Annual Leave Guidance

Transcription

1 Annual Leave Guidance Please find below basic information in respect of calculating annual leave entitlement. 1. Basic Principles The leave period runs from 1st January to 31st December. The annual leave entitlement (pro rata for part-timers): Leave After 5 Years Designated Chief Officers Bands K and above Bands H to J Bands A to G (SCP 4 to 29) Pro-rata for part-time working All leave entitlements for part-time employees are pro-rata to contractual hours in accordance with NJC conditions. Annual, statutory and concessionary entitlements are based on the number of hours an employee works. General practice across the council is to express annual leave for part time staff in hours, the easiest way to calculate this is as follows: Standard entitlement x Contracted hours per week in days (total hours in a standard working week) Multiply answer by 7.4 (hours in a standard working day) = Pro-rata entitlement in hours Example one: Employee works 18.5 hours per week part time The standard A/L entitlement is 29 days 29 x = x 7.40 = hours (or 107 hours 18 mins) Example two: Employee works 19 hours per week part time The standard A/L entitlement is 22 days 22 x = x 7.40 = hours (or 83 hours 37 minutes) Starters During the first 6 months of service, leave entitlement should be proportionate to the number of completed months of service. Employees may use their minimum leave entitlement during this period. For example, an employee in their first month of service should not, under normal circumstances, exceed 1/12 of their annual leave entitlement. Requests for leave above the accrued entitlement during the first 6 months of service may be discussed with the Line Manager. Annual Leave Guidance 1 Updated December 2012

2 Example calculation for pro-rata entitlement: (A full-time employee on Band B in their 3 rd month of service) 22 days (yearly entitlement) x 3 = 5½ days pro-rata entitlement. 12 NB. A new starter must be scheduled to work all the working days in their first calendar month to accrue leave for that month. E.g. if a new starter s contract is due to begin on Tuesday 2 nd January 2013, they would be entitled to 12 months leave entitlement because they will have attended work on all the scheduled working days in January. If their contract was due to start on Wednesday 3 rd January 2013, that month would not be included in the calculation of leave. 4. Changes With regard to annual leave, bank holiday and concessionary holiday allowance, the key factor is the number of 'complete' months worked. A complete month is when an employee has been employed in that role for every available working day of the month. Changes such as temporary or permanent promotions to another grade (and therefore a change in annual leave entitlement) and changes to contractual hours are treated in a similar manner to the above. Change in grade When an employee has a change in contract part-way through the month, the new annual leave entitlement is accrued from the start of the following calendar month. Annual leave entitlement for the current month is based on the original contractual hours. Example calculation for change in grade: Employee starts a new position in the next leave bracket on 10 March. Current A/L entitlement is 29 days New A/L entitlement is 32 days Jan Mar (3 months) based on 29 days 29 x 3 = April December based on 32 days 32 x 9 = New entitlement = (round to days) Change in contractual hours: When an employee has a change in contractual hours part-way through the year, their leave entitlement must be re-calculated to reflect the change in hours. It is recommended that for clarity, the leave entitlements should be converted into hours when dealing with such changes. Example calculation: On 1 st August, employee changes from full-time (37 hours) to a part-time job of hours (2.5 days/week). Up to 1 st August, they have taken 16 days of their original 22 day entitlement. Calculation January to July (22 days x 7/12) x 37/37 x 7.4 hours = hours Annual Leave Guidance 2 Updated December 2012

