Annual Leave Policy. (Incorporating National Terms and Conditions of Service) Version Author Date Comments Approved by. V1.0 AGEM CSU CF Specialist

Transcription

1 (Incorporating National Terms and Conditions of Service) Version Author Date Comments Approved by No V1.0 AGEM CSU CF Specialist Content reviewed CF comments added Head of Governance V APPROVED Governing Body

2 Reader information Reference CCG Document purpose HR007 NHS Rushcliffe CCG Sets out the policy for the management of annual leave entitlement Version V1.10 Title Author AGEM HR Business Partners Director of Corporate Development Beachcroft LLP CCG Approval Date CCG Approving Committee Governing Body Review Date November 2019 Groups/staff Consulted Target audience Circulation list Associated documents Superseded documents Sponsoring Director NHS Rushcliffe CCG CCG staff CCG staff Flexible Working Policy Special Leave Policy Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Policy Your Attendance Matters Policy; Sickness Absence Procedures; associated toolkit for Managers. NHS Nottinghamshire County PCT Policy and Procedure on Annual Leave (incorporating National Terms and Conditions of Service) Chief Officer

3 Contents 1. Introduction Policy Statement Scope Annual Leave Year Entitlement Entitlement for complete years Entitlement for New Starters Calculation of Reckonable Service Entitlement on changing contractual hours General Public Holidays ( Public Holidays ) Compressed hours Annual Leave for Term Time Only Contracts Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Annual Leave During Exclusion/Disciplinary Proceedings Extended Period of Annual Leave Carry over of Annual Leave Sickness occurring during Annual Leave or Public Holidays Accrual of annual leave during long term sickness Annual Leave During sickness Entitlement on Leaving Death in Service Authorisation of Annual Leave Cancelling Annual Leave in Exceptional Circumstances Late Returns from Holiday Buying of Annual Leave Principles of the Buying of Annual Leave Scheme Eligibility Criteria Relevant Legislation/National Guidance Due regard Equality Statement Breaches Review...12 Appendix 1 Authorisation to Buy Additional Annual Leave

4 Introduction Paid holiday entitlement forms part of both the contractual and statutory terms of the employment contract and can be calculated in a variety of differing ways. NHS employers look to deliver more favourable terms than statutory provisions provide for. The provisions in this policy are based on the need to ensure a fair system of holiday entitlement for CCG employees which supports modernised working practices. 1. Policy Statement This policy describes the processes to be followed for managing the differing varieties of holiday entitlement as defined under the Working Time Regulations and NHS National Terms and Conditions of Service and is put in place to meet defined/differing working patterns. The aims of this policy are: To provide a uniform and equitable approach to the management and calculation of annual leave and bank holiday entitlements taking into account the arrangements defined under National Terms and Conditions of Service; Meet equal pay for work of equal value criteria, recognising that pay constitutes any benefits in cash or conditions; To comply with Working Time Regulations; To provide guidance on the provisions of taking holidays at Christmas and New Year. There are separate CCG policies providing for either agreed time off either through flexible working or for dealing with immediate unforeseen matters. Managers are expected to be familiar with these policies (Flexible Working, Special Leave, Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Policies). 2. Scope This policy applies to all fixed term and permanent employees other than Medical/Dental staff, for whom separate provisions apply. The CCG will ensure that the application of any part of this policy does not have the effect of discriminating, directly or indirectly, against employees on the grounds of race, colour, age, nationality, ethnic (or national) origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, religious belief or disability. The application of this policy will apply equally to full and part time, substantive and temporary employees. 3. Annual Leave Year The CCG s annual leave year runs from 1st April to 31st March and is split between Statutory leave (28 days inclusive of general public holidays public holidays ) and contractual leave (leave above 28 days inclusive of public holidays). Contractual holiday entitlement does not accrue under the Working Time Regulations. 4. Entitlement 4.1 Entitlement for complete years The entitlement to paid annual leave and paid public holiday provisions under Agenda for Change in a full annual leave year for an employee who works 5 days a week are set out below. 4

