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UCL Annual Leave Policy

This policy sets out the annual leave entitlement, including bank holidays and UCL closure days.

Contents

Annual leave year

1) The annual leave year runs from 1 October until 30 September.

Annual leave entitlement

2) Full-time staff are entitled to 27 days (197.10 hours) annual leave, pro-rated for part-time staff.

3) The proportion of annual leave to be granted for service of less than twelve months during an employee's first and last leave years is 1/12th of 27 days for each completed calendar month. If an employee starts or leaves part way through a month, they will receive a proportion of the annual leave entitlement for that month.

4) Fractions of half a day or less will be treated as half a day's annual leave and fractions of more than half a day will be treated as one day's annual leave.

5) Annual leave does not accrue during periods of temporary cessation of employment (e.g. between continuous seasonal contracts or career breaks).

6) Some staff may have a different annual leave entitlement, for example, if they chose to retain existing terms and conditions when the Pay Framework was implemented in 2006, or if they have joined UCL as a result of TUPE. Details are available from the Human Resources Division.

Bank holidays and closure days

7) Full-time staff are also entitled to UK Bank Holidays (including public holidays) (eight days i.e. New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, Late Summer Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day) and UCL Closure Days (six days), which are specified in UCL Term Dates. Leave will be calculated pro-rata for part-time staff. Staff who work weekends may be required to take annual leave during University closure periods.

Annual Leave Purchasing Scheme 

8)  All employees who are entitled to UCL’s standard annual leave are also eligible to purchase up to a week’s additional annual leave (pro rata for part time employees). Further details on this scheme can be found on the Annual Leave Purchasing Scheme page. 

Carrying leave forward

9) Wherever possible, staff should take their accrued annual leave prior to taking another type of planned leave (that will last more than 1 month).

10) No payment will be made in lieu of leave not taken, except in respect of the year of termination of employment.

11) Up to 5 days (36.5 hours pro-rata) untaken annual leave will automatically be carried forward into the next annual leave year.  Where an employee has been prevented from taking annual leave, additional annual leave may be carried forward.  The Head of Department must be consulted if a line manager intends to ask an employee not to take annual leave due to operational reasons (if the leave cannot be taken later in the same leave year).  Other examples where more than 5 days’ (pro-rata) leave may exceptionally be carried forward include:

  • an employee on short-term sickness absence towards the end of the leave year (see para 13) and has had to cancel their annual leave;
  • long term sickness (see para. 18);
  • an employee has been unable able to take annual leave due to the timing of their maternity/adoption leave or their parental leave commencing earlier than expected;
  • their booked annual leave is superseded by another contractual leave entitlement towards the end of the leave year.
  • they have permission under the Extended Annual Leave policy - (see below)

Extended annual leave 

12) Employees may wish to take an extended period of annual leave, for example, to celebrate a life event, to go travelling or visit relatives abroad. In such circumstances, an employee with twelve months service may apply to take an extended period of leave (up to a maximum of 6 weeks in a single leave year), subject to the requirements of the service.

13) For this purpose, 6 weeks annual leave may be accumulated by transferring up-to a maximum of 2 weeks annual leave from the preceding leave year (pro-rata for part time staff), to ensure compliance with the Working Time Regulation that employees must take a minimum of 28 days (pro-rata for part time staff) leave every year (including bank holiday and closure leave).

14) Where an employee has not accumulated sufficient annual leave to take an extended period of leave, they may be granted up to 1 month's unpaid leave to add to paid leave which has been accumulated, (to a maximum of 6 weeks in total).

15) The employee should make their request in writing to their line manager, 6 months in advance and give approximate dates.

16) Permission to take extended leave would not normally be granted more frequently than once every three years. Should such permission be granted, the manager will confirm this in writing to the employee.

Calculating annual leave on termination of employment

17) Where a member of staff is leaving UCL's employment, outstanding leave (pro-rated to the leaving date) should normally be taken before the termination date. However, where the line manager has agreed this is not possible, payment will be made in lieu.  The annual leave calculator will help identify the remaining annual leave entitlement. 