3 August to December (22 days x 5/12) x 18.5/37 x 7.4 hours = hours The two entitlements are then added together to give the revised yearly entitlement: = hours (total accrued) The employee has already taken 16 days up to the point of the change in contractual hours. These need to be deducted from the yearly total to give the outstanding balance for the remainder of the leave year: hours (16 x 7.40) = hours left to take before the end of the leave year. 5. Leavers If an employee leaves employment during the year they are entitled to leave proportionate to the number of completed months of service during the year. A complete month is when an employee has been employed in that role for every available working day of that month. Any leave taken in excess of the pro-rata calculated entitlement will be deducted from the employee s final salary/wage. To calculate to pro-rata entitlement, take the employee s yearly leave entitlement and multiply by the number of completed months. Divide this by 12 to establish the pro-rata entitlement. Example: Employee finishes on 07 May 29 days x 4 = 9.67 days (round to 9.50 days) A/L entitlement is 29 days 12 Payment in Lieu of Untaken Leave Former manual conditions of service (predominantly weekly paid) Employees subject to former manual conditions of service have a provision for, and are paid, any outstanding accrued leave, and are therefore unaffected by this aspect of the regulations. Employees subject to APT&C conditions Employees subject to APT&C conditions of service currently do not have a provision for the payment of untaken leave which is accrued under the conditions of service and not taken. The entitlement to leave under the conditions of service is a minimum of 22 days annual leave plus 11 other days and therefore the amount of paid leave already taken is normally in excess of the statutory amount. However, there may be a few cases where non payment is in breach of the Working Time Regulations. The Working Time Regulations provide for a statutory paid leave entitlement of 28 days per year for full-time 5 day a week workers. There is no separate entitlement to paid bank holidays so any paid bank holidays can count against the 28 days. The regulations provide for the payment of any statutory leave not taken when the employee finishes and therefore the calculation of the entitlement is proportional according to the number of completed months worked between January and December. Therefore for monthly-paid employees, to comply with the Working Time Regulations, an employee who leaves the Council and has not taken their pro rata entitlement of 28 days statutory leave should therefore be paid the balance of this entitlement. For example, an employee leaving on the 30 th June 2013 would be entitled to 6/12 x 28 days less 5 days (for Bank Holidays) = 9 days entitlement. If the employee has taken less than this they would therefore need to be paid for this untaken leave. Annual Leave Guidance 3 Updated December 2012

4 Summary: Former Manual employees APT&C employees Provision under former manual conditions of service allows for payment of unused accrued annual leave entitlement (i.e. 22 or 27 days pro-rata) Statutory provision applies (i.e. are entitled to be paid for any pro-rata statutory leave not taken, i.e. 28 days pro-rata less any Bank Holidays already taken) 6. Long Service An employee accrues the additional 3-5 days of paid leave once they have completed 5 years of continuous service. If the individual qualifies for additional leave part way through a leave year, then additional leave will be pro-rated for the remainder of the leave year. The additional leave will be expressed in whole days, rounded down, where necessary. ` Example 1: A full-time employee on Band G completes 5 years service on 6 th April, Firstly calculate their basic entitlement for the year = 22 days Next calculate the additional long service entitlement based on the outstanding completed calendar months:- 8/12 months (ie May to Dec) x 5 days (additional leave) = 3.33 days which is rounded down (in accordance with NJC Circular 4/99) to the nearest full day = 3 days Finally add the 2 figures together to give the leave entitlement for the year. Therefore 22 days plus 3 days = 25 days in total for Example 2: A part-time employee on Band G working 18.5 hours per week, completes 5 years service on 6 th April, Firstly calculate their basic FTE entitlement for the year = 22 days Next calculate the additional FTE long service entitlement based on the outstanding completed calendar months:- 8/12 months (ie May to Dec) x 5 days (additional leave) = 3.33 days which is rounded down (in accordance with NJC Circular 4/99) to the nearest full day = 3 days Then add the 2 figures together to give the FTE leave entitlement for the year. Therefore 22 days plus 3 days = 25 days in total for Finally pro-rata the entitlement in relation to the hours worked: 25 x 18.5/37 = x 7.4 hours = hours in total for Carry over/bring forward Wherever possible, employees should take their entire allocation of annual leave by 31 st December each year. However, if employees are unable to use their full entitlement, for example due to work priorities and therefore have annual leave outstanding or they wish to save some days for the following year, up to 5 days (pro-rata for part-time employees, i.e. one contractual week) may be carried forward to the following leave year. Annual Leave Guidance 4 Updated December 2012