5 Length of service Annual Leave Public Holidays* On appointment 27 days (202.5 hours) 8 days (60 hours) After 5 years service 29 days (217.5 hours) 8 days (60 hours) After 10 years service 33 days (247.5 hours) 8 days (60 hours) *The entitlement for public holidays will reflect the number of public holidays in that leave year i.e. will vary depending on when Easter falls The table below shows the number of hours that can be credited depending on the number of public holidays in that leave year. Number of public Number of hours if Calculation if part time holidays in the year full time 6 45 Divide your contractual weekly hours by 5 and times 8 60 by the number of public holidays = entitlement in hours Full and part time employees who work 5 equal length days may record their leave in days. All other employees should record their leave in hours. All leave calculations for all employees will be rounded up to the nearest half hour. This is to ensure equity between all, so that employees working variable hours/shifts do not receive either more or less paid leave than colleagues who work a fixed pattern. As a governing principle, the number of hours taken as paid leave will equal the number of hours the employee would otherwise have worked. Annual leave is recorded through Employees self-service on their Electronic Service Record (ESR). Annual leave will normally be taken in periods of not less than half the hours of an employee s normal working day. Pay during annual leave will include regularly paid supplements including any recruitment and retention premia and on-call. Pay is calculated on the basis of what the employee would have received had he/she been at work. 4.2 Entitlement for New Starters All new joiners will be entitled to annual leave on a pro-rata basis in the year of joining the CCG. Entitlement in the first year is dependent on the period from the date of joining to the end of the annual leave year calculated in weeks. Public Holiday entitlement will be in accordance with the number of Public Holidays remaining in the leave year. If working variable hours/shifts, entitlement will be calculated in hours pro-rata to hours worked. Annual leave entitlement for part years can be calculated using the calculator available on the intranet on the basis of 1/52.14 for each complete week (subject to the terms of the paragraph above). However, these are used as estimates only. The figure on ESR will be the figure adopted unless there is an error in the information held on ESR or unless there is a discrepancy of more than 5 minutes. 5

6 5. Calculation of Reckonable Service An employee s continuous previous service with a NHS employer will count as reckonable service in respect of annual leave. In addition, aggregated NHS service, i.e. any period of time that has been worked in the NHS, regardless of whether or not there has been a break in service, will count as reckonable service for annual leave, though the break will not count. No other service other than NHS service will contribute to annual leave entitlement. The organisation will recognise as much previous NHS service as possible. The onus is on the individual to provide satisfactory documentary evidence of the period of employment to be recognised. Providing false evidence will be dealt with under the organisation s Disciplinary Policy and a referral will be made to the Counter Fraud Specialist (CFS) for investigation which may result in criminal action. Evidence must be verified before reckonable service can be confirmed. 6. Entitlement on changing contractual hours Where an employee changes their contracted hours, this will result in a re-calculation of their annual leave entitlement based on completed weeks on the new and the old contracted hours to give the full year entitlement. 7. General Public Holidays ( Public Holidays ) A Public Holiday is defined as a period of normal duty that starts within the period of 24 hours from midnight to midnight. The 8 Public Holidays in the year are: New Year s Day Good Friday Easter Monday May Day Spring Bank Holiday August Bank Holiday Christmas Day Boxing Day All employees are entitled to the above 8 paid Public Holidays where they fall in the leave year. In the case of part time staff, this will be a proportionate number of Public Holiday hours based on their basic weekly contracted hours. The total leave entitlement is calculated by adding their annual leave entitlement to the Public Holiday hours. Employees working as a job share should be treated as part-time for the purposes of calculating holiday and Public Holiday entitlement. On each and every occasion an employee takes paid time off on a Public Holiday as part of their basic week, the appropriate deduction of their normal basic working hours for that day will be made from their overall entitlement. Where operationally possible and subject to mutual agreement, an employee may make the time up where their public holiday entitlement is less than the hours they are due to work. Examples Employee A works 30 hours per week, 7.5 hours Monday - Thursday. For each Public Holiday their entitlement is 6 hours. In a year where there are eight Public Holidays 48 hours is added to their annual leave total. 6

