this may constitute an unauthorised absence which may result in disciplinary action being taken It is an employee and managers responsibility to ensure that holidays are evenly distributed throughout the year. It is recommended that leave is to be proportioned throughout the year, for example 25% of leave entitlement to be taken per 3 months. This supports healthy working by ensuring staff have regular breaks from the workplace, and that leave is pre-planned so sufficient arrangements can be made to ensure that sufficient staffing is in place to meet service needs in the most cost effective way The needs of the service, quality and safety are paramount, and this needs to be the top priority when considering all leave requests, especially at peak times A manager of a unit/service or team can request the booking of annual leave in advance of the following leave year, for example a manager of an inpatient unit can request that staff submit 75% of 12 months leave requests prior to the start of the following year. This may be 6

7 required in some clinical areas to ensure service continuity, reduce the need for agency usage, and reduce the risk to people whose our services. This also ensures equity and fairness is applied to requests and ensures appropriate rest periods are being taken by staff. An example calculation for inpatient services can be found at Appendix In the event that an individual has a level of unbooked annual leave in excess of 50% of their overall entitlement on the 6 th month anniversary of their annual leave year the Trust reserves the right to allocate that individual s annual leave. In these circumstances the individual will be notified in advance of this being allocated Requests for annual leave cannot be made more than 12 months in advance of requested annual leave dates unless it is required by the service (see section 11.7) Once approval for annual leave has been granted it will not be withdrawn, however the Trust may ask staff to return to duties, at short notice if operational exigencies warrant it. In these exceptional circumstances, this leave will be returned to the individual for use at a future date. The employee will therefore be paid at the appropriate flat rate and overtime does not apply Authorised annual leave is expected to be covered within the appropriate departmental budget. Managers are expected to maximise the use of their existing workforce to cover for the absence of employees due to annual leave and only use overtime/nhsp/agency where they consider it viable within their current budget projections Staff do not have an automatic right to cancel annual leave leading up to the intended leave dates. However, all requests for cancellation of annual leave will be considered on an individual basis and where possible accommodated. 12. Carry Over of Leave The Trust expects that within the annual leave year staff should be provided with the opportunity to take all their annual leave. If this is not possible, up to one week of basic contracted hours may be carried over to the following year, subject to the Manager s agreement. There is no statutory right Where staff have exceptionally been prevented from taking their leave due to service demands, then again, the amount carried forward will be expressed in contracted hours and this should not normally exceed one week of basic contracted hours Staff will be unable to carry any annual leave over to the following leave year where there is evidence that they have been reasonably asked to book their annual leave as outlined in section 11.4, but they have failed to do so. 13. Sickness during annual leave or public bank holiday If an employee falls sick whilst on annual leave, and wishes to treat this period as sick leave then the employee must notify their line manager on their first day of sickness absence and request the period to be recorded as sickness. The employee must provide a doctor s sick certificate as confirmation of the sickness period, to enable the leave period to be treated as sick leave. The employee will then be able to take the annual leave at another time Employees will not be entitled to an additional day s leave, if they fall sick on a Bank Holiday which they would have otherwise worked as part of their basic week Employees who wish to either take previously agreed annual leave or book annual leave whilst absent are required to agree this with their line manager. Employees cannot be on annual leave and sickness absence at the same time. 7

8 13.4. If an employee on long term sickness has not had the opportunity to take their annual leave in the current leave year due to sickness, they will be entitled to any untaken statutory annual leave in line with legislation. Under the Working Time Directive 1998 this amends to 28 days leave per annum (this includes public and annual leave) and is pro-rata for parttime staff If an employee s employment ends before having the opportunity to take their annual leave due to sickness, the employee will be entitled to receive pay in lieu of this annual leave at their normal rate of pay. This will be limited to a period of 15 months entitlement of annual leave 14. Working in secondary employment whilst on Annual Leave Annual leave is an important component of maintaining a good work life balance and helps relieve stress. It is also a legislative requirement under the Working Time Directive The minimum statutory entitlement to annual leave is 5.2 weeks (27.5 days) pro rata for part time staff. The Trusts contractual annual leave entitlement is in excess of this. Staff are therefore permitted to work for other organisations, for example on NHSP for up to 52.5 hours (7 days) during their annual leave. This should be pro rata for part time staff Secondary employment must be declared in line with the Trusts HR12 Standards of Business Conduct Policy. Failure to meet with the requirement of the policies may be considered a disciplinary offence. 15. Entitlement on Leaving Staff who leave the Trust part way through an annual leave year will receive a pro rata entitlement for each complete day worked in the current leave year. A deduction from final salary will be made if a member of staff has exceeded their leave entitlement. Any outstanding leave entitlement will normally be required to be taken during the notice period. If at the effective date of termination there is still annual leave owing to the employee, they will be paid accordingly in respect of those hours. This principle will also apply to public holiday hours taken in excess for the pro rata entitlement at the time of leaving The Trust reserves the right to recover accrued annual leave pay from employees who are dismissed for theft or fraud involving either patients or the NHS or who leave the Trust without giving due notice If an employee s employment ends before having the opportunity to take their annual leave due to sickness, the employee will be entitled to receive pay in lieu of this annual leave at their normal rate of pay. This will be limited to a period of 15 months entitlement of annual leave. 16. Time off for Religious Holidays Wherever possible employees wishing to take time off for religious activities should book these times as per the normal annual leave process In circumstances where the date of a religious event is only confirmed with short notice, special consideration will be given to the member of staffs application. In this instance, an option for the employee may be to book additional annual leave to cover this with the ability to cancel once a firm date is known Employees with long-term religious commitments should consider making an application under the Flexible Working Arrangements Policy. 8