5 Similarly, the Council recognises that personal circumstances may arise when it would be appropriate to bring forward some annual leave from the following year. In such circumstances up to 5 days annual leave (again, pro-rata for part-time employees) may be brought forward from the following year s entitlement. All leave requests including those for extended annual leave i.e. longer than two weeks, must be authorised by the Line Manager. In order to minimise any impact on service provision, Managers need to plan for any absence with you and your colleagues, so any requests to either carry over or bring forward annual leave should be discussed and agreed with your Line Manager in advance. Where employees have been unable to return to work due to illness or Special leave at the time the holiday year comes to an end, any outstanding days will be lost. 8. Protected rights From April 2002, harmonised annual leave entitlements were implemented. For employees adversely affected, permanent protection on the former leave entitlement was agreed for those who remain in their current post or who were covered by a designated career progression scheme. The below table identifies for protected range and additional annual leave entitlement SCP (As of 01/04/02) <5 years >5 years service service nil or above (PO5-9) Weekend allocation This ruling is not an addition to annual leave but serves to ensure that a limited but fair number of weekend days are taken as annual leave throughout the year. Weekend allocation applies to staff that work a seven day week on a rota basis; and therefore need to ensure that they are entitled to a stipulated number of weekend days. The ruling is as follows: Shift pattern Weekend allocation One weekend in four 1 Two weekends in four 2 Three weekends in four 3 Four weekends in four 4 More than five years continuous service Casual employees Under the Working Time Regulations, casual employees accrue statutory leave on a monthly basis in advance (qualifying immediately). Employees accrue leave at the rate of 1/12 of the annual entitlement in advance on the first day of each month of employment. The annual entitlement of statutory leave is 5.6 weeks. For a full-time employee working 5 days a week, this equates to 28 days. For a part-timer working 2.50 days a week, this equates to 14 days. With regard to determining the pro-rata leave entitlement in cases where the employee is working variable hours, an average of the previous 12 weeks should be applied. If the 12 weeks include weeks where no work was undertaken, the hours from the previous week should be added in, to bring the total up to 12. The same calculation is also used to determine the holiday pay. Annual Leave Guidance 5 Updated December 2012

6 If the worker has not yet completed 12 weeks of employment, as will be the case with most casual workers, the entitlement is calculated by dividing the number of hours worked in the period by the number of weeks in the period. Calculation: Total hours worked in the period Number of weeks in the period = average weekly hours (A)? months x 4 weeks = statutory entitlement in weeks (B) 12 months A x B = statutory leave entitlement. 11. Bank Holidays and Concessionary Days The 8 Bank Holidays (Statutory), pro-rata for part-time employees, are listed below:- New Years Day Good Friday Easter Monday The first Monday in May The last Monday in May The last Monday in August Christmas Day Boxing Day With effect from Christmas 2012 we will open during the Christmas period. The three concessionary days previously fixed to provide a Christmas closure should be added to annual leave sheets to be booked as leave in the normal manner. These days may be taken at any time during the leave year. Part time employees will have a pro-rata entitlement to the three concessionary days. For each concessionary day the employee is entitled to a proportion of 7.4 hours (the standard day) making in total a proportion of 22.2 hours. As with Annual Leave, each Bank Holiday and Concessionary Day equates to 7.40 hours for full-time employees. For the calculation of concessionary days for part-time employees this is: 22.2 hours x Contractual hours = Entitlement for the 3 concessionary days NB, this can also be expressed as 3/5 of the employee s contractual hours. Unlike annual leave, statutory leave is not subject to the pro-rata calculation for employees leaving or joining the Authority partway through the leave year. Employees are only entitled to the statutory leave days that fall within their period of working. Bank Holidays Days and part-time employees The calculation is the same as for annual leave but consideration must also be given to the employee s working pattern when applying the entitlement. There are several ways of addressing statutory leave for part-time employees but it is arguably simpler to deal with each as they occur rather than calculating their whole entitlement at the beginning of the year (though this is an alternative option). This allows for officers starting or leaving, or who may reduce or increase their hours during the leave year. Annual Leave Guidance 6 Updated December 2012

