Annual Leave
Your annual leave is set out to ensure that all colleague-in-training take adequate rest away from the work place whilst maintaining the needs of the service.
Below there are different forms and policies to provide guidance in approval of leave, entitlements and answers to frequently asked questions.
Annual Leave FAQ's
- How much notice is required for leave?
A colleague-in-training shall normally provide a minimum six weeks’ notice of annual leave to be approved in accordance with local policies and procedures.
- Who will approve my leave?
Colleague-in-training should apply for leave to the relevant personnel at each host organisation to which they rotate.
- Can a host organisation reject my annual leave request?
Host organisations must allow annual leave to be taken when it has been requested for a life changing event, provided that the colleague has given six weeks’ notice to the host.
However, hosts can reject leave requests for other legitimate reasons. For example, if the host does not receive the 6 weeks’ required notice. If due to circumstances beyond the colleague's control, a reasonable request is made for leave outside the minimum six weeks’ notice period, then the host will fairly consider this request while paying due regard to service requirements. A leave request can be rejected if the host consider it may be detrimental to the colleague-in-training's education / training, for example, if the individual were to regularly miss an educational teaching opportunity.
N.B. GP colleagues-in-training are supernumerary when in a GP Practice and therefore hosts are unable to decline an annual leave request due to service provision reasons. However, GP Practices are able to decline annual leave for other reasons, for example, if a colleague may miss an important educational session the Practice is running that day, if patients are already booked in or if there are a large volume of requests for the same day. A Practice may require a certain number of GP colleagues to be in on a certain day if there is more than one GP colleague-in-training in a particular Practice - this is also acceptable given there is justification as to why this is required (but for service provision to cover other qualified GPs).
- How should annual leave be divided between rotations?
Colleagues-in-training should make every effort to take their annual leave pro-rata spreading this equally across their placements i.e. if you have 27 days per year and have two six month placements then 13.5 days leave should be taken across each placement.
- Does annual leave entitlement increase with NHS service?
2016 ts and cs - Annual leave entitlement is 27 days and increases to 32 days after 5 years’ NHS service
Agenda for Change ts and cs – Annual leave entitlement is 27 days, increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and 33 days after 10 years’ service.
- How many days leave can I carry over?
Only in exceptional circumstances should colleagues-in-training apply to carry over annual leave. A maximum of 5 days (pro rata for LTFT) can be carried over in exceptional circumstances. Confirmation from the current host organisation (and future host where leave may be carried over into your next organisation) will be required to support the application for carry over of leave. Colleagues must also seek full agreement from the current and receiving placement that they may carry over annual leave.
- Can colleagues-in-training be paid for carried over leave?
With the agreement of Lead Employer and the host organisation, payment in lieu can be made for up to five days’ annual leave (pro rata as appropriate) which could not be taken before a colleague-in-training reaches their CCT date. Please note that Lead Employer is not able to authorise payment in lieu unless the colleague has reached the end of their training programme.
- What will happen if I am due to work a public holiday?
2016 ts and cs - a colleague-in-training who, in the course of their duty, is required to be present in the hospital (or other place of work) at any time (from 00.01 to 23.59) on a public holiday, or who is rostered to be on-call on a public holiday, will be entitled to a standard working day off in lieu. Where a colleague-in-training's working pattern includes scheduled rest days (sometimes known as zero hours’ days) and such a day falls on a public holiday, then the colleague will be given a day off in lieu of the public holiday.
Agenda for Change ts and cs – the colleague will be permitted to take their bank holiday hours on another day.
- What happens when a public holiday falls on a weekend?
Where a public holiday, including Christmas Day (25 December), Boxing Day (26 December) or New Year’s Day (1 January), falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the public holiday will be designated instead as falling on the first working weekday thereafter. In such circumstances, no day in lieu then arises for the work undertaken on Christmas Day (25 December), Boxing Day (26 December) or New Year’s Day (1 January).
- What happens if I am LTFT and work public holidays?
Public holiday entitlement for a colleague-in-training working less than full time shall be added to annual leave entitlement, and any public holidays shall be taken from the combined allowance for annual leave and public holidays.
A quick calculation guide for colleagues who are LTFT
Annual Leave for less than full time colleagues should be calculated on a pro-rata basis. So for example, a less than full time colleague working 60% of a full time rota should receive 60% of the full time entitlements of annual leave, plus 60% of the entitlement to Bank Holidays.
EG=
27 days entitlement /40 hours x 24 (60%) hours = 16 days annual leave
32 days entitlement /40 hours x 32 (80%) hours = 26 days annual leave8 Bank Holidays /40 hours x 24 (60%) = 5 days
8 Bank Holidays /40 hours x 32 (80%) = 6 daysA quick calculation guide for AfC Public Health Non Medic colleagues who are part time
EG=
27 days entitlement /37.5 hours x 22.5 (60%) hours = 16.2 days annual leave
27 days entitlement /37.5 hours x 30 (80%) hours = 21.6 days annual leave8 Bank Holidays /37.5hours x 22.5 (60%) = 4.8 days
8 Bank Holidays /37.5 hours x 30 (80%) = 6.4 days - I have annual leave booked but I am unwell, what will happen to my annual leave?
Where sickness occurs during periods of annual leave, the employee must personally contact their Line Manager on the first day of sickness to advise them of this and follow the Attendance Management Policy. Providing that the line manager is notified and the full absence is covered by a Statement of Fitness to Work (Fit note) the manager should give approval for the leave to be taken at a future date, subject to the demands of the service. If the staff member fails to follow the Policy then annual leave will remain and cannot be reclaimed later
When long term sickness absence bridges two annual leave years, staff are able to carry over an amount to ensure they have had the statutory amount of annual leave in a leave year. Bank Holidays falling during sick leave cannot be taken at a later stage.
Annual leave Policy
This policy defines annual leave entitlement and the responsibilities in adhering to the policy.
To read the full policy refer to the document below.
Lead Employer Annual Leave Policy
Annual leave Guidance Toolkit
The guidance toolkit is a detailed breakdown of all annual leave policies like entitlement for a full time and less than full time colleague-in-training, carrying leave over and sickness during leave.
To see the full toolkit refer to the document below.