Annual Leave Policy

About this Policy 

The Society recognises that a healthy work life balance is important and encourages colleagues to take planned breaks from work at regular intervals throughout the year. This policy sets out a colleague’s entitlement to annual leave and the arrangements for colleagues wishing to take annual leave. 

This policy applies to all employees (whether employed on a full-time, part-time, fixed term or permanent basis). It does not apply to agency workers or self-employed contractors. 

This Policy does not form part of any contract of employment and the Society may amend it at any time.

 

Who is Responsible for this Policy? 

All colleagues are expected to follow the guidelines set out in this policy. Colleagues are encouraged to raise concerns informally as soon as possible to ensure the matters are dealt with quickly and efficiently. Colleagues are asked to work with their line manager in the first instance to seek resolution or if they need assistance with this policy. 

All managers must treat colleagues fairly and consistently in accordance with this policy. If managers require support or assistance, they should contact the relevant HR advisor.

 

Entitlement 

The Society’s annual leave year runs from 1^st April to 31^st March each year. If a colleague's employment starts or finishes part way through the year, their holiday entitlement during that year shall be calculated on a pro-rata basis. 

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, colleagues are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave in each leave year. The entitlement includes public holidays. 

Colleagues can view their entitlement on the Kronos Time and Attendance System. 

Unless otherwise stated in your contract of employment, your entitlement is set out in the table below based on a colleague’s career framework level, or the pro-rata equivalent if you work part time. That is inclusive of 8 bank holidays. Should a colleague increase or decrease their working hours on a permanent basis, their annual leave entitlement should be recalculated from the date of change to accurately reflect the number of hours worked. 

If you are unsure of your career framework level and holiday entitlement, you should speak to your manager to confirm this. 

In addition, colleagues are entitled to 1 hour’s paid holiday on or around their birthday. 

A colleague's annual leave entitlement will increase with their length of service. As set out in the table below:

Please note any service increases will apply from 1st April the following year.

 

Career Framework Level	Length of Service (complete years)	Holiday Entitlement for full time colleagues inclusive of bank holidays and floating day (part time colleagues will be pro rata)
11	N/A	39 days
8-10	0 years	34 days
	1 year	35 days
	2 years	36 days
	3 years	37 days
	4 years	38 days
	5 years	39 days
7	0-5 years	34 days
	5-10 years	36 days
	10 years or more	39 days
2-6	0-2 years	30 days
	2-3 years	31 days
	3-4 years	32 days
	4-5 years	33 days
	5-10 years	34 days
	10-15 years	35 days
	15 – 20  years	36 days
	20 years or more	37 days

 

In order to meet the operational needs of the Society, some colleagues will be required to work on a public holiday. Where a colleague is asked to work on a public holiday, they are entitled to the equivalent period of leave to be taken at another time, following the regular annual leave procedure.

 

Pay 

Pay during periods of annual leave is calculated using an average hourly rate, the calculation includes hours worked and the rate of pay paid for those hours over a 52 week reference period. Where you have not worked a week for example, the society count back the number of weeks to a maximum of 104 weeks to obtain an accurate average.

The Society may pay a premium payment to colleagues who are scheduled to work on Christmas Day – 25th December, Boxing Day – 26th December and New Year’s Day – 1st January. Details of such payments will be provided by your line manager.

 

Procedure 

All leave must be approved in advance by your line manager. Colleagues must make a request through the Kronos Time and Attendance System. Line managers should take into consideration operational needs in determining whether a colleagues leave can be authorised but colleagues should give reasonable notice when submitting a holiday request. 

The Society expects colleagues to provide 4 weeks’ notice of any holiday requests to allow for the planning of rota and work schedule where necessary. To avoid disappointment, colleagues should not make a holiday booking before an annual leave request has been authorised. 

At certain times of the year there may be periods when annual leave requests cannot be accommodated due to operational needs of the business at that time; this depends upon the trading group in which you work, for example, Christmas and holiday brochure release dates. 

Line managers should communicate to colleagues as soon as reasonably practicable those periods during which, due to operational requirements, it may not be appropriate to take annual leave. 

Taking leave without authorisation or once a request has been declined will be considered a gross misconduct offence and will be dealt with under the Society’s Disciplinary Policy. 

Colleagues are asked not to request more than 2 consecutive weeks of holiday off at a time. However, the Society understands occasionally colleagues wish to book longer periods of annual leave, those colleagues wishing to take extended annual leave must speak to their line manager in the first instance who will refer this to their line manager for authorisation. 