9 17. Late return from Annual Leave If, for reasons beyond their control (e.g. a cancelled flight), employees know that they will be late returning from annual leave, they must contact their line manager and notify them of their late return as soon as possible. Any additional days taken in these circumstances would be unpaid or taken as additional annual leave on management approval Where prior notification is not received, this leave will normally be unpaid and the employee may be liable to disciplinary action under the Trust s Disciplinary Policy. 18. Term time only and Annualised Hours Annual leave and Public/Bank Holidays for employees on Term Time and Annualised Hours contracts will be pro rata to the full time entitlement and will be calculated based on the number of hours worked per year proportionate to the basic entitlement Employees on Term Time contracts will receive a pro rata entitlement to annual leave and Public/Bank Holidays which will be calculated as a payment and incorporated into their salary. This means they have no leave to take outside of school holidays Employees on Annualised Hours contracts will receive a pro rata amount for annual leave and Public/Bank Holidays which will be calculated and deducted from the year's total to be worked and paid as annual leave Staff on term time only contracts are not able to take annual leave during term time. They may request unpaid leave in exceptional circumstances. 19. Monitoring Minimum Requirement Local induction checklists include that the manager discuss & agree annual leave entitlement and procedure for requests. Ward Managers ensure that when rosters are planned they include the appropriate levels of annual leave Issues arising from compliance with or confusion from this policy may be raised via general questions to the HR Connect, this may prompt a review of the policy. Reviews of Agency and Bank expenditure Evidenced By Local Induction completion E-Roster, Dashboards Discussions at Workforce Operation Meetings NHSP reports, Temporary Staffing Meetings. 20. References NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook available at ACAS Annual Holiday entitlement available at NHS Employers Accrual of statutory annual leave and sickness available at alofstatutoryannualleaveonlongtermsickleave.aspx 21. Acknowledgements Temporary Staffing Committee 9

10 Signed on Behalf of Devon Partnership NHS Trust Signed on Behalf of Staff Side Date for Review June

11 Appendix 1 - Annual Leave Entitlement For Complete Years Exclusive of Bank Holidays Table 1 AGENDA FOR CHANGE: ANNUAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENT FOR COMPLETE YEARS EXCLUSIVE OF BANK HOLIDAYS: AFTER 5 YEARS AFTER 10 YEARS WEEKLY BASIC ON APPOINTMENT SERVICE SERVICE CONTRACTED HOURS 27 DAYS 29 DAYS 33 DAYS HOURS EQUIVALENT:

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14 Formula is Weekly Contracted Hrs X No. of Days Entitlement 5 14

15 Table 2 AGENDA FOR CHANGE: CALCULATION OF BANK HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT: WEEKLY BASIC CONTRACTED HOURS HOURLY ENTITLEMENT FOR FULL LEAVE YEAR HOURLY ENTITLEMENT ON EACH BANK HOLIDAY AS IT OCCURS (8 BANK HOLIDAYS)

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17 Table 2 Continued WEEKLY BASIC CONTRACTED HOURS HOURLY ENTITLEMENT FOR FULL LEAVE YEAR HOURLY ENTITLEMENT ON EACH BANK HOLIDAY AS IT OCCURS (8 BANK HOLIDAYS)

