Annual leave and general public holidays policy

1 Introduction

The trust recognises that annual leave is an important part of an employee’s work life balance. Equally, the good management of annual leave by the individual and their manager is essential to the health and safety of the employee and the trust. This policy and the procedures herein have been written in accordance with the Working Time Regulations (1988).

2 Purpose

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to outline the entitlement to annual leave for staff on agenda for change terms and conditions, and to provide information on how to manage the use of leave from an individual employee and managerial perspective.

For staff employed on non agenda for change terms and conditions of Service, the policy applies with the exception of the annual leave entitlement as this will be in accordance with their specific employment rights.

With respect to annual leave, the policy aims to ensure that all employees take adequate rest away from work while maintaining the needs of the service.

3 Scope

3.1 Annual Leave

This policy applies to all staff, irrespective of contract type, including full and part time staff with the exception of annual leave entitlement (Section 5.1.1) which only applies to staff employed on agenda for change terms and conditions of service.

In addition, agency workers, following a twelve week qualifying period, will be entitled to the trust’s contractual annual leave provision and will accrue annual leave for every calendar month completed, in line with the Agency Worker Regulations, 2011. This will be calculated and managed by the employment agency and will not require any involvement of the line manager.

Staff under medical and dental contracts should refer to their terms and conditions of employment for their annual leave and general public holiday entitlement.

4 Responsibilities, accountabilities and duties

4.1 Individual staff responsibilities

To be aware of this policy and associated procedures.
To request annual leave in line with trust policy and departmental procedures.
In the event of a dispute the employee should pursue the trust’s grievance procedure.
To manage their annual leave responsibly and should not commit themselves to any holiday plans until they have received approval from their line manager as employees should not assume that annual leave requests will be authorised. The trust accepts no liability for any holidays or commitments which an employee books prior to their annual leave request being reviewed and potentially declined.
Ensure that leave is spread out across the annual leave year so that an effective work life balance and the needs of the service are met. As a guide, employees should take approximately 40% of their annual leave entitlement by 31 August each year with approximately 35% being used between September to December, leaving 25% to be taken between January to March.
Communicate fully regarding the circumstances for the leave request.

Communicate appropriately during any period of authorised leave.
To monitor their own annual leave allocation and ensure it’s taken before the 31 March.

4.2 Line managers

The responsibility for authorising annual leave under this policy will rest with the line manager. It is the responsibility of the line manager to:

apply this policy fairly and consistently to all employees
ensure employees are made aware of the procedure for requesting annual leave within their own department and to ensure that each employee is aware of their own entitlement
all staff that do not use health roster must log their annual leave in ESR and move away from local processes in recording annual leave
all staff that use health roster should continue to record their annual leave in health roster , and a file will be transferred to ESR each month
ensure the scheduling or allocation and approval of annual leave is managed in a robust manner and does not jeopardise patient or client care
provide a departmental protocol on the taking of annual leave
keep accurate and up to date annual leave records for all employees in their department and to monitor the uptake of annual leave to ensure that employees are taking regular breaks away from work
undertake a quarterly review of the annual leave entitlement of bank employees as detailed in section 5.12 of this policy
line manager should undertake a quarterly review of outstanding annual leave for each employee to avoid the accumulation of untaken annual leave
however if the period of leave jeopardises the service or team the line manager will not authorise the period annual leave which has been requested. The rationale for declining the annual leave requested must be based on the departmental protocol or business continuity plans have been invoked
during periods where business continuity plans are implemented there will be a need to review annual leave requests and the leave which has already been approved, and together with the corporate heads of service, director, or deputy care group director consider whether discussions are required with employees to review annual leave commitments

4.3 Human resources

It is the responsibility of the human resource department:

to offer training to line managers on the practical implementation of this policy to monitor the consistent application of the policy by managers

The human resources department are accountable for updating this policy in line with good practice, changes in national terms and conditions and or employment legislation.

5 Procedure or implementation

5.1 Annual leave and general public or bank holidays

It is the policy of the trust for all employees to take their annual leave in separate periods throughout the year to ensure they derive the full benefit of rest, breaks away from work and to ensure patient care, staffing levels and work standards are maintained.

