When does the annual leave year start and finish?
- The annual leave year starts on 1 April and ends on 31 March every year.
A member of staff has handed in their notice. How does a line manager calculate the member of staffs annual leave entitlement?
- A line manager must give anyone leaving the organisation 1/12th of their annual leave entitlement for each complete month worked in that year.
- The line manager will need to deduct any annual leave the employee has already taken from that.
- The line manager will need to include this information on the employee's termination form which is sent electronically to the Payroll department who will then ensure that the individual receives payment for that outstanding leave.
- However, if the employee had taken more leave than their entitlement by the time they left, the Payroll department would have to deduct this from their final salary.
- If that is not possible, Payroll will recover this directly from the employee themselves in line with the Trust's overpayments procedure.
A member of staff who has been with the Trust for 6 months says that they are entitled to extra holidays because they worked for 5 years for another NHS organisation. Is that right?
- Yes, as annual leave is calculated based on aggregated service.
- If a member of staff has worked for another NHS employer, then that period of time is counted into their overall annual leave entitlement (29 days for 5 years NHS service or more, 33 days for 10 years NHS service or more).
- That means that this member of staff, assuming they work full time, is entitled to 29 days annual leave (instead of 27) and 8 bank holidays.
- This applies, whether or not they have had a break in service at any time during their employment, and irrespective of the length of the break.
- They would, however, need to provide documentary evidence such as a staff transfer form, employment contract, pay slips, pension record, P60, P45.
Annual leave entitlement is rounded up to the nearest half an hour, so if contracted to work an odd number of hours/minutes per week, how should annual leave be calculated?
- Yes it is true that your entitlement should be rounded up to the nearest half an hour, but this does not apply to your contracted hours therefore if your contracted hours are eg. 14.88 per week and due to your length of service you would be entitled to 27 days annual leave (if you worked full time and on a standard 7.5 hour shift) the calculation would be as follows:
- 14.88 divided by 5, multiplied by 27 = 80.35, rounded up will be 80.5 hours
- This method also applies for public holiday entitlement calculations.
Annual Leave: How does a line manager work out a part time employee’s annual leave entitlement?
- The law says that part time employees should be treated the same way as other employees, and that applies to their holiday entitlement as much as anything else.
- That means that if an employee works half time, they are entitled to half the full time annual leave entitlement.
- If the final figure is uneven (e.g 4.75 hours), then the line manager should round it up to the nearest half hour (i.e. 5 hours in this case).
Annual Leave: What is the holiday entitlement of full time members of staff?
- Employees working full time get 27 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays when they first start with the organisation.
- Employees with 5 years NHS service get 29 days holiday and 8 bank holidays.
- Employees with 10 years NHS service get 33 days and 8 bank holidays.
Even if none of my shifts fall on a public holiday should I still receive a public holiday entitlement?
- Yes, all employees should receive a public holiday entitlement. In the situation where an employee works on Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Thursday there could be a year where a shift will never fall on a public holiday. This employee would still receive an entitlement based on their weekly contracted hours which should then be used as annual leave.
How does a manager work out a part time employee’s bank holiday entitlement?
- The law states that part time employees should be treated the same as other employees. Bank Holidays should be pro-rated to their proportion of hours they work per week e.g. if a part time employee works 18.75 hours per week (0.5 wte) they will be entitled to 4 bank holiday days each year.
- This may mean they need to add or subtract days from their total annual leave allowance depending on how many bank holidays fall on their working days in that year.
How much notice should a member of staff give a line manager if they want to take annual leave?
- Employees should give their line manager as much notice as possible.
- The longer the period of leave, the more notice that should be given so that the necessary arrangements to cover their absence can be made.
- Employees can give as much as 12 months notice of an annual leave request (although they don’t normally have to give that much).
- Any requests for leave should be recorded on the relevant annual leave record, and the line manager should reply as soon as possible.
- If a line manager refuses a request for leave, they need to explain why. Employees should not, therefore, make any financial commitments (such as buying a ticket) before they have received agreement to the leave.
- If there is a system whereby only a certain number of people can be off at any one time, or a system for dealing with requests at popular times (such as Christmas and school holidays), the line manager will need to ensure that they apply them fairly and consistently, and that employees understand the procedure.
If I work my full time hours over a 9 day period and I take one day annual leave do I deduct 7.5 hours from my full year entitlement?
- No this is false, you should deduct the number of hours you would have worked on that day. If you are off for a whole week then you would deduct your weekly contracted hours.
- The NHS terms and conditions handbook explains that where staff work standard shifts other than 7.5 hours excluding meal breaks, annual leave and public holiday entitlements should be calculated in hours in order to prevent staff on these shifts receiving greater or less than colleagues on standard shifts.
If my shift does not fall on a public holiday do I get an additional day off?
- No you do not, but it means that you do not need to deduct any hours off your annual leave entitlement card as you have not needed to use any in that week.
What happens when a member of staff rings in sick during their annual leave?
- If an employee is sick during planned annual leave and wishes to retain their pre-booked annual leave then they must notify the line manager (nominated deputy) on the first day of their sickness absence. The sickness absence must be recorded. The employee must submit the documentation required under the certification section at 3.1.2 of the attendance management policy.
- Employee’s will continue to accrue annual leave whilst absence. This excludes Bank Holidays.
- If employees have been off long term sickness absence and are unable to take their annual leave by the end of the annual leave year they will be able to carry over the remainder of the entitlement based on a calculation of the statutory amount of 20 days (pro-rata for part-time workers).
- If an employee wishes to benefit from taking a holiday whilst off sick, the line manager (nominated deputy) needs to ensure this is recorded appropriately. Therefore, employees may request annual leave to go on holiday whilst on sickness absence from work and the appropriate payment will be made. Employees must inform their line manager (nominated deputy) of their intentions and seek agreement as soon as possible. Not doing so may result in annual leave not being authorised.
- If during a period of annual leave an employee is sick and wishes to reclaim planned annual leave for use at another time then this will require a medical fit note provided by the employees GP at the time of the illness, e.g. where an employee who has annual leave booked to go abroad or holiday in the UK and reports to be sick, where they have been able to take this holiday they will not be able to reclaim this. If they have been prevented from taking this holiday due to their sickness they will be able to reclaim this leave but will need to provide proof of cancellation and a medical certificate (GP fit note).
- The line manager will need to complete a “return to work” interview as soon as possible after the employee returns to work.
- If the employee did not tell their line manager that they were sick during annual leave until they return to work, the line manager can still reclassify this as sick leave if the employee can provide the appropriate medical certification.
If an employee takes over 1 month unpaid leave, is their annual leave recalculated?
- Yes, their annual leave should be calculated on months worked in the year.
- If a member of staff is off using unpaid leave for over a month they would not accrue annual leave for that month.
- If the unpaid leave is bought through the Flexible Futures scheme, the annual entitlement for the full year would apply.