7 The 8 Bank Holidays are pro-rata for part-time employees. For each statutory day the employee is entitled to a proportion of 7.4 hours (the standard day). This is calculated as: 7.4 hours x Contractual hours = Entitlement in hours per statutory holiday NB, this can also be expressed as 1/5 of the employee s contractual hours. Where, because of the working pattern, the statutory holiday falls on a non-working day for the employee, two options are available: 1. The pro-rata entitlement could be added to their annual leave entitlement. 2. The pro-rata entitlement could be taken as time off on a day which they would normally be due to work. In such cases it may be necessary to top-up the prorata entitlement with annual leave to bring the entitlement to the normal working hours for that day. Where, because of the working pattern, the statutory holiday falls on a day which they would normally work the pro-rata entitlement may be less than the hours normally worked on that day. In this case, two options are available: 1. The pro-rata entitlement could be topped-up as necessary by deducting an equivalent amount from the annual leave entitlement. 2. The pro-rata entitlement could be topped-up as necessary by working extra hours. Example 1: Mr Smith works 22.2 hours/week. His working pattern is Tuesday (7.4 hours), Thursday (7.4 hours) and Friday (7.4 hours). His entitlement for Easter Monday would be calculated as follows: 7.4 x 22.2/37 = 4.44 hours or 22.2/5 = 4.44 hours Because Mr. Smith doesn t work on Mondays the 4.44 hours can either be added to his annual leave entitlement or he may arrange with his Manager to take the time off on one of his usual working days (this would need to be topped-up from annual leave to make 7.4 hours). Example 2: Mrs Green works 18.5 hours/week. Her working pattern is Monday (7.4 hours), Tuesday (7.4 hours) and Wednesday (3.7 hours). Her entitlement for a Bank Holiday Monday would be calculated as follows: 7.4 x 18.5/37 = 3.7 hours or 18.5/5 = 3.7 hours (or 3 hours 42 minutes) Mrs Green would normally work 7.4 hours on the Monday, therefore she has gained the benefit of more than her share of the bank holiday. Therefore, either 3.7 hours should be deducted from her annual leave entitlement or she may arrange to work back the excess hours on a day when she is not usually at work (e.g. she may decide to work a full day on Wednesday to compensate). Annual Leave Guidance 7 Updated December 2012

8 12. Compressed hours Annual Leave entitlements for staff working compressed hours (e.g. 4 day weeks/ 9 day fortnights) should be expressed in hours. For a full-time employee, annual leave entitlements would be converted to hours by using the following calculation: 22 days x 7.4 (standard day) = hours 26 days x 7.4 (standard day) = hours 27 days x 7.4 (standard day) = hours 29 days x 7.4 (standard day) = hours For recording purposes a day s annual leave will be defined as: 4 day week: OR 9 day fortnight: 9.25 hours (9 hours and 15 mins) 8.22 hours (8 hours and 13 mins) For each day taken as annual leave, the relevant number of hours are deducted from the annual total. Bank Holidays For a full-time employee the entitlement to each statutory day is 7.4 hours (7 hours and 24 minutes). As with Annual Leave, the entitlement should be expressed in hours for those on the compressed hours scheme. There are 8 statutory days each worth 7.40 hours. 8 x 7.40 hours = 59.2 hours in total Where because of an employee s working pattern their working days fall on a statutory day, the usual working hours for that day are then deducted from the total. For example, an employee works a 4-day week, Monday to Thursday (9.25 hours per day). For Bank Holiday Monday, 9.25 hours are deducted from the yearly balance of statutory leave. As with annual leave, this will leave either a balance or a deficit of entitlement at the end of the year, depending on the employee s working pattern. F.A.Qs Why am I not still entitled to 22 days leave based on my new daily hours? When working compressed hours your contractual hours remain at 37 - they are simply worked over a shorter period. Therefore, annual leave entitlement is exactly the same as for a standard full-time employee working over 5 days. However, because the working day for someone working compressed hours is more than the standard 7.40 hours (either 9.25 or 8.22 hours), the annual leave entitlement equates to fewer whole days than it would as a standard 5-day worker. 13. Roundings When expressing leave entitlements in days, any rounding should be to the nearest day (or half-day where this can be accommodated), except for the calculation of long service leave which should be rounded down to a full day. When leave entitlements are calculated in hours, they should be calculated to the nearest minute. Please refer to the ready reckoner below when converting entitlements from decimal to hours and minutes: Annual Leave Guidance 8 Updated December 2012

9 Ready Reckoner for conversions from decimal to minutes Hours (Decimal) Minutes Hours (Decimal) Minutes (The formula is: decimal figure x 60 = minutes) Annual Leave Guidance 9 Updated December 2012