5.1.1 Annual leave and general public or bank holiday entitlement

Employees on agenda for change terms and conditions will receive the entitlement to annual leave and general public holidays, pro rata for part time staff, as set out below for length of service:

on appointment to the NHS, 27 days plus 8 days (202.5hrs plus 60hrs) annual leave and general public holidays
after five years’ service, 29 days plus 8 days (217.5hrs plus 60hrs) annual leave and general public holidays
after ten years’ service, 33 days plus 8 days (247.5hrs plus 60hrs) annual leave and general public holidays

Employees employed on non AFC terms and conditions of service will receive annual leave in accordance with their contract or policy documentation.

The above entitlements to annual leave are based on full time hours (37.5 hours per week). Part time staff will be granted annual leave entitlements on a pro rata basis of the fulltime allowance.

Full time hours are defined as 37.5 hours per week and part time hours are regarded as anything less than 37.5 hours. Part time employees should refer to appendix A for further information linked to their annual leave. The calculation of annual leave entitlements pertaining to all staff under agenda for change terms and conditions can also be undertaken on the annual leave calculator which can be found on the trust’s intranet (staff access only) (opens in new window).

Where staff work shifts other than 7.5 hours excluding meal breaks (such as full time hours worked over four days or a nine day fortnight) annual leave and general public holiday entitlements must be calculated on an hourly basis to prevent staff on these shifts receiving greater or less leave than employees working a 7.5 hour day.

Employees should take their full annual entitlement each year and managers should endeavour to ensure that the workloads do not prevent an employee from taking their entitlement to annual leave.

Employees should not assume that they will be allowed to carry over annual leave as this is only authorised in exceptional circumstances, for further guidance refer to section 5.18.

The 8 general public holidays are:

Good Friday
Easter Monday
May day
Spring bank holiday
Late summer bank holiday
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
New Year’s Day

It is recognised that in some annual leave years, there may not be 8 general public holidays or bank holidays in the twelve month period as sometimes Easter will fall in March and in effect there will be two Easter holidays in the twelve month period, meaning 10 general public holidays or general public holidays in a twelve month period, or occasionally Easter may be split across two annual leave years and lead to 9 general public holidays. The annual leave will be recalculated to ensure that the annual leave entitlement is reflective of the amount of general public holidays in each annual leave year. For example the employee has a base annual leave entitlement of 27 days and in one particular annual leave year there are two Easter periods, therefore their annual leave will be 27 days plus 10 general public holidays, pro rata for part time staff. When a general public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday and or Tuesday is usually designated as a general public holiday for leave purposes.

5.1.2 Working or on-call on a general public holiday or bank holiday

Employees required to work or to be on-call on a general public holiday are entitled to the same number of hours to be taken off in lieu at plain time rates, in addition to the appropriate payment for the duties undertaken.

5.1.3 Religious requests

Where an employee requests annual leave for the purposes of time off to attend a religious event other than those mentioned above, the manager should consider how they are best able to meet the request and, where necessary, seek further guidance from the People Experience team.

5.1.4 Entitlement on changing contracted hours

Where an employee changes their contracted hours, this will result in a re-calculation of their annual leave entitlement, based on completed months on the new and the old contracted hours to give the full year entitlement. Where employees change their contracted hours part way through a month they should not lose entitlement for the month in which their contracted hours change. These provisions apply to temporary changes to contracted hours as well as permanent. The calculation for that particular month will be based on the working hours for which they have worked the majority of the month.

For example, where an employee is contracted to 37.5 hours per week from April to June and reduces these to 22.5 hours on the 10 July, annual leave should be calculated on full time hours from April to June and part time hours will be calculated from July to March.

5.1.5 Entitlement when length of service changes mid-year

Where an employee’s continuous service changes to 5 years or 10 years and thus entitles them to additional annual leave, the new entitlement will become fully effective in the next leave year. In the interim of a new annual year commencing, annual leave should be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

For example, where an individual’s service changes from 4 to 5 years on 1 November, the annual leave calculation should be from 1 April to 31 October based on 4 years’ service and then calculated from 1 November to 31 March based on 5 years’ service.

Where the employee’s annual leave entitlement changes on any day apart from the first of the month the annual leave entitlement will be recalculated from the next full calendar month.

5.1.6 Employees on flexible working contracts

All employees employed on a flexible working contract are entitled to annual leave and general public holidays pro rata to the full time allowance. See appendix A.

5.1.7 Entitlement for employees with term time only contracts

As part of flexible working the trust encourages a range of flexible contracts, including term time working. The salary for this type of contract is based on the number of weeks actually worked, and will be paid in 12 equal payments.