18) If staff have taken more annual leave than their entitlement, prior to leaving the University, they will be required to repay any overpayment to the University. This will normally be arranged through a deduction from their final salary.

19) The holiday payment upon leaving will be non-pensionable.

Short-term sickness (less than 4 weeks continuous absence) and annual leave

20) Employees will accrue contractual annual leave but will not accrue missed bank holidays or closure days. Bank holidays and closure days during the period of absence will be counted as sick days, for the purposes of pay and trigger point calculations. Where an employee is unable to take their leave due to sickness absence at the end of the Annual Leave year, exceptionally they will be able to carry forward more than 5 days (pro-rata, capped at 20 days).

Long-term sickness and annual leave

21) Long-term sickness absence is defined as sickness absence lasting 4 weeks or more.

22) Statutory holiday entitlement (20 days plus any bank holidays that fall in the period of absence) will accrue during paid and/or unpaid long-term certified sickness absence. Bank holidays and closure days during the period of absence will be counted as sick days, for the purposes of pay and trigger point calculations.

23) Contractual annual leave (beyond 20 days plus any bank holidays) and UCL closure days are not accrued during periods of long-term sickness absence.

24) An employee may take their annual leave at the same time as long-term sick leave and receive their normal rate of pay. This may be beneficial if an employee has exhausted their sick pay or it has dropped to half pay. The employee must provide reasonable notice for holiday requests to their manager to ensure pay and leave is processed correctly.

25) If an employee does not wish to take holiday entitlement during long-term sick leave, the employee is permitted to take this later in the leave year when they have returned to work. If they do not return to work during the leave year due to continued sickness, they are permitted to carry forward unused statutory annual leave (up-to 20 days) to the next leave year.

26) No payment will be made in lieu of statutory annual leave (up to 20 days) not taken unless it is part of a member of staffs’ final payment upon leaving.

Sickness whilst on annual leave

27) Staff who fall sick whilst on annual leave or just before they are due to take annual leave may take such time as sick leave and will be entitled to take the annual leave days lost due to sick leave at a later date. This is provided that the ill health is reported on the first day of illness, in accordance with the UCL Managing Sickness Absence Policy. The employee will only be entitled to statutory sick pay, if eligible, during the sickness absence unless they provide a private medical certificate at their own expense, or a UK fit note on the 8th day of sickness. Please note that statutory sick pay is not normally paid for the first three days of sickness. 

Parental leave and annual leave

28) Statutory and contractual annual leave will continue to accrue during paid and unpaid Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, Shared Parental Leave, Paternity/Partners Leave. Statutory leave only will accrue during unpaid Ordinary Parental Leave.

Career break and other unpaid leave

29) Annual leave does not accrue while on a career break or unpaid leave (which is not linked to a statutory entitlement i.e. sick leave, parental leave).

Procedure for booking annual leave

30) UCL employees book and record annual leave using MyHR Self Service or the Inside UCL app.

31) Staff will arrange when they take their annual leave in consultation with the Head of Department, or person deputised by the Head.

32) MyHR adjusts annual leave entitlement in accordance with each employee’s work pattern. This ensures that part-time staff are paid the pro-rata equivalent of 41 days leave each year unless they choose to carry forward annual leave to the next year.

Annual Leave for part time staff.

33) Annual leave entitlements are automatically calculated on MyHR Self Service. It is not necessary to manually adjust leave entitlements on MyHR Self Service to account for closure days/bank holidays if the FTE and work pattern have been entered correctly.

MyHR calculation for part time staff

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

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

8 bank holiday + 6 UCL closure days = 14 days. 
60% of 14 days = 8.4 days . 
27 days annual leave x 60% = 16.2 days 
Total leave = 24.6 days multiplied by 7.3 is 179.58 hours (minus deductions below) 


One day's leave is automatically deducted from this total for any bank holidays and UCL closure days which fall on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. The remaining number of days / hours can be taken as annual leave. 
 

