Annual Leave Policy - Dudley Primary Care Trust

Annual Leave PolicyDocument DescriptionDocument TypeService ApplicationVersion 0.2Ratification date 12 th August 2008Review date 1 st August 2010Human ResourcesTrust WideDudley PCTDudley & Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS TrustLead Author(s)NamePosition within the OrganisationHuman Resources ManagerPresented for discussion, approval and ratification toTrust Staff Partnership Forum – Dudley PCTWorkforce Committee – Dudley PCTStaff Partnership Forum - Dudley & Walsall Mental HealthPartnership NHS Trust28/7/0812/8/0826/11/08Change HistoryVersion Date Comments0.1 July 2008 Amendments following consultationLink with Standards forBetter Health DomainsC7a

ContentsPage No1. Policy Statement 32. Annual Leave Year 33. Entitlement 34. Calculation of reckonable service 45. Entitlement on joining 56. Entitlement on leaving 57. Death during service 58. General Public Holidays (Bank Holidays) 59. Carry over of leave 610. Sickness occurring during annual leave 611. Extended period of annual leave 712. Unpaid leave 713. Booking Leave 7AppendicesAppendix 1 - Annual leave entitlement calculation 8 - 9exclusive of bank holidaysAppendix 2 - Calculation of general public holiday/ 10 -11bank holiday entitlementAppendix 3 - Calculation of annual leave and general public 12 - 14holiday/ bank holiday entitlement for employees withannualised hours and term time only contracts.2

1. Policy Statement1.1 Annual Leave is an important element of Staff Terms and Conditions whichcontributes towards achieving work life balance. This policy and procedure aimsto provide a uniform and equitable approach to the calculation and taking ofAnnual Leave and Bank Holiday entitlements.1.2 This policy is written in light of Part Time Workers Regulations 2000, WorkingTime Regulations 1998 and National Terms and Conditions under the ‘Agendafor Change’ Agreement. A key principal is that, to encourage an appropriatework life balance, employees should plan to take full entitlement, whereverpracticable to do so, year on year.1.3 The policy applies to all employees of the Trust except for Doctors and Dentistswho are within the remit of the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’Remuneration.1.4 All line managers have a responsibility to monitor and ensure that staff aretaking Annual Leave at regular intervals. Individuals also have a personalresponsibility to plan their Annual Leave and agree it with their manager inadvance. Annual leave requests should not be unreasonably refused and wherethere are particular issues to consider, Managers may wish to provide adepartmental protocol, agreed with their team, on the taking of Annual Leave.2. Annual Leave YearThe annual leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March.3. Entitlement3.1 The basic Annual Leave provisions under National Terms and Conditions‘Agenda for Change’ which came into force on 1 October 2004 are outlinedbelow:Length of serviceOn appointmentAfter 5 years serviceAfter 10 years serviceAnnual leave + General PublicHolidays27 days + 8 days29 days + 8 days33 days + 8 days3.2 The above is based on staff within the NHS working ‘5 shifts’ or days of 7½hours per week, excluding meal breaks. For all staff, Annual Leave will becalculated in hours, although Annual Leave will normally be taken in days.Where staff work standard days other than 7½ hours, Annual Leave entitlementis calculated on an hourly basis to prevent staff on those arrangements receivinggreater or less Leave than colleagues on ‘standard’ days. See table atAppendix 13.3 All part-time staff will have their Annual Leave entitlement calculated in hours ona pro-rata basis. See table at Appendix 13