Although payment is made for pro-rata annual leave and general public holidays, it is assumed to be allocated during the non-term time period; exceptions to this need to be agreed with the line manager. For further guidance please refer to appendix C.

5.1.8 Entitlement for employees with job share contracts

Annual leave and general public holidays will be calculated as per section 5.2 and 5.3 of this policy.

5.1.9 Entitlement for employees with bank or as and when contracts

Table 1 (Section 5.1.1) is based on an employee’s contracted hours being 7 and a half hours per day, excluding meal breaks and overtime. Normally for this group of employees annual leave is calculated in days. However, the manager and employee may agree to calculate leave entitlement in hours for convenience purposes.

Where an employee works standard shifts other than 7 and a half hours, excluding meal breaks and overtime, annual leave entitlements must be calculated on an hourly basis to prevent employees on those shifts receiving more or less leave than colleagues on standard shifts, as set out in appendix A. This also applies where no standard shifts and or irregular working arrangements apply.

Where an employee commences employment part way through a month, their annual leave entitlement will be calculated on a pro-rata basis for that month in question and then every full month that remains in the annual leave year

5.1.10 Calculating annual leave

For the purpose of calculating annual leave entitlement, an employee’s aggregated previous service with a national health service employer counts as reckonable service for all calculations towards entitlement to annual leave.

For example, where an employee has worked in the NHS for 5 years and exits the NHS, irrespective of the break in service, on returning to the NHS the employee will still have 5 years’ reckonable service and is thus entitled to 29 days’ annual leave (or pro rata if part time). The period the employee is not working for an NHS organisation does not count towards their service, just the previous period or periods of NHS service.

The pay services department will attempt to verify as much previous NHS service as possible by completing an electronic inter authority transfer (IAT) with the previous employer, via the electronic staff record (ESR) system. In circumstances where it is not possible for the trust to confirm all NHS service, final responsibility sits with the employee to provide satisfactory evidence of reckonable service if they wish for the service to be reflected in their annual leave entitlement.

This does not apply to bank workers as their annual leave is calculated in accordance with section 5.1.9.

5.1.11 Calculation of NHS service

The pay services department will attempt to verify as much previous NHS service as possible by completing an electronic inter agency transfer (IAT) with the previous employer, via the electronic staff record (ESR) system. In circumstances where it is not possible for the trust to confirm all NHS service, final responsibility sits with the employee to provide satisfactory evidence of reckonable service if they wish for the service to be reflected in their annual leave entitlement.

This does not apply to bank workers as their annual leave is calculated in accordance with section 5.1.9.

5.1.12 Authorising annual leave

For each new leave year the attached document (appendix B) may be utilised for requests and authorisation by the individual’s line manager. Teams and departments can agree, in consultation with their care group director, deputy care group director, or corporate head of service or head of service to utilise a different annual leave card, but a record must be maintained of the employee’s annual leave.

5.1.13 Sickness during annual leave or general public holidays or bank holidays

If an employee falls sick whilst on annual leave they should follow the appropriate notification procedure, in line with the sickness absence policy.

In accordance with agenda for change terms and conditions, employees will not be entitled to an additional day off if sick on a bank holiday that they would otherwise have been required to work as part of their basic week.

5.1.14 Long term sickness and annual leave

Where an employee has been unable to take annual leave due to long term sickness absence in the current financial year, consideration will be given to how much annual leave has already been taken and where an individual has utilised 20 statutory annual leave days (pro-rata for part time employees) or more, there will be no provision to carry over any other annual leave in to the following financial year. Where the employee has not taken their statutory annual leave entitlement this will be authorised as carry over to the next financial year and this may be in excess of the 5 days which are detailed in section 5.1.16.

General public holidays or bank holidays cannot be reclaimed, if off work due to sickness on these days as per agenda for change terms and conditions.

5.1.15 Support for staff taking extended periods of annual leave

The line manager should seek to ensure that the employee has regular planned annual leave or time out throughout the remainder of the annual leave year and the service can be covered for the extended period. The manager and the employee must ensure that the individual does not become ‘over tired’ whilst saving up their leave entitlement.

5.1.16 Carry-over of annual leave

Exceptionally, and with the agreement of the line manager, up to 5 days, 37.5 hours (pro-rata for part time employees) annual leave may be carried over to the following year. The manager should explore the reasons why annual leave entitlement has not been taken and agree measures (on an individual basis) to avoid the need for carryover of annual leave in the following year. Under the working time regulations employees must be encouraged to take their full annual leave entitlement

Where a carry-over request has been authorised employees must utilise their full annual leave entitlement plus their carry-over in the next annual leave year, as the line manager or appointing officer is not expected to authorise carry-over of leave for the same employee the following year.

