Annual leave

• You must obtain the prior approval of your line manager before booking or taking leave. 
• Departments and divisions may notify staff in advance of periods when leave may or may not be taken in accordance with local operational requirements. Every effort will be made to accommodate personal circumstances and for agreement to be given to leave requests.
• If you fail to return from leave on the agreed date, you may be in breach of your contract of employment. If you're unable to return on the agreed date, you must contact your line manager as soon as you have become aware of any difficulty. You should also prepare to provide documentary evidence to support any continued absence from work.

Contact the staff hub for further advice if required.

• Staff are encouraged to make requests for leave as far in advance as possible in order to facilitate the effective planning of leave arrangements.
• Managers are also responsible for ensuring that staff take leave throughout the leave year. This is to ensure that staff aren't forced to take leave in the last few weeks of the leave year or finding they're unable to.
• If staff fail to return from leave on the agreed date, they may be in breach of their contract of employment. Staff who are unable to return on the agreed date must contact their line manager as soon as they become aware of any difficulty and must be prepared to provide documentary evidence to support their continued absence from work.

Contact the staff hub for further advice if required.

The College leave year runs from 1 February to 31 January.

Leave must normally be taken within the leave year. With the agreement of your line manager, staff may be permitted to carry up to 5 days leave (pro rata for part-time staff) forward into the next leave year. This rule also applies when staff have been absent during the leave year. No payment will be made in lieu of leave not being taken. 

The Holiday Leave entitlement for staff who are employed on standard terms & conditions and linked to a Job Family is 25 days. You can see your full leave quota and summary, including how much holiday leave you have left in a leave year, by logging into the availability and absence management system, TeamSeer.

Holiday leave may be taken at any time in the year subject to prior agreement by line managers.

New starters

During the first year of employment staff are only entitled to take paid leave that has been accrued unless otherwise agreed with their manager. Holiday leave is calculated based on the number of months you will work in the leave year. 

Part-time staff

Part-time staff are entitled to the same rights as full time staff on a pro rata basis. In order to ensure a consistent and fair approach to Holiday Leave, part-time staff will be given a pro-rata holiday leave entitlement of the full time equivalent based on the total number of hours that they work per week.

The entitlement will be quoted in either days or hours dependent upon the member of staff’s working pattern. Part-time staff will be expected to deduct the appropriate number of days or hours from their entitlement for each holiday leave day taken in the same way that full time staff do.

Your available holiday leave can be viewed by logging into the availability and absence management system, TeamSeer. 

Leaving the College

For staff leaving the College, holiday leave is calculated based on the number of months you will work or have worked in the leave year.

Staff should take any outstanding leave during their notice period. Where circumstances prevent leave from being taken, staff will receive pay in lieu, subject to PAYE and NI deductions.

If staff have exceeded their entitlement, the College will deduct an equivalent number of days’ pay from any pay due on the termination of employment, or will otherwise seek to recover the money owed after employment has ended.

Carrying over holiday leave

Leave is normally taken within the leave year. However, with prior agreement with your line manager, staff may be permitted to carry up to 5 days’ leave (pro rata for part-time staff) forward into the next leave year. This rule also applies when staff have been absent during the leave year. No payment will be made in lieu of leave not being taken.

The mandatory leave entitlement, for staff who are employed on standard terms & conditions linked to a Job Family, is 14 or 15 days. This consists of the 8 statutory public holidays which are observed by the College plus 6 or 7 College Closure days (this varies depending on the day Christmas falls since the College does not re-open between Christmas and 2 January). The College closes on all Mandatory Leave days. Mandatory leave cannot be accrued.

See College Closure dates.

New starters 

You are entitled to the mandatory leave days that occur during the leave year that you work. 

Part-time staff

Part-time staff will be given a pro-rata mandatory leave entitlement based on the total number of hours that they work per week. The entitlement will be quoted in either days or hours depending on your working pattern. 

If your pro-rata mandatory leave entitlement exceeds the number of mandatory days you need to take, you may add the balance to your holiday leave entitlement. Conversely, if your normal working day falls on a Mandatory day and you have an insufficient pro-rata Mandatory Leave entitlement to cover these days, you will be required to take the balance from your Holiday Leave entitlement.

Leaving the College

Staff who leave the College will be entitled to the mandatory leave days that occur during the leave year that you are employed.

No payment will be made in respect of mandatory leave upon termination of employment.

Staff required to work on a mandatory leave day

Most staff will not be required to attend work on statutory public holidays or College Closure days. Where staff are required to work on these days then they may add the equivalent time to their holiday leave entitlement.

Maternity leave

Staff are entitled to receive annual leave during maternity leave. 

See our maternity leave pages for more information.

Sickness absence

Staff will accrue holiday leave entitlement as normal during any periods of sick leave.

As mandatory leave cannot be accrued, staff will not be entitled to mandatory leave during any periods of sick leave.

See our sickness absence pages for more information.

Extended special leave

For extended leave of absence, sabbatical leave and unpaid leave, paid statutory annual leave may accrue.

See the Special Leave [pdf] policy for more information.