Holidays Procedure

1. Introduction and purpose

This holiday procedure sets out employees’ entitlements to annual leave and the Organisational rules on taking annual leave.

2. References

Standard	Title & Description	Clause
ISO 9001	Quality Management Systems	7.1
ISO 14001	Environmental Management Systems	7.1
ISO 45001	Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems	7.1

3. Application and scope

This procedure applies to all Keltbray employees.

4. Responsibilities 

Employees are responsible for taking all their annual leave entitlement every year and ensuring that leave is approved by their manager in advance. 

Managers are responsible for reviewing, scheduling, and approving, providing documented confirmation of approval or denial and monitoring annual leave requested and taken.

Payroll is responsible for recording and monitoring booked annual leave and will ensure annual leave is paid correctly and in a timely manner.

5. Procedure 

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, employees are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave in each leave year. This entitlement includes bank holidays.

The 5.6 weeks of annual leave will convert into different entitlements for each employee dependent on their individual working arrangements. Individual contracts of employment will detail an employee’s personal entitlement. For example, 5.6 working weeks leave will, by the nature of their working week, convert to fewer days or hours of annual leave for a part time employee when compared to a full-time employee. The pro-rata principle may also apply to other practical arrangements, other than for part-year employee’s (i.e., those that are not required to work 52 weeks a year).

Annual leave entitlement for part-time employees will be calculated based on the number of days worked in a week. For employees working less hours across 5 days, their annual leave will be calculated in the same way as a full-time employee as they work 5 days a week. For employees working less than 5 days a week, their annual leave and bank holiday entitlement will be pro-rated based on the number of days they work. You do this by pro rating the “total full-time entitlement” eg. full time entitlement is 25 days + 8 bank holiday days = 33. If someone works 3 days a week, you divide 33 by 5 then times by 3 (33 / 5 X 3) = 19.8, rounded up to 20 days “total entitlement”. The employee then ‘books’ any bank holidays that fall on their working days out of their total entitlement, for example, if someone has 6 of the bank holidays fall on a working day, they deduct 6 days from their 20 days entitlement and are therefore left with 14 days annual leave for the year.

All leave must be pre-authorised by the Organisation. Taking leave without authorisation will be considered a gross misconduct offence. Taking leave despite a declined request will be considered a gross misconduct offence. Gross misconduct offences may result in dismissal without notice.

The Organisation’s holiday year runs from 1st January to 31st December. The leave year for Wentworth House Partnership runs from 1st November to 31st October.

5.1 Booking Leave 

Employees must give notice of their request to take leave.

The way you book annual leave will depend on the frequency you are paid and which division you work in. To request holidays, you should complete the Holiday Form and send to your line manager for approval. The form and the approval should then be sent to the relevant holiday email address below for your annual leave to be logged and paid correctly:

MONTHLY PAID EMPLOYEES:

• Built Environment – [e-mail]
• Infrastructure – [e-mail]

WEEKLY PAID EMPLOYEES:

• Built Environment – [e-mail]
• Infrastructure – should be recorded directly onto Kronos

You are required to give at least two weeks’ notice of proposed holiday dates.

Employees should not make any firm travel or accommodation arrangements etc until they have received written confirmation that their request for leave has been granted. There may be circumstances where the Keltbray cannot grant the request, such as operational/staffing requirements. Keltbray is not liable for any loss incurred by an employee, such as lost deposits etc, if they incur costs and make commitments prior to receiving confirmation.

There may be more requests than usual for leave that coincide with school holidays/half terms, due to the number of employees with children of school age. The Organisation will make every effort to accept as many of these requests as possible but has to have regard to its operations and ensuring there is sufficient cover for all work to be undertaken, considerations which sometimes need to take priority over granting all these types of requests.

We understand that unexpected events can arise that mean you have to change your plans, which can have a knock-on effect for your booked leave. Requests to cancel pre-booked annual leave should be made in writing to the line manager giving as much notice as possible. Whilst we will always try to accommodate the needs of our employees, it is sometimes necessary to balance the needs of the business as a whole against those of individual employees, including the considerations of arrangements that have already been made to cover your work during that time. Cancellation requests therefore may be authorised by [Manager] at their discretion, taking into account your individual circumstances and the needs of the business, but [Manager] reserves the right to refuse your request if the cancellation would have an adverse effect on the business.

5.2 Company Requirements 

Keltbray may reasonably require an employee to take annual leave without prior notification for reasons which will be explained to the employee at the time.

Keltbray may ask an employee to cancel any previously agreed leave. There may be various reasons for this, such as operational or staffing issues, or business commitments that require the employee’s presence. Keltbray recognises the inconvenience that this may cause an employee and, therefore, understands that the employee may refuse this request. Keltbray will make a decision on whether, where the cancellation is agreed and the employee suffers a financial detriment e.g., lost deposits etc, the employee is to be reimbursed.

5.3 Bank Holidays 

Due to the needs of the business, it may be necessary for an employee to work on a bank holiday. Where this happens, employees will be entitled to take a day’s leave at another time in the leave year to be agreed with the line manager in accordance with business needs.

5.4 Holiday Pay

During annual leave, employees will receive their normal pay. Where pay varies, holiday pay is calculated by taking an average over the previous 52 weeks in which work was carried out, or the number of weeks the individual has worked for the Organisation if this is less than 52.

5.5 New Starters and Pre-Booked Leave 

During the recruitment process, prospective employees may be asked whether they have any leave booked that would take place after commencement of employment. If the individual is recruited, Keltbray will normally allow such leave to be taken.

The rules on accrual of annual leave may mean that the employee has not, at the time that leave is to be taken, accrued such length of leave to cover their holiday. In this case, the employee and the line manager will agree how any time off in excess of accrued leave will be covered.

5.6 Holidays and Sickness

The normal sickness notification procedures will apply to an employee when they are on leave and wish to reallocate the period of leave as sickness, with the result that reconvened leave may be taken at another time in the leave year. Where the required notification is made, Keltbray may permit those days to be classed as sick days and equivalent time off taken as paid leave later in the leave year provide the leave falls within the statutory minimum entitlement. The days on which the leave is to be taken must be agreed with Keltbray.

Employees who are on an overseas holiday when they fall sick should contact the Organisation as soon as reasonably practicable.

5.7 Undertaken Annual Leave

Keltbray encourages employees to use all of their leave entitlement each year so that they have the opportunity to rest. Employees should ensure they take at least four weeks annual leave in each leave year.

Untaken leave cannot be carried forward into the next leave year and will be lost.  Only in exceptional or extenuating circumstances, is leave permitted to be carried over to the next leave year.  Approval must be sought from the line manager and relevant Board Director.

In the event of long-term sickness and other absence preventing employee’s full entitlement to be used (e.g. sickness, family leave), a maximum of 4 weeks can be carried over. Please refer to our Absence Management and Family Matters procedures for more details.

It is not possible under any circumstances for an employee to be paid in lieu of annual leave they have been unable to take during the leave year.

5.8 Termination of Employment

When employment terminates part way through a leave year, the employee’s leave entitlement will be recalculated on a pro-rata basis. This will determine the amount of leave the employee would be entitled to, for the period of service during the leave year.

Any outstanding leave accrued but untaken will be paid to the employee in their final pay. This is subject to the right of the Organisation for the employee to take their