5.1.17 Entitlement when leaving employment

Employees who leave employment will be entitled to their annual leave entitlement for each part worked and full month worked in the current year on a pro-rata basis. Line managers should support employees with taking any outstanding annual leave where service provisions allows, however if the employee is unable to take their outstanding annual leave, payment will be made in their final salary.

Where annual leave taken exceeds the entitlement an appropriate deduction will be made from final monies due to the employee.

5.1.18 Death during service

Where an employee dies in service, an allowance equivalent to the balance of the annual leave entitlement on the date of death will be paid to the employee’s estate. No deduction from the final salary payment will be made in respect of annual leave taken in excess of entitlement on the date of death.

5.1.19 Unpaid leave

There may be circumstances when it is appropriate for a manager to allow an individual to take unpaid leave, for example:

if an employee has just commenced employment, and has a pre-booked holiday for which they would not have enough annual leave entitlement in that annual leave year
to enable the employee to take an extended period of time away from work. Line managers and employees should consider whether a career break is more appropriate in line with agenda for change terms and conditions. Should employees wish to apply for a career break, reference and applications should be made under the flexible working policy and procedure

Employees must however, be advised that any periods of unpaid annual leave will not count towards their pension contributions. Any prolonged period of extended unpaid annual leave should therefore be requested and approved taking into account this fact.

Where unpaid leave has been granted, the line manager or appointing officer must notify pay services of the period of unpaid leave, both the start date and end date, so that this can be deducted in a timely manner from the employee’s salary.

6 Training implications

6.1 Managers

How often should this be undertaken: Once, then update of any policy changes.
Delivery method: On the job.
Training delivered by whom: Human resources advisors.

6.2 Human resources

How often should this be undertaken: On appointment and thereafter if needed.
Delivery method: On the job training mentoring.
Training delivered by whom: Team leaders or head of employee relations.

6.3 Staff side

How often should this be undertaken: Staff side representatives will be directed to the policy on revision or as new representatives are confirmed.
Delivery method: Awareness or briefing sessions on policy.
Training delivered by whom: Workforce and OD directorate.

7 Monitoring arrangements

7.1 Number of grievances submitted as a result of this policy and procedure and the data will be monitored in accordance with the protected characteristics’

How: Monitor the employee relations monitoring output sheets produced by HR.
Who by: Human resources advisors.
Reported to: Care group meetings.
Frequency: Once yearly.

8 Equality impact assessment screening

To access the equality impact assessment for this policy, please see the overarching equality impact assessment.

8.1 Privacy, dignity and respect

The NHS Constitution states that all patients should feel that their privacy and dignity are respected while they are in hospital. High Quality Care for All (2008), Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS, identifies the need to organise care around the individual, ‘not just clinically but in terms of dignity and respect’.

As a consequence the trust is required to articulate its intent to deliver care with privacy and dignity that treats all service users with respect. Therefore, all procedural documents will be considered, if relevant, to reflect the requirement to treat everyone with privacy, dignity and respect, (when appropriate this should also include how same sex accommodation is provided).

8.1.1 How this will be met

No issues have been identified in relation to this policy.

8.2 Mental Capacity Act 2005

Central to any aspect of care delivered to adults and young people aged 16 years or over will be the consideration of the individuals capacity to participate in the decision making process. Consequently, no intervention should be carried out without either the individual’s informed consent, or the powers included in a legal framework, or by order of the court.

Therefore, the trust is required to make sure that all staff working with individuals who use our service are familiar with the provisions within the Mental Capacity Act (2005). For this reason all procedural documents will be considered, if relevant to reflect the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) to ensure that the rights of individual are protected and they are supported to make their own decisions where possible and that any decisions made on their behalf when they lack capacity are made in their best interests and least restrictive of their rights and freedoms.

8.2.1 How this will be met

All individuals involved in the implementation of this policy should do so in accordance with the guiding principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (section 1).