7 On any of the Public Holidays eg May day that fall on their normal working day they will need to deduct 7.5 hours from their annual leave entitlement unless they have agreed they can make the 1.5 hours (7.5-6) up in which case they only need to reduce their entitlement by 6 hours. Where a Public Holiday falls on their non-working day they do not need to deduct any time. There will be some years when more or less than 8 Public Holidays fall within the leave year simply because Public Holidays follow the calendar year and Easter can fall in March or April. If a general public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, an alternative date will be notified to employees. Employees required to work or to be on-call on a Public Holiday are entitled to equivalent time to be taken off in lieu at plain time rates in addition to the appropriate payment for the duties undertaken. Employees will not be entitled to an additional day off if sick on a statutory holiday (National Terms and Conditions 14.8). Public Holidays do not accrue whilst on Sick Leave. 8. Compressed hours Where an employee is working compressed hours equivalent to full time hours for example a nine day fortnight their annual leave entitlement should be taken in hours and the amount deducted on any days leave should be the equivalent of their normal working day. For example where someone is working 9 equal length days over a fortnight they would deduct 8.3 hours for any days annual leave taken and also for any public holiday which fell on a normal working day. 9. Annual Leave for Term Time Only Contracts Paid annual leave for employees on term time only contracts will be proportional to the established entitlements as set out in Table 1. This is based on taking defined notional periods of annual leave within the school holidays and therefore captures both statutory holiday entitlement and contractual entitlement. The term time only pay formula includes payment for annual leave and public holiday entitlement based on their entitlement in Table 1 above.. Any variation of holidays outside the defined school closure must be agreed in advance with the employee s line manager and will be subject to service needs. If it is in addition to the school holiday closures Managers should contact HR to calculate the impact on salary. For employees on term time only contacts there is no entitlement to carry over annual leave into the next leave year period. 10. Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Annual leave during maternity/paternity/adoption/parental leave is managed according to the Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Policy. 11. Annual Leave During Exclusion/Disciplinary Proceedings Annual leave during exclusion/disciplinary proceedings should be agreed with the excluding officer prior to it being taken. Consideration will be given to individual circumstances for example whether the employee booked a holiday before the exclusion began. If an employee is dismissed following a disciplinary hearing, holiday calculation will be taken up to the date of termination. Any adjustment will be made within any final payment. 7

8 12. Extended Period of Annual Leave In normal circumstances the maximum length of annual leave to be taken consecutively will be two weeks. However, in exceptional circumstances, it may well arise that an employee wishes or needs to take an extended period annual leave of three weeks or all of their entitlement in one go. Managers should give careful consideration to any such requests taking into account the health and wellbeing of employees and seek to ensure that the employee is able to have regular planned annual leave/time off throughout the rest of the year. Managers will need to clarify the CCG s expectations and procedures in relation to the needs of the service, and the amount of time required and whether or not they are able to grant such a request. 13. Carry over of Annual Leave The CCG expects that within the annual leave year employees will be provided with the opportunity to take all their annual leave. Only in exceptional circumstances up to a contractual working week in hours of basic contracted holiday hours under the contractual holiday entitlement may be carried over into the following leave year, with the agreement of the Line Manager. If an employee has returned to work from absence before the holiday year expires they must take any accrued statutory holiday entitlement before the end of the holiday year. If they choose not to do so this accrued holiday will be lost and cannot be carried over. Where employees have, exceptionally, been prevented from taking their leave due to service demands then, again, the amount carried forward will be expressed in contracted hours and this should not normally exceed one week and will be reviewed with an employee s line manager on a case by case basis. In the case of employees on long term sickness absence and the accrual of statutory annual leave, please refer to the Your Attendance Matters Policy and Sickness Absence Procedures and the associated Toolkit for Managers. 14. Sickness occurring during Annual Leave or Public Holidays If an employee falls sick whilst on annual leave, then in accordance with the sickness notification and certification through the Your Attendance Matters Policy and Sickness Absence Procedures, the period covered will be treated as sick leave, allowing the employee to take the annual leave another time. In accordance with National Terms and Conditions of Service, employees will not be entitled to an additional day off if sick on a Public holiday. Where an employee s prearranged holiday coincides with a period of sick leave, the employee has the option to designate an alternative period for holiday. 15. Accrual of annual leave during long term sickness Employees will accrue annual leave during long term sick leave based on their contractual annual leave entitlement, excluding Public Holidays. If an employee s sickness absence spans two leave years, the maximum of accrued annual leave (excluding Public Holidays) that may be carried forward will be in accordance with the Working Time Directive, and is currently four weeks, where one week is equal to the employees contractual hours). 16. Annual Leave During sickness Contractual annual leave will accrue and can be taken during a period of sickness however the number of days will be deducted from the employees accrued annual leave entitlement. Therefore, an employee on sick leave for all or part of the annual leave year is entitled to any 8