Colleagues should also ensure that they spread annual leave throughout the year, to ensure colleagues are getting adequate rest away from work and to avoid a rush at the end of the holiday year which might result in losing some holiday days if too many requests are made for the same annual leave period.

All colleagues and line managers are asked to visit the Kronos how to page on colleague connect for further instructions on how to manage a colleague’s annual leave and work schedule. 

Colleagues who are currently on long term sickness, maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental or parental leave, will continue to accrue annual leave during their period of leave and will need to plan with their manager to take leave in accordance with normal procedures. For more information, please follow the annual leave guidelines set out in the relative Family Friendly Policy on Colleagues Connect. 

The Society will seek, wherever possible, to allow colleagues to use annual leave to observe special religious holidays or festivals, colleagues wishing to take time off for religious activities should book time off in accordance with this policy.  Colleagues with longer-term religious commitments should consider other Society leave policies on Colleagues Connect or make an application under the Society’s Flexible Working Policy.

There may be occasions where the society may request colleagues take annual leave on certain dates, in this circumstance the line manager will provide double the amount of notice as they want to request the colleague to take off.

Sickness During Annual Leave 

Colleagues who fall sick just before or during a period of annual leave are required to notify their line manager as soon as possible in line with the Society’s Managing Attendance Policy. 

The period of absence may be recorded as sickness absence, the colleague will be required to provide a medical certificate for the period of sickness. Your line manager will discuss your holiday entitlement upon your return and may agree another time for the annual leave to be taken.

 

Termination of Employment 

In the event that a colleague leaves the Society, they are entitled to receive payment for any holidays accrued but not taken, calculated up to and including the date of leaving. If a colleague has taken more holiday than they have accrued, the Society will deduct the excess holiday from the colleague’s final salary in accordance with the terms of employment. Colleagues may be required to take any remaining holiday during their notice period, line managers will inform the colleague where that is the case. Similarly, colleagues can request to take any accrued holidays during their notice period in the usual way.

 

Carrying Annual Leave Forward 

Except as set out in this policy, holiday entitlement must be taken during the holiday year in which it accrues. Colleagues must take a minimum of 4 weeks holiday within the holiday year.

Any additional holiday not taken by the end of the holiday year will be lost and you will not receive any payment in lieu of it. Only in exceptional circumstances, where it has not been possible to take the full entitlement in the current holiday year, and where the colleague receives advance written approval from their District/Regional Manager, the remaining days may be carried into the following holiday year. This is only permitted where colleagues have already taken their statutory minimum holiday entitlement (5.6 weeks), including time off for public holidays.

In cases of maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave, please follow the annual leave guidelines set out in the relative family friendly policy on Colleagues Connect.

 

Banking Annual Leave 

The Society encourages colleagues to use their annual leave to take regular breaks. However, colleagues with 5 years’ service or more are entitled to bank up to 15 days annual leave (maximum of 5 days or equivalent per leave year over a 3-year period). This will enable colleagues to take an extended period of leave, should they wish to. 

Colleagues can request to bank up to 5 days holiday annual leave days in the new annual leave year commencing; the holiday banking window will open for a four-week period during April.  Authorisation is required from the line manager. 

Any banked leave days are managed on the Kronos Time and Attendance System as per the normal annual leave process.

Any banked annual leave must be taken within 5 years from when it was banked.  

Additional Unpaid Annual Leave

The Society offers all colleagues the opportunity to request  to buy a maximum of 2 weeks leave per holiday year through the purchase scheme. Colleagues will agree to sacrifice up to 2 weeks' pay in exchange for up to 2 weeks additional annual leave. All requests will be considered by the Society, following submission of the request form. The form needs to be signed by the colleague, their line manager and stored on the colleagues IFS file. 

At the point of agreeing the request, the colleague should specify the dates that they want to take with the additional leave and how they would like to purchase the additional annual leave which could be by processing unpaid leave for the time that they are off so deducts all in one period, or it could be planned over a number of pay periods. If planned over a number of pay periods please refer to the separate managers guide on how to record this in the systems. Whether to grant a colleague's request for additional annual leave is entirely at the Society's discretion and applications will be considered in the same way that holiday requests are as such, they may be rejected if the request could result in an unreasonable operational impact on the society.

Requests to combine this additional leave with any “banked” holiday or other unpaid leave must be approved by the line manager and relevant operational manager as required.  

For details of how pension contributions and other Society benefits are treated during a period of additional leave please contact the Payroll team or the Pensions office on 01926 659263, prior to submitting your request for additional unpaid leave.

 

Additional Support 

If colleagues have any questions regarding this policy or require additional support, you should speak to your line manager. Alternatively, you can contact HR by emailing HR.advice@midcounties.coop.