10 References

Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions Handbook.
The Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.
The Employment Act 2002.
Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

11 Appendices

11.1 Appendix A Full and part time annual leave entitlement and general public holidays entitlement for complete years

Appendix A Full and part time annual leave entitlement and general public holidays entitlement for complete years

11.2 Appendix B Example annual leave record

Appendix B Example annual leave record

11.3 Appendix C Annual leave calculations for term time employees

Annual leave for term time employee is calculated as follows

Term time is defined as working during the school academic year, therefore mirroring the school holidays of state schools.

Number of hours worked per week times the number of weeks worked per year equals number of hours term time employee works on an annual basis.

If this number is identical to a number in the hours worked per annum on the annual leave ready reckoner then you can calculate the annual leave from the table.

11.3.1 Example

1721 hours worked per year, the employee has less than five years’ service, then the annual leave is 231 hours.

However if the number of hours they work is not identical to a number on the annual leave ready reckoner the following calculation is required.

262.5 hours times WTE equals annual leave entitlement

(annual leave for a full time employee with less than 5 years’ service)

The whole time equivalent is calculated as follows:

the number of hours the employee works on an annual basis equals WTE 1955 (hours of work for a full time employee)

11.4 Appendix D Purchase of additional leave or selling of annual leave

We recognise the benefits of flexible working practices within the trust to improve the working lives of the employees. Personalised annual leave will allow employees to ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ annual leave subject to minimum and maximum ceilings with a commensurate adjustment to their salary.

The trust reserves the right to refuse an employee’s application to buy or sell annual leave. It may be necessary to refuse an employee’s request for operational or technical reasons related to her or his job. Applications will not be unreasonably refused but the overriding consideration is the maintenance of safe and effective standards of service, within financial constraints.

There is no right of appeal via the trust’s grievance procedure or any other process against a decision not to approve the purchase of additional leave or the sale of annual leave.

11.4.1 Minimum and maximum ceilings

The minimum amount of annual leave to be taken by all employees is 28 days (5.6 weeks) per year (working time directive) including national bank holidays.

An employees’ week relates to the exact amount of contractual hours they work per week.

Employees will be able to ‘sell’ up to an equivalent of one of their weeks in hours (for example, employee working 20 hours per week can sell to a maximum of 20 hours) before the beginning of each holiday year.

Employees may purchase additional annual leave, and the maximum amount that can be purchased is 12 days or 90 hours (pro rata for part time employees).

Both the buying and selling of annual leave need to be requested and authorised prior to the start of the annual leave year.

11.4.2 Salary adjustments

When you ‘buy’ annual leave your salary is reduced by the additional number of hours purchased, this figure will be calculated on the employees’ individual salary.

When you ‘sell’ annual leave your salary is increased by the number of hours sold, this figure will be calculated on the employee’s individual salary.

All salary related benefits would be consequently affected. Salary enhancements will be paid as a non-pensionable supplement.

Please note employees should be aware of possible pension implications when purchasing additional annual leave. Employees are strongly encouraged to dully understand any pension implications prior to applying for the additional annual leave.

11.4.3 Principles of purchasing additional leave

All employees may choose to increase their leave entitlement by between a minimum of 2 days and a maximum of 12 days, for example, 90 hours based on normal contracted hours of work (pro rata for part time employees) within the leave year. If the additional leave is granted it will only be applicable for the forthcoming financial year and must be used within their allotted leave year. Any employees wishing to take 1 day additional leave should do so by taking unpaid leave, the value of which will be deducted from the following month’s salary from the month in which the unpaid leave was taken. The trust’s leave year runs from April to March.

The decision to approve additional leave rests with the Service Manager or equivalent as they are then able to review the requests across their service portfolio.

Managers must carefully consider all applications from employees to buy additional leave giving considered against the following criteria:

the potential impact on the provision of services to our patients
how the department or team will cover the service during the period of leave
the impact on colleagues within the department or team
any negative impact on training commitments (if applicable)

Applications for additional leave must not be authorised where additional costs will be incurred through covering the employee on leave. Managers will not be allowed to book bank or agency to cover the additional leave in addition managers will not be able to ask other team members to undertake overtime to cover the additional leave.

The employee’s reduced salary after purchasing the extra leave must not fall below the minimum wage or below the National Insurance lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions. Employees may have already reduced their salary by entering into a salary sacrifice scheme and therefore, the salary minus any salary sacrifice deductions and then minus the cost of purchasing additional annual leave must not reduce their salary below the minimum wage or below the National Insurance lower earnings limit.

