Annual Leave Policy. The key things you need to know. Annual Leave Entitlements

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1 Annual Leave Policy The key things you need to know Annual Leave Entitlements: Employees have different amounts of annual leave entitlement based on their grade, length of service and start date New Employees: new employees will receive six months annual leave entitlement during their 6 month probation period Taking Annual Leave: You must obtain the agreement of your manager before taking annual leave Flexibility in Annual Leave: The Department offers flexibility in the use of your entitlement. In normal circumstances you can carry forward up to 10 days into the next leave year, bring forward up to 10 days from the next leave year, and ask to have some of your untaken leave paid. More than 10 days may be carried over in exceptional circumstances Changes to Annual Leave Entitlement as a Result of Working Pattern or Grade Change: If you change working pattern or grade during the annual leave year, your annual leave be calculated on a pro-rata basis Sickness absence: you will continue to accrue contractual annual leave while you are off sick providing you return to work at the end of your absence. You can apply to take annual leave during your period of sick leave Sickness during Annual Leave: you may be able to take your leave at another time if sickness seriously affects your annual leave Religious Observance: You may request holiday for religious festivals or spiritual observance days Converting Annual Leave into Working Hours The Working Time Directive must be adhered to For details of rest breaks during the working day, see Working Patterns Annual Leave Entitlements 1. All employees have a statutory entitlement to 28 days annual leave each year (pro-rata for part-time employees); this includes public and bank holidays. 2. Your entitlement to contractual annual leave is determined by your grade, length of service and start date and is shown in the tables below. Periods of employment that do not count towards your overall length of service will also not count when calculating your leave entitlement. Table 1 - Staff in post in DWP before 14/10/13 Length of Service service from other Entitlement Up to and E/SEO Pro-rata leave for part-time working Entitlements for parts of a year

2 qualifying roles if you are reinstated or reemployed Less than one year Over a year and less than More than D/HEO and above 23.5 days 26.5 days reduced hours, your holiday 26.5 days 26.5 days be calculated as a proportion of standard hours 31.5 days 31.5 days (36/37 London, 37 elsewhere) compared with your contracted hours only part of a year (for example if you leave the DWP) your be reduced proportionately Table 2 Staff in post in DWP on or after 14/10/13 Length of Service service from other qualifying roles if you are reinstated or reemployed Less than one year Over a year and less than 5 years Over 5 years and less than More than Entitlement Up to and D/HEO E/SEO and above Pro-rata leave for part-time working 23 days 26 days 30 days 26 days 30 days reduced hours, your holiday be calculated as a proportion of standard hours (36/37 London, 37 elsewhere) compared with your contracted hours Entitlements for parts of a year only part of a year (for example if you leave the DWP) your be reduced proportionately

3 *For staff working compressed hours, the number of days of annual leave entitlement remains the same; however entitlements will be expressed in hours, not in days. 3. One day from your annual leave allocation should be reserved for the Additional Office Closure Day 4. Your entitlement to Public and Privilege Leave is in addition to the above. For information on flexi-leave, please see Working Patterns. 5. If you leave the Department, your relate only to the proportion of the Annual Leave Year you have worked. Payment for any days already taken above the pro-rata be recovered from your final salary. Payment for any days not taken from your be made with your final salary. New Employees 6. On starting with the Department, new employees will receive six months annual leave entitlement during their 6 month probation period. 7. For full time probationers this will be 11.5 days for HEO and below and 12.5 days for SEO and above (pro-rata for part-time employees). 8. Probationers are entitled to public and privilege leave during their 6 months probation. 9. Once probation has been completed, employees will qualify for the reminder of their annual leave allocation. 10. If you want to take more leave than your allocation this may be permitted if it can be accommodated by business needs. Additional leave must be taken as unpaid leave. Taking Annual Leave 11. Your annual leave year begins on the first day of either the month in which your birthday falls, or the month when your employment commenced. Your Public and Privilege Leave year begins on the 1st January and finishes on the 31st December. 12. You must obtain the agreement of your manager before taking annual leave. You should therefore plan your leave as far ahead as possible and give your manager reasonable notice. You are encouraged to take your full leave allowance and to have at least one spell of two consecutive weeks leave in any twelve month period which may be taken in the summer months between June and September. Your manager will need to balance your request and those of other employees with the need to maintain service levels. Managers are encouraged to plan leave requests with their teams. In very exceptional circumstances you may be asked to attend work when you are on annual leave. Claims for expenses will be considered if any costs arise due to a recall from annual leave 13. You will also be given the opportunity to take annual leave at short notice, subject to the needs of the business, up to a maximum of 3 days per quarter.

4 14. Where all requests cannot be accommodated, managers will determine a fair solution, taking account of business needs, work commitments, office cover, leave already taken, previous applications and approvals. Flexibility in Annual Leave 15. The Department encourages all employees to use their full annual entitlement during the year. Employees are expected to take at least their statutory minimum amount of annual leave. However, the Department recognises that different people have different needs and preferences and offers you flexibility in the use of your entitlement: You may carry over up to 10 days leave into next year s entitlement (pro-rata for parttime employees) more than 10 days may be carried over only in exceptional circumstances. If you are unable to take all of your leave during your current leave year because of a long period of sickness absence, you may be able to carry forward any untaken leave into the next leave year You may anticipate up to 10 days leave from next year s entitlement (pro-rata for part-time employees) More than 10 days may be anticipated in exceptional circumstances You may request to be paid for untaken whole days of leave providing you have taken at least the statutory minimum amount of annual leave (currently 28 days). You cannot carry forward or be paid for statutory leave. 16. If the Department requests that you do not take your leave due to business requirements then in these exceptional circumstances you may be able to carry forward additional days. Changes to Annual Leave Entitlement as a Result of Working Pattern or Grade Change 17. If your working pattern or grade changes during the year, your leave entitlement may change. If so, it will be calculated on a proportionate basis for each part of your annual leave year. See the annual leave calculator for help with this calculation. Sickness absence 18. Entitlement to statutory annual leave is not affected by periods of sickness absence (paid or unpaid). 19. You will continue to accrue contractual annual leave while you are off sick, providing you return to work at the end of your sickness absence. 20. You can take annual leave while you are on sick leave by applying to your manager in the usual way. 21. The period of sickness absence will be treated as continuous during your annual leave for the purposes of calculating entitlement to sick pay, and for attendance management purposes.

5 Sickness during Annual Leave 22. If you become ill while on annual leave, either in this country or overseas, you can decide to have the days on which you are ill treated as sick leave provided the normal rules on reporting sickness are followed. Religious Observance 23. Priority will be given where possible to leave request for religious festivals or spiritual observance days. You are responsible for making your manager aware of these as far in advance as possible. Converting Annual Leave into working hours 24. In exceptional circumstances you may be able to convert up to 5 days annual leave into working time. This should not be used to address a routine or regularly occurring shortfall in your working hours.