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19 Appendix 2 - Basic Annual Leave Calculations for Inpatient Units For wards with a large proportion of long service staff over 10 years: WTE x hours = Hours per week to be taken (average) For wards with a large proportion of mid service staff 5 to 10 years: WTE x hours = Hours per week to be taken (average) For wards with a large proportion of short service staff 1 to 5 years: WTE x hours = Hours per week to be taken (average) The amount of annual leave should be viewed in hours rather by number of staff: Example 1) 2 RMNs & 2 Nursing Assistants per week is a basic rule, but if the staff are part time then they may only work hours between them, leaving an unused 37.5 hours remaining for that week. This will leave an excess of leave that has to be taken at a later date. Example 2) 2 RMNs take 37.5 hours each, 1 RMN takes 22.5 hours, 1 Nursing Assistant takes 37.5 Hours and the remaining 15 hours are taken by a further NA. This equates to 150 hours taken for the week. The averages between bands may fluctuate from week to week. The key factor is flexibility based upon pre-planned annual leave in advance with the ability to cope with short notice requests. This has to be taken into consideration with off site training and maternity/long term sickness. 19

20 Appendix 3 Agenda for Change - Reckonable Service Guidance Continuous previous service with an NHS employer counts as reckonable service in respect of NHS agreements on redundancy, maternity, annual leave and sick pay. With effect from 1st October 2004, where someone has left NHS employment and then returned, previous NHS service will be counted for the purpose of accruing annual leave, irrespective of the length of any break in service. Under the National Agreement, employers can take account of employment with employers outside the NHS where it is judged to be relevant. As an integrated health and social care organisation the Devon Partnership Trust has chosen to take account of local government service in social services only for the purposes of accruing an entitlement to additional annual leave based on length of service. This applies whether or not service is continuous. Employees wishing to benefit from additional leave are required to provide evidence of this service to their line manager in line with the process outlined below. In addition, we have chosen to take account of local government service in social services only also for the purposes of accruing entitlement to occupational sick pay based on length of service. If a break in NHS or social services service is less than 12 months then previous NHS service will be counted towards the entitlement to occupational sick pay. 1. How NHS service should be verified 1.1 All service must be verified within 9 months of joining the Trust. Methods of verifying service are set out below. 1.2 It is the responsibility of the member of staff and not the Trust to get evidence of their service so that their service can be recognised. Unverified service will not be counted as reckonable service. Leave will not be backdated beyond the existing leave year. 1.3 The Trust will accept the following methods as verification/validation of previous service. Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) completed through payroll Employment contracts and pay slips that evidence the duration of the employment contract. Pension or superannuation records P60 s P45 if combined with payslips that evidence the duration of the employment contract References from previous organisation and completed by staff with an appropriate level of management accountability for the post holder. 1.4 New starters joining directly from another NHS Trust will normally have their most recent NHS service verified via an Inter Authority Transfers. This can only occur if they have provided the relevant information with their new starter appointment form. 1.5 If an IAT cannot be completed the new starter will be required to evidence their service by providing documents outlined above to their line manager. 2. Process to get reckonable service updated on ESR 2.1 Staff will need to provide evidence of all their previous NHS or other eligible service to their new line manager within 9 months of joining the Trust in order for it to be included as reckonable service. 20

21 2.2 Line managers are responsible for checking the agreed original documentation and assuring themselves of the authenticity of the documentation, and that there are sufficient documents to evidence the service. (see examples below) 2.3 The line manager must photocopy/scan the documentation and retain it on the employees personal file. 2.4 The line manager should then calculate the amount of full years and months service that is evidenced and this, along with scanned evidence to ESR Support Team 2.5 The ESR support team will then update ESR with the evidenced reckonable service date which will adjust the annual leave entitlement. Examples of what is sufficient paperwork to evidence service: Example 1 Employee A worked for a NHS Trust between October 2005 and January They then had a break in service from January 2011 until now when they are returning to NHS employment. Employee A has provided the following documents: A contract of employment dated 1 October 2005 Is this sufficient? The contract is not sufficient evidence on its own as it only evidences when they started the employment. It does not evidence that they were continually employed until January The employee should be asked to provide additional documentation, for example a payslip for each year of their employment. A payslip showing that they were still employed in January Employee A then provides the following documents: A contract of employment dated 1 October 2005 A payslip for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and December 2011 Is this sufficient? Yes this is sufficient in evidencing that they have 5 years and 2 months service that can be classed as reckonable service for the purposes of annual leave only. 21

22 Example 2 Employee B worked for a NHS Trust between December 2007 and January They then worked for a different NHS Trust between February 2013 and June Since June 2015 they have been working in the private sector. Employee B has provided the following documents: A contract of employment with a start date for December 2007 and a P60 for that period of employment. A contract of employment with a start date of January 2013 and the contact details of their previous manager and payroll department. Is this sufficient? Partly - it is sufficient for their employment for December 2007 January Additional information would be needed for their second NHS employment from January 2013 June This could be collated by the manager by contacting the previous payroll or manager. Alternatively, the employee could provide a number of payslips or one of the other documents outlined above. 22