Full time annual leave entitlement from 1 April to 31 March:
| Up to 1 year’s continuous service | 177.6 hours (24 days*) |
| Up to 2 years continuous service | 185 hours (25 days*) |
| Up to 3 years continuous service | 192.4 hours (26 days*) |
| Up to 4 years continuous service | 199.8 hours (27 days*) |
| Over 4 years’ continuous service | 207.2 hours (28 days*) |
Annual leave can only be taken at such time or times to be agreed with your manager. Although annual leave is calculated in hours it will be at the discretion of your business or line manager how you take leave that is less than a half day.
*Days annual leave
Where annual leave is referenced in days the term is applicable to a full time ‘usual’ working pattern where one day equals 7.4 working hours. Where part time, shift or alternative working patterns are in place hourly entitlements should be applied. Individual annual leave entitlements are confirmed within contractual terms.
Christmas Period – agreed day to be taken as leave
One contracted working day (pro rata if part time, shift and alternative working patterns) is to be used by non-essential staff (mostly those based at Pippbrook) for the Christmas period. The Christmas date when non-essential staff are not required to work is agreed by the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team and notified through the usual staff channels.
The Christmas date when non-essential staff are not required to work is agreed by the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team and notified through the usual staff channels. Any staff due to work on the agreed date will be required to book the date as annual leave on the HR system. For staff required to maintain service delivery at all times, this ‘days’ annual leave can be booked another time via the normal process. On occasion employees will be required to take additional annual leave to facilitate the offices at Pippbrook being closed during the Christmas period (however office closures during Christmas are not general practice).
Other information about the scheme:
The annual leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Leave is specified in hours – a standard full time working day is 7.4 hours and a standard full time working week is 37 hours. The only time your annual leave will reflect the full allowance is if you are with us from the beginning of the leave year (April) and if you are full time. If you join us in October, for example, you will have half of your entitlement for the remainder of the leave year and it will be pro rata’d if you are part-time.
Your leave entitlement is recorded on the HR and Payroll System (iTrent) – it is separated into annual leave entitlement and bank holiday entitlement based on your working hours (it is pro rata’d for part-time staff). Please book leave via iTrent self-service.
Your entitlement will increase every year on the anniversary of your start date or your continuous service date (where applicable) until you reach the highest entitlement.
Continuous Service
There are situations when you can bring continuous service from previous relevant employment with you. Your contract will clarify if this applies to you.
Normal Pay – overtime
In determining normal pay during annual leave the Council will include regular overtime payments where your terms of employment require that you must, each month, work in excess of the usual hours (and for which an overtime payment is made as a regular addition to salary) together with regular payments made as contractual entitlements.
Extended leave in first six months of employment
We do not normally expect our employees to take extended leave (more than two weeks) during the first six months of service. However, managers have discretion to allow reasonable leave, especially if arrangements have been made by the employee prior to appointment and the manager has been made aware of this.
Carry over of leave
You can carry forward up to five days’ annual leave (pro rata/proportionate if you are part-time) into the next annual leave year if you have not managed to take them. This must be approved by your line manager. These additional days must be taken before the end of June in that financial year.
Advance booking of annual leave
You are not permitted to book annual leave more than 18 months in advance except in exceptional circumstances. This must be discussed with and agreed by your manager.
Bank Holidays
In addition to your annual leave entitlement, you are entitled to take public (bank) holidays off work – bank holiday entitlement is provided at 7.4 hours per public (bank) holiday (pro rata for part time working, where working hours are less than 37 per week). However if you work in an essential services (such as Mole Valley Life or the Depot for example), we provide a 24/7 service regardless of bank holidays. In that case your bank holiday entitlement is added to your annual leave so that you can take it at another time by agreement with your manager.