3.4 See Appendix 3 for calculations of Annual Leave for employees with annualisedhours and term time only staff.3.5 For the purposes of calculating Annual Leave, the result of any final calculationshould be rounded up or down to the nearest hour.3.6 When a member of staff reaches five or ten years service, their increasedentitlement starts immediately and is calculated on a pro-rata basis for theremainder of that Leave year. See paragraphs 5. Entitlement on Joining and 6.Entitlement on Leaving for similar pro-rata calculations.4. Calculation of Reckonable Service4.1 An employee’s continuous previous service with an NHS employer will count asreckonable service when calculating Annual Leave. In addition, aggregated NHSservice i.e. any period of time worked in the NHS, regardless of whether or notthere has been a break in service, will count as reckonable service for AnnualLeave. The Trust will verify as much previous NHS service as possible. Forexample, information may be sought from previous NHS employers and the NHSPensions database. In circumstances where it is not possible for the Trust toconfirm all NHS service (e.g. a previous NHS employer no longer exists), theindividual will need to provide satisfactory evidence of that period of employment.Exceptionally a signed statement, in lieu of evidence, may be accepted for up totwo years service. Providing false evidence could be deemed to be fraudulent andwill be dealt with under the Trust’s disciplinary arrangements.4.2 NHS service is defined as service within NHS health provision and includes thefollowing:EnglandAll NHS Trusts including NHS DirectAll Primary Care TrustsStrategic Health AuthoritiesSpecial Health AuthoritiesExecutive Non Departmental Public BodiesGP PracticesNHS ProfessionalsNorthern IrelandHealth BoardsHSS TrustsAgenciesGP PracticesScotlandHealth BoardsSpecial Health BoardsNHS TrustsPrimary Care TrustsNHS 24NHS Education for ScotlandGP Practices4

(27 x 76) − 2 = 3.62 days = 27 hours3657. Death During ServiceWhere an employee dies in service, an allowance equivalent to the balance ofAnnual Leave entitlement on the date of death calculated on the above pro-ratabasis, will be paid to the employee’s Estate. No deduction from the final salaryshould be made in respect of Annual Leave taken in excess of entitlement onthe date of death.8. General Public Holidays (“Bank Holidays”)8.1 Full-time employees are entitled to all General Public Holidays which fall withinthe Leave year. The General Public Holidays in the year are: New Year’s Day,Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, August BankHoliday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.8.2 Part-time employees’ entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis. See table atAppendix 2.8.3 There will be some Annual Leave years where more or fewer than eight GeneralPublic Holidays fall within the Leave year because the Easter holidays can be inMarch or April. This will affect any calculations for employees whose GeneralPublic Holiday entitlement is pro rata-ed e.g. part-timers, term-time only workers.See table at Appendix 28.4 In the event that staff may be required to work (or be on-call) on a GeneralPublic Holiday, they would be entitled to equivalent time to be taken off in lieu atplain time rates, in addition to any appropriate payment for the duties actuallyundertaken.8.5 Annual leave for anyone working shifts within the NHS is calculated by addingGeneral Public Holidays to Annual Leave entitlement to produce a total Leaveentitlement to facilitate rostering of time off. In such a case, General PublicHolidays are treated as normal working days – see examples below:Example 1 - shift worker works on a rostered General Public HolidayThey are not entitled to a day off in lieu as it has already been accounted for intheir total Annual Leave entitlement.Example 2 – shift worker is rostered to have a day off on a General PublicHolidayThis is not counted as a day of Annual Leave, just a normal day offExample 3 – shift worker is on Annual Leave on a General Public HolidayThis is counted as a day of Annual Leave – part of the total entitlementAppropriate payment for duties would be made.8.6 For night staff the public holiday will be identified by the start of the shift. Forexample, if Monday is a bank holiday, a night shift which starts on Sunday nightcounts as a normal working day for the whole of the shift.6