9 untaken annual leave when they return to work. Please refer to Section 14 for carry over provisions into a new annual leave year. Where an employee s prearranged holiday coincides with a period of sick leave, the employee has the option to designate an alternative period for holiday. Employees will be allowed to take holiday during sick leave or as part of a phased return to work. Holidays taken whilst on sick leave must be made in line with the Authorisation of Annual Leave procedure. 17. Entitlement on Leaving Employees who leave the organisation will be entitled to be paid for annual leave accrued from the start of the leave year until their leaving date less any annual leave already taken. Employees who are part time or who do compressed hours may also be paid for any outstanding public holiday entitlement that is unused where the public holidays have occurred. Where total leave taken exceeds the earned total leave entitlement an appropriate deduction will be made from final monies. If the final salary is not enough to cover monies owing, the employee will be required to pay these monies and will be invoiced by the CCG. 18. Death in Service Where an employee dies in service, annual leave entitlement will be calculated as set out in section 18 entitlement on leaving. Where there are monies owing to the deceased for outstanding annual leave not taken, the monies will be payable to their estate. Where the deceased has taken too much annual leave, the organisation will not seek to recoup this amount. 19. Authorisation of Annual Leave All leave must be pre-authorised by an employee s line manager using ESR and requested in a timely fashion. Four weeks notice by an employee should be considered reasonable and timely. Annual leave cards should be returned to the employee as soon as leave has been agreed. Employees should note that it is their responsibility to give as much notice as possible of their request/requirement of Annual Leave in accordance with departmental protocols to avoid disappointment. Employees must give the appropriate notice before they can take their statutory annual leave or this could result in annual leave being lost. 20. Cancelling Annual Leave in Exceptional Circumstances All annual leave is subject to line manager s approval and dependent upon the needs of the service. However, it is not anticipated that annual leave will be cancelled once consent has been given unless in exceptional circumstances in order to maintain staffing levels during a critical time and within critical areas only following discussion with the employee for example a national emergency such as a flu pandemic. 9

10 21. Late Returns from Holiday If for any reason an employee cannot return from annual leave on the agreed date, they must inform their line manager as soon as possible and provide details of the nature of the problem and the likely date of return. Failure to do so will mean that any extra days not worked will be classed as unauthorised absences and a breach of contract subject to disciplinary procedure. Where there is a reasonable explanation then the line manager may agree that the employee can take additional annual leave or if none is left then time in lieu or unpaid leave may be given. 22. Buying of Annual Leave The CCG is committed to assisting its employees to achieve a healthy balance between their work and personal lives, in the best interests of both service delivery and the wellbeing of individuals. To support this employees have the option to buy annual leave. This builds on the existing provision for unpaid leave and career breaks, which are still available to employees. The scheme allows employees to "Buy" extra holiday entitlement of up to one week per annum (or in exceptional circumstances only, two weeks per annum) and is designed to give employees extra flexibility to working lives. Managers will consider the impact of any carry over of annual leave as in paragraph 14 before agreeing the purchase of further annual leave Principles of the Buying of Annual Leave Scheme The buying of additional annual leave will normally be given consideration at the commencement of each leave year. Employees who would like to buy one extra week s holiday will have their annual salary reduced by one week s pay, and this deduction will be spread evenly across each month s salary, i.e. one week s salary will be recovered over a 10 month period. The first deduction will be taken from the salary paid in June 2016 and then this will be followed by 9 equal monthly payments. As deductions will be taken from the individual s gross pay, tax and National Insurance will be slightly reduced, as they will be calculated based on the reduced salary. However pension contributions will be deducted as if the normal salary has been paid which will ensure pension entitlements are unaffected. Managers can however consider requests for buying leave during the year where an employee s circumstances change and they find they need to take additional leave. Employees will need to be reminded and understand that the cost per month of buying additional leave at a later date will be increased due to the time period to pay for the leave will be reduced i.e. six larger equal payments over six months instead of 10 smaller equal payments over 10 months. Below are examples of how deductions may be calculated. Example 1 Employee s basic gross annual salary is 25,000 (works hours per week) requested in October with 6 months remaining in the annual leave year to repay the purchase of additional annual leave divide 25,000 by (weeks per year), resulting in a weekly salary of ; 10