Annual leave for staff who work compressed hours.

34) Full time employees working compressed hours are entitled to the same annual leave entitlement (including bank holidays and closure days) as all other full-time employees. When a bank holiday or closure day falls within the compressed hours working pattern, the number of hours usually worked for that day will be deducted from the annual leave entitlement.

A manual adjustment will need to be made on MyHR Self Service using the calculations below, please note this could be a negative adjustment dependant on working pattern. 

MyHR annual leave calculation for staff who work compressed hours (Full leave year)


When the compressed hours are effective from the start of the annual leave year, the below calculation will need to be made to identify the annual leave manual adjustment to be processed on MyHR. Closure days can be found on the Term Dates and Closure page

Maximum Annual Leave (hours) = (197.1) = A
Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days in the leave year (Hours) = (Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days in the leave year * 7.3) = B
Maximum Annual Leave (Hours) = (A + B) = C
Total number of Hours for the Bank Holidays and Closure Days that fall within the staff member’s Work Pattern = D
Annual Leave Entitlement = (C – D) = E

Adjustment to be made in MyHR = (E - A) = F

MyHR annual leave calculation for staff who work compressed hours (Mid leave year)

When compressed hours are agreed as part of a flexible leave application mid-way through the leave year, a manual adjustment will need to be submitted through MyHR to adjust the annual leave entitlement from the date the compressed hours became effective.

This will require two calculations; one for each period of working patterns.

For the below manual calculation it will be necessary to pro rata the amount of leave remaining in the leave year, from the effective date of the compressed hours. The annual leave calculator can be used to calculate this by using the Full Time, Part Year tab and entering the relevant dates. Closure days can be found on the Term Dates and Closure page.

i. Using the annual leave calculator, calculate the annual leave entitlement for the period before the compressed hours came into effect.

ii. Use the below formula to calculate the annual leave entitlement for the period of compressed hours:

Maximum Annual Leave (Hours) = (197.1 pro rata in  the remaining leave year) = A
Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days in the remaining leave year (Hours) = (Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days in the remaining leave year * 7.3) = B

Maximum Annual Leave (Hours) = (A + B) = C
Total number of Hours for the Bank Holidays and Closure Days that fall within the staff member’s Work Pattern in the remaining leave year = D
Annual Leave Entitlement = (C – D) = E
Adjustment to be made in MyHR = (E – A) = F
 

iii. Add the two entitlements together for the total annual leave entitlement for the year, with ‘F’ being the number of hours that needs to be submitted as an annual leave adjustment within MyHR.
 
Worked Example
 

Employee changes from a standard 5 day, 36.5 hours working pattern to a compressed hours working pattern of 9.125 hours a day for four days a week, with every Monday off, effective from the 3rd April 2023.

i. Using the annual leave calculator, a full-time employee will accrue 98.550 hours of annual leave between the 1st October 2022 to the 2nd April 2023

ii. Using the workflow below:

Maximum Annual Leave (Hours) = (197.1 pro rata from the 3rd April to 30th September) = A (98.550)
Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days from 3rd April - 30th September (Hours) = (Number of Bank Holidays and Closure Days from 3rd April - 30th September * 7.3)= B (65.7)
Maximum Annual Leave (Hours) = (A + B) = C (164.25)
Total number of Hours for the Bank Holidays and Closure Days that fall within the staff member’s Work Pattern from 3rd April - 30th September= D  (36.5 4 days x 9.125)
Annual Leave Entitlement = (C – D) = E (127.75)
Adjustment to be made in MyHR = (E – A) = F (29.2)
 

iii. Add the two entitlements together for the total entitlement for the year (98.550+127.75 = 226.30 hours), with 29.2 hours to be added as a manual adjustment within MyHR.

HR Employment Policy Team
January 2024

Related resources


Annual Leave Purchasing Scheme (ALPS)

Request annual leave using Inside UCL app

Contact

For queries on this policy email hr-services@ucl.ac.uk

Policy Owner

HR Division: Employment Policy