8.7 In any roster or ‘departmental protocol’ arrangement, reference should alwaysbe made to a Multi-Faith Calendar and the needs of individuals accommodatedas appropriate.9. Carry Over of Leave9.1 Wherever possible, all leave entitlement should be taken during the relevantleave year but, subject to work requirements and management discretion, anamount of hours equalling 5 days may be carried forward to be taken ideallywithin one calendar month of the end of the leave year. More than 5 days carryover may be allowed to support a specific and agreed period of extended Leavein the following year only. Refer to section 11.9.2 Any leave entitlement not taken during the holiday year will be forfeited exceptwhere permission has been specifically granted as above.10. Sickness Occurring During Annual LeaveSickness during a period of annual leave will be treated as sickness, not annualleave, providing a medical certificate (ie not self certified) is obtained for thedays claimed. In such circumstances, it is not necessary for the individual totelephone their manager concerning the sickness unless it is likely to affect thescheduled return to work. However, the sickness must be promptly reportedupon return to work. Please refer to the Trust’s Sickness Absence Policy forfurther guidance. Employees are not entitled to an additional day off if sick on aGeneral Public Holiday, unless they are specifically rostered to work on that day.10.1 Staff on long-term sickness absence will accrue annual leave during any periodof paid sickness absence. This leave is equal to the Working Time Directive of4.8 weeks and not the entitlement under Trust arrangements. This leave maybe used to facilitate a phased return to work. No leave will be accrued during aperiod of unpaid sickness absence.11. Extended Period of Annual Leave11.1 Occasions may arise when an employee wishes or needs to take an extendedperiod of Annual Leave i.e. all or most of their entitlement at once or an evenlonger period of Annual Leave or more than the Departmental protocol normallyallows. Such requests should not be unreasonably refused by the manager.However, the manager should seek to ensure that the employee has regularplanned Annual Leave/Time-off throughout the rest of the year.11.2 Options for arranging extended Leave could include either additional carry overof Leave (see section 9) or Unpaid Leave (see section 12).12. Unpaid Leave12.1 There may be circumstances when it is appropriate for a manager to allow anindividual to take Unpaid Leave.7

Examples include: to enable an employee to take an extended period of AnnualLeave; an employee has just joined the Trust and has a pre-booked holiday forwhich they would not have enough Annual Leave entitlement. The employee’spaid Annual Leave entitlement should be used up first.12.2 Staff who take unauthorised absence will be entitled to a pro-rata annual leaveentitlement based on the number of completed calendar months of paid servicein that leave year.12.3 Reference should also be made to the Trust’s Special Leave Policy ifappropriate.12.4 In all cases the manager should inform the Payroll department of any unpaidleave taken.13. Booking LeaveAnnual leave should only be booked in blocks of time that are equivalent to 50%of that persons normal working shift ie if an employee works 7 hours a day theminimum annual leave period that can be booked would be 3.5 hours.All leave requests must be authorised by the line manager in advance.Managers are responsible for ensuring that when granting annual leave it doesnot adversely affect service provision.Staff may only take leave when they have been given prior permission to do so.Leave that has not been agreed in advance will normally be treated asunauthorised absence.It is the responsibility of each department to make appropriate coverarrangements for their area of responsibility. The arrangements should beclearly communicated to all staff.8

Appendix 1Annual Leave Entitlement for Complete Years Exclusive of Bank Holidays.Formula isWeekly Contracted Hrs X No. of Days EntitlementWeekly Basic On After 5 After 10Contracted Appointment Years YearsHours Service Service27 Days 29 Days 33 DaysHours Equivalent:37.5 203 218 24837.0 200 215 24436.5 197 212 24136.0 195 209 23835.5 192 206 23535.0 189 203 23134.5 187 200 22834.0 184 197 22533.5 181 195 22133.0 178 192 21832.5 176 189 21532.0 173 186 21131.5 170 183 20831.0 168 180 20530.5 165 177 20230.0 162 174 19829.5 160 171 19529.0 157 168 19228.5 154 166 18828.0 151 163 18527.5 149 160 18227.0 146 157 17826.5 143 154 17526.0 141 151 17225.5 138 148 16925.0 135 145 16524.5 132 142 16224.0 130 139 15923.5 127 137 15523.0 124 134 15222.5 122 131 14922.0 119 128 14521.5 116 125 14221.0 114 122 13920.5 111 119 13620.0 108 116 13219.5 106 113 12919.0 103 110 12618.5 100 108 12218.0 97 105 11917.5 95 102 11617.0 92 99 11216.5 89 96 10916.0 87 93 1059

