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Annual Leave Policy

This Policy is only applicable for those staff employed in UCL Australia

All staff

  1. The leave year runs from 1 October until 30 September. Annual leave will be subject to an entitlement of twenty-seven days, additional to such days as UCL Australia is customarily closed and to public and statutory holidays. This entitlement is pro rata for part time staff.

  2. Annual leave arrangements remain 'notional' for academic staff, reflecting the way in which academic staff work and the time off in lieu arrangements operating locally in academic departments.

  3. Leave will be taken at such times as may be arranged in consultation with the Chief Executive / Chief Financial Officer or person deputised by him/her and approval is subject to service requirements. There may be times of year when annual leave cannot be taken due to the nature of the work undertaken and service provided.

  4. Accrued leave should be taken within the respective leave year; no payment will be made in lieu of leave not taken. A maximum of 20 days annual leave will be carried forward to the next leave year if not taken.

  5. If an employee accrues annual leave of 30 days or more (pro rata for part time staff), UCL Australia management can require him/ her to take a proportion of the leave (20 days in total for General Staff) by giving two months notice.

  6. Where an employee is leaving UCL ’s employment, outstanding annual leave should normally be taken before the termination date.  However, where this is not possible, payment may be made in lieu of leave accrued but not taken.  

  7. Annual leave loading will be paid at the rate of 17.5% of the ordinary rate of pay paid during the first 20 days leave period, up to the limit of payment equal to the Australian Statistician's average weekly earnings for all males (Australia) for the preceding August quarter. This payment will be made once a year in December.

  8. Public and Statutory holidays and UCL Australia Closure Days as agreed locally. The additional public and statutory holidays under South Australian legislation as compared to UCL UK entitlements, will be offset by a proportionate reduction in any closure leave that is agreed for UCL Australia staff, making 14 days in total (see list of Public Holidays and UCL Closure Days at UCL : UCL Australia).

  9. Members of staff whose religious beliefs require them to be absent on particular days of the year outside the normal statutory holidays must take such days either as unpaid leave, as part of their annual entitlement or make the time up by agreement with the Chief Executive / Chief Financial Officer. See Leave for Domestic and Personal reasons: UCL Australia


  10. Part-time staff - pro-rata calculations
    Part-time staff are entitled to the pro-rata equivalent of 27 days annual leave, 14 days public and statutory days and UCL Australia agreed closure days per year. Some examples of how to calculate pro-rata entitlement are given below. Part days will be rounded up to the nearest half day.

  11. Examples

    (The following examples are based on the full-time equivalent of 36.5 hours per week, 27 days annual leave)

    11.1

    For part-time staff who have a regular working pattern of less than 5 days per week, the number of pro-rata days for public and statutory days and UCL Australia closure days should be added to their annual leave total and a day's leave deducted for any public and statutory days and UCL Australia closure days falling within their work pattern.

    e.g. a regular working pattern of 3 days per week, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday each week (60%fte):

    Public and Statutory days + UCL Australia closure days = 14 days.
    60% of 14 days = 8.4days

    27 days annual leave x 60% = 16.2 days

    Total leave = 24.6 days (rounded up to 25 days).

    One day's leave must be deducted from this total for any public and statutory holidays and UCL Australia closure days which fall on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. The remaining number of days can be taken as annual leave.

    11.2

    For part-time staff who work 5 short days per week, there is no need to add their pro-rata entitlement to public and statutory days and UCL Australia closure days to their annual leave total, as each leave day will be equivalent to their short day. These days will be managed in line with the arrangements for full-time staff.

  12. For part-time staff who have an irregular working pattern, it may be more practical for annual leave to be expressed in hours rather than days. The pro-rata entitlement for public and statutory days and UCL Australia closure days should be added to their annual leave total and the appropriate number of hours deducted for any public and statutory days and UCL Australia closure days falling within their working pattern.

    e.g. a member of staff who works 60% fte

    Public and Statutory days + UCL Australia closure days = 14 days x 7.3 hours = 102.20 hours

    60% of 102.20 hours = 61.32 hours
    27 days annual leave x 7.3 hours x 60% = 118.26 hours

    Total leave = 179.58 hours (rounded up to 180 hours).

    The appropriate number of hours must be deducted from this total for any public and statutory holidays and UCL Australia closure days which fall within the planned working pattern. The remainder to be taken as annual leave.

HR Policy and Planning
Updated January 2010