11.4.4 Application process for buying additional annual leave

The application window for buying additional leave is open in January each year for the additional leave to be taken in the following leave year. Decisions regarding approval and the associated financial calculations will be made in March and approved leave applied in April for the leave year.

When applying for additional leave the employee should discuss with their line manager the additional leave and indicate the proposed dates they intend to take their leave throughout the leave year. This will help the manager plan the impact of the leave on the service as part of the leave planning process for the year. This process should not take into account the full leave entitlement (contractual leave plus additional leave) but should account for the majority of the leave allocation allowing an employee to keep some leave unallocated to account for any unforeseen situations that may arise.

An employee who wishes to buy extra leave entitlement must apply by completing the leave purchase form (appendix A1) and returning it to the service manager (or equivalent) for consideration. If the request is approved, a signed copy of the form will be sent to the Payroll department who will make salary calculations of the reductions to the employee’s pay. Where an application has been received and approved, the employee will be notified in writing by their line manager, which will include the financial cost (appendix A2). The employee will be given two weeks to confirm in writing that they wish to go ahead.

Unless there are good and sound reasons to the contrary, if the employee fails to return the signed confirmation (appendix A2) to their line manager within two weeks, the application for extra leave will be cancelled and will not be considered again until the following purchase of leave window opens.

The cost of the purchase of the additional leave will be applied by the payroll department and will be spread over the full leave year in 12 monthly equal payments. A copy of the form should be retained in the employee’s personnel file.

11.4.5 Important considerations for employees

Additional leave granted under this scheme must be taken within the 12 month period in respect of which the application was received. If, having bought additional leave, the employee fails to take all their annual leave during that period, any untaken leave will be lost. In these circumstances, no compensatory payment or salary adjustment will be made.

In exceptional circumstances, should the need arise for operational reasons an employee’s leave needs to be cancelled or rearranged the manager should take into account the circumstances of the employee. If, as a result of this the employee is unable to be take their leave entitlement, inclusive of any additional leave purchased before the end of the leave year the manager should notify a senior HR advisor immediately and considerations will be given for the potential carry over of annual leave with the approval of the director.

If an employee chooses to leave the trust part way through the financial year and has purchased additional leave the manager will record this on the termination form and where additional leave has been purchased but not taken the relevant amount deducted from salary will be repaid. Where additional leave has been purchased and taken the relevant amount will be deducted.

11.4.6 Selling of annual leave

The selling of annual leave is an arrangement between the employee and the trust whereby your annual leave entitlement can be reduced by up to a week a year. As taking annual leave is a health and safety issue, the trust prefers all employees to take their full entitlement as holiday. However, subject to taking their minimum statutory holiday entitlement (currently 28 days including public holidays for full time employees (pro rata for part time employees and joiners or leavers during the year)), employees may apply to sell a proportion of their annual leave entitlement during the leave year.

All applications will be considered in the light of the needs of the service and the budget available to pay for the leave. Line managers have discretion as to whether to grant the request.

The maximum amount of annual leave which an employee can sell (irrespective of their length of service) is 5 days (pro rata for part time employees).

11.4.7 Application process for selling annual leave

An employee who wishes to sell some of their annual leave entitlement must apply by completing the selling annual leave form (appendix A1) and returning it to the service manager (or equivalent) for consideration. If the request is approved, a signed copy of the form will be sent to the payroll department who will make salary calculations of the increase to the employee’s pay. Where an application has been received and approved, the employee will be notified in writing by their line manager, which will include the financial benefit (appendix A2). The employee will be given two weeks to confirm in writing that they wish to go ahead.

Unless there are good and sound reasons to the contrary, if the employee fails to return the signed confirmation (appendix A2) to their line manager within two weeks, the application for selling annual leave will be cancelled and will not be considered again until the following purchase of leave window opens.

The benefit associated with the sale of annual leave will be applied by the payroll department and will be spread over the full leave year in 12 monthly equal payments. A copy of the form should be retained in the employee’s personnel file.

Annual leave template can be downloaded here: Annual leave card template.

Document control

Version: 3.1.
Unique reference number: 233.
Date approved: 28 December 2023.
Approved by: Corporate policy approval group.
Name of originator or author: Head of people experience.
Name of responsible individual: Director of workforce and organisational development.
Date issued: 8 January 2024.
Review date: June 2025.
Target audience: All staff with the exception of annual leave entitlement which only applies to staff employed on agenda for change terms and conditions of employment.

Page last reviewed: May 14, 2024
Next review due: May 14, 2025

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