Weekly Basic On After 5 After 10Contracted Appointment Years YearsHours Service Service27 Days 29 Days 33 DaysHours Equivalent:15.5 84 90 10315.0 81 87 9914.5 79 84 9614.0 76 81 9313.5 73 79 8913.0 70 76 8612.5 68 73 8212.0 65 70 7911.5 62 66 7611.0 60 64 7210.5 57 61 7010.0 54 58 669.5 52 55 639.0 49 52 608.5 46 50 568.0 43 47 537.5 41 44 507.0 38 41 466.5 35 38 436.0 33 35 405.5 30 32 375.0 27 29 334.5 24 26 304.0 22 23 273.5 19 21 233.0 16 18 202.5 13 15 172.0 11 12 131.5 8 9 101.0 6 6 70.5 3 3 410

Appendix 2Calculation of General Public Holiday/ Bank Holiday EntitlementFormula isWeekly Contracted Hrs X No. of Days Entitlement5Weekly BasicContractedHoursHourlyEntitlement ForFull Leave Year(10 BankHolidays)(8 BankHolidays)(6 BankHolidays)37.5 75.0 60.0 45.037.0 74.0 59.0 44.536.5 73.0 58.5 44.036.0 72.0 57.5 43.035.5 71.0 57.0 42.535.0 70.0 56.0 42.034.5 69.0 55.0 41.534.0 68.0 54.5 41.033.5 67.0 53.5 40.033.0 66.0 53.0 39.532.5 65.0 52.0 39.032.0 64.0 51.0 38.531.5 63.0 50.5 38.031.0 62.0 49.5 37.030.5 61.0 49.0 36.530.0 60.0 48.0 36.029.5 59.0 47.0 35.529.0 58.0 46.5 35.028.5 57.0 45.5 34.028.0 56.0 45.0 33.527.5 55.0 44.0 33.027.0 54.0 43.0 32.526.5 53.0 42.5 32.026.0 52.0 41.5 31.025.5 51.0 41.0 30.525.0 50.0 40.0 30.024.5 49.0 39.0 29.524.0 48.0 38.5 29.023.5 47.0 37.5 28.023.0 46.0 37.0 27.522.5 45.0 36.0 27.022.0 44.0 35.0 26.521.5 43.0 34.5 26.021.0 42.0 33.5 25.020.5 41.0 33.0 24.520.0 40.0 32.0 24.011

Weekly BasicContractedHoursHourlyEntitlement ForFull Leave Year(10 BankHolidays)(8 BankHolidays)(6 BankHolidays)19.5 39.0 31.0 23.519.0 38.0 30.5 23.018.5 37.0 29.5 22.018.0 36.0 29.0 21.517.5 35.0 28.0 21.017.0 34.0 27.0 20.516.5 33.0 26.5 20.016.0 32.0 25.5 19.015.5 31.0 25.0 18.515.0 30.0 24.0 18.014.5 29.0 23.0 17.514.0 28.0 22.5 17.013.5 27.0 21.5 16.013.0 26.0 21.0 15.512.5 35.0 20.0 15.012.0 24.0 19.0 14.511.5 23.0 18.5 14.011.0 22.0 17.5 13.010.5 21.0 17.0 12.510.0 20.0 16.0 12.09.5 19.0 15.0 11.59.0 18.0 14.5 11.08.5 17.0 13.5 10.08.0 16.0 13.0 9.57.5 15.0 12.0 9.07.0 14.0 11.0 8.56.5 13.0 10.5 8.06.0 12.0 9.5 7.05.5 11.0 9.0 6.55.0 10.0 8.0 6.04.5 9.0 7.0 5.54.0 8.0 6.5 5.03.5 7.0 5.5 4.03.0 6.0 5.0 3.52.5 5.0 4.0 3.02.0 4.0 3.0 2.51.5 3.0 2.5 2.01.0 2.0 1.5 1.00.5 1.0 1.0 0.512

Appendix 3Calculation of Annual Leave and General Public Holiday / Bank HolidayEntitlement for Employees with Annualised Hours ContractsAnnualised Hours involves looking at the working time in terms of the number of hoursworked in the year rather than in a week. Therefore an Annualised Hours contract isone in which a member of staff works a set number of hours over a one year period.This means that person is committed to working 52.14 weeks, less Annual Leave andGeneral Public Holidays.To calculate the Annual Hours, Annual Leave and General Public Holiday entitlementshould be converted to hours using the tables in Appendix 1 and 2.Calculation of Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) For Term-Time Only StaffTerm-time only staff agree to work a set number of hours per week during school termsonly and they take their Annual Leave entitlement and their pro-rata entitlement toGeneral Public Holidays during school holidays.In order to calculate how much they should be paid, their whole time equivalent, orWTE, should be calculated as follows:Full time during “TTO” – Calculation of annual salaryStep 1 - Annual leave/public holiday entitlement of TTO staff = A =Number of contracted x full time equivalent worker’sweeks per yearannual leave* entitlement (weeks)(52 - annual leave* entitlement of full time equivalent in weeks)* N.B. The annual leave figure is to include public holidays (in weeks)Step 2 - The whole time equivalent of the full time TTO = B =:Number of contracted weeks pa + A52Step 3 - Calculation of annual salary of full time TTO staff= B x Annual salary of whole time equivalentExample – Full time TTO staffA whole time nurse earns £15,000 for working her 37.5 hour week and has 27 daysannual leave plus 8 bank holidays. The TTO employee works 37.5 hours a weekduring 39 weeks a year - using the calculations shown above:Step 1 - Annual leave/public holiday entitlement = A = 39 x 7 = 273 = 6.0667(52 -7) 45Step 2 - WTE = B = 39 + A = 39 + 6.0667 = 0.8667 wte52 5213

Step 3 - Annual salary = B x £15,000= 0.8667 x £15,000 = £13,000.50 paStaff working part-time during term timesIn some cases, staff employed on TTO contracts may work part time during term time.Such staff will be paid on a pro-rata basis to an individual working full time during termtime only, as follows :Step 1 - Annual leave/public holiday entitlement of TTO staff = A =Number of contracted x full time equivalent worker’sweeks per yearannual leave* entitlement (weeks)(52 – annual leave* entitlement of full time equivalent in (weeks)* N.B. The annual leave figure is to include public holidays (inweeks)Step 2 - The wte of the part time TTO worker = B =No. of contracted weeks pa + A x Hours per week by part time TTOstaff52 Hours per week by full time TTO staffStep 3 - Calculation of annual salary of part time TTO staff= B x Annual salary of whole time equivalentThe resulting salary is paid in equal monthly instalments throughout the year.Example – Part time TTO staffA whole time nurse earns £15,000 for working her 37.5 hour week and has 27 daysannual leave plus 8 bank holidays. The TTO employee works 15 hours a week during39 weeks a year. Using the calculations shown above:Step 1 - Annual leave/public holiday entitlement = A = 39 x 7 = 273 = 6.0667(52-7) 45Step 2 - WTE = 39 + A x 15 = 39+ 6.0667 x 1552 37.5 52 37.5= 0.8667 x 15 = 0.3467 = B37.5Step 3 - Annual salary = B x £15,000= 0.3467 x £15,000= £5200.50 pa14

Public HolidaysAs all public holidays occur when schools are closed, staff working term time only willnot be scheduled to work on a public holiday. However the calculation of pay for TTOworkers, as set out above, includes an allowance for a pro-rata entitlement to paidleave in lieu of public holidays. The pro-rata entitlement to leave has to be taken whenthe schools are closed, as for other annual leave.Individual ArrangementsSubject to the operational needs of the service, Managers have discretion to all TTOstaff to:• Have unpaid leave in respect of days when their own children are on schoolholiday but local schools are open• Have unpaid leave on professional development days within the Trust orelsewhereFor EACH of such absences, Managers must notify the Payroll department in writing sothat the appropriate amendments to pay can be made.Associated PoliciesNHS National Terms and Conditions of Service15