11 divide this figure by 6 (months) to arrive at the amount that will be deducted from the employee s monthly salary, producing a figure of Example 2 Employee s basic gross annual salary is 20,000 (works 30 per week) requested in June with 10 months of the annual leave year to repay the purchase of additional annual leave divide 20,000 by (weeks per year), resulting in a weekly salary of divide this figure by 10 (months) to arrive at the amount that will be deducted from the employee s monthly salary, producing a figure of Individual employees can buy one week s leave, (in exceptional circumstances two weeks can be bought if operations allow) with the approval of their manager. The additional annual leave will be added to the employee s normal annual leave entitlement and will be authorised in the same way as normal annual leave. There is no requirement that this additional annual leave will need to be taken as a block week. If an employee who has opted into the scheme terminates their employment part way through the year the remaining payments will be deducted from their final salary payment. However any untaken annual leave that is due upon termination will also be reimbursed. Applications must be made on the Buying Annual Leave application form (Appendix 1). Both the employee and manager must sign the application form before being submitted to the People Services team for action. The correctly completed application form must be received within the People Services Team before the 4 th day of the month to guarantee purchase of additional annual leave; deductions from salary are made within that same month. Failure to meet this deadline could result in payments being delayed and the monthly payments to be increased Eligibility Criteria All requests for buying annual leave will be given full consideration by the line manager. The presumption is to allow the employee as much flexibility as possible while operating within the needs of the service. The line manager will assess each application on its merits and may reject applications where, for example, the cost of backfill is prohibitive. Where it is not possible to accommodate the request, a written response detailing the reasons why the application has not been successful will be provided. Managers must notify any of their employees on maternity or adoption leave about the scheme. The scheme is open to both full time and part time staff alike; part time cost or benefit will be as per existing pro rata entitlement in hours. A record of all employees entering the scheme will be kept by the CCG and Payroll. Managers must also keep a record of all their staff in the Scheme and whenever there is a member of their department who has a Change in Terms & Conditions or leaves the organisation, then Managers MUST state clearly on the change or termination form that the employee is in the Scheme. The carry-over of any annual leave to the next leave year will be consistent with the organisations policy and procedure on annual leave. The appeals process will be via the CCG Grievance Policy. 11

12 23. Relevant Legislation/National Guidance National Terms and Conditions NHS Employers Pay Circulars The Working Time Regulations 1998, Maternity and Work and Family Act and other maintaining work life balance provisions and health and safety legislation may also have an impact on absence issues. HMRC v Stringer (Stringer) Pereda v Madrid Movilidad SA (Pereda) Lyons v Mitie Security Limited 24. Due regard This policy has been reviewed in relation to having due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) of the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination; harassment; victimisation; to advance equality of opportunity; and foster good relations between the protected groups. 25. Equality Statement NHS Rushcliffe Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) aims to design and implement policy documents that meet the diverse needs of our services, population and workforce, ensuring that none are placed at a disadvantage over others. It takes into account current UK legislative requirements, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998, and promotes equal opportunities for all. This document has been designed to ensure that no-one receives less favourable treatment due to their personal circumstances, i.e. the protected characteristics of their age, disability, sex (gender), gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity. Appropriate consideration has also been given to gender identify, socio-economic status, immigration status and the principles of the Human Rights Act. In carrying out its function, NHS Rushcliffe CCG must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). This applies to all activities for which it is responsible, including policy development, review and implementation. 26. Breaches Breaches of this policy will be investigated and may result in the matter being treated as a disciplinary offence under the CCG s Disciplinary Policy or in association with the Counter Fraud Specialist which may result in criminal action. Failure to follow a CCG policy could result in disciplinary action being taken, up to and including dismissal. 26. Review The will be reviewed periodically every three years (or earlier if changes in the law or any other circumstances require it) and will be approved by the Governing Body. 12

13 Appendix 1 Authorisation to Buy Additional Annual Leave Please return this form to the CCG s HR Lead and Arden and GEM CSU People Services team so that arrangements can be put in place (e.g. for deductions from salary over the coming financial year to be made). NAME DIRECTORATE LOCATION ASSIGNMENT NUMBER DEPARTMENT GRADE I have discussed this with my Manager and I wish to buy One/Two Week(s) additional annual leave and agree that appropriate deductions are made from my salary. I understand that this will have no impact on my pensionable service, if I contribute to the NHS Pension Scheme. I agree that, should I leave before the end of the financial year, the amount owed to the CCG in respect of this leave can be deducted from my final salary payment. Signed Print name Date Authorisation By Manager: Signed Print Name Date Date received in HR mthly deduction Date sent to Payroll 13