Annual leave entitlement
Annual leave is calculated at the start of every leave year and each time a change in work pattern or hours occurs.
All employees will receive their entitlement in hours and minutes. Your line manager is responsible for confirming that your leave entitlement is correct.
Annual leave guidance for managers and employees (PDF, 1.14MB)
As an employee of the council your minimum paid leave entitlement is 23 days (170 hours 12 minutes pro rata to your average contracted hours). Further leave entitlement will be granted as detailed in the table below. Entitlements shown are at full time rates. Applicable to an employee’s next leave year after 1 April 2023.
Annual leave entitlement
| Entitlement | Days | Hours |
|---|
| Basic |
23 |
170 hours 12 minutes |
| Extra Statutory Holidays |
+3 |
+22 hours 12 minutes |
| Extra after 5 years continuous service |
+3 |
+22 hours 12 minutes |
| Extra after 10 years continuous service |
+1 |
+7 hours 24 minutes |
| Extra after 15 years continuous service |
+1 |
+7 hours 24 minutes |
| Extra after 20 years continuous service |
+1 |
+7 hours 24 minutes |
| Total maximum entitlement |
32 |
236 hours 48 minutes |
The maximum full time equivalent entitlements according to length of service are detailed below. Human Resources will establish exact entitlements according to length of continuous local government service.
Maximum full time equivalent entitlements
| Length of service | Days | Hours |
|---|
| Less than 4 years continuous service |
26 |
192 hours 24 minutes |
| Between 4 and 5 years continuous service |
26 to 28 |
192 hours 24 minutes to 207 hours 12 minutes |
| 5 years continuous service |
29 |
214 hours 36 minutes |
| 10 years continuous service |
30 |
222 hours |
| 15 years continuous service |
31 |
229 hours 24 minutes |
| 20 years continuous service |
32 |
236 hours 48 minutes |
Carry over
You will be allowed to carry over an equivalent of two weeks of average contracted hours from one leave year to the next, to be taken anytime during the following leave year, subject to the normal authorisation and notice requirements for taking leave.
You will not receive payment for leave in excess of the above limits which is still outstanding at the end of the leave year.
Extra statutory leave
As detailed in the table above, you are entitled to 3 extra statutory days (22 hours 12 minutes pro rata to your average contracted hours) in addition to the normal leave entitlement. In appropriate circumstances the council will determine, in consultation with the recognised trade unions, when extra statutory days are to be taken.
For calculation purposes, entitlement and statutory leave should be combined into one figure.
Leave year
The leave year for all employees coincides with the first day of their birth month.
The annual entitlement of employees leaving or joining the council will be calculated proportionately to their completed service during the leave year.
Bank holiday / public holiday leave
You will be entitled to a holiday with a normal days pay for each statutory, general and public holiday. If you are part time you will be entitled to the bank holiday pro rata to your hours of work.
Purchasing additional leave
The maximum amount of additional annual leave that an employee may ‘purchase’ is 40 working days (equivalent to a maximum of 8 weeks of average contracted hours). This must be requested in advance and the line manager must approve their request.
Requesting annual leave
All employees must request annual leave in advance, providing the number of days they want off as notice (i.e. a worker requests 2 days off as leave, they must give 2 days’ notice). However, as much notice as possible should be given and where employees wish to take a longer period of annual leave.
All employees should aim to give as much notice as possible when requesting annual leave.
Managers will aim to accommodate all requests for annual leave but may refuse a request if there are sound business reasons for doing so. These reasons should be explained to the employee in writing within 5 working days of the request. This can be in the form of an email.
VisionTime and leave cards
VisionTime
Once authorisation for Annual Leave has been granted, it will need to be recorded on either the VisionTime system or on a leave card. (Note: leave cards should only be used by employees who do not have access to VisionTime).
Employees who use VisionTime must pre-book all annual leave through the system, prior to actually taking the leave. Managers will then use the system to accept or refuse leave.
Flexi Time (Vision Time) Procedure (PDF, 178KB)
Leave cards
Employees who are unable to use Vision Time will need to use leave cards to record their leave. Managers will confirm the years’ entitlement at the beginning of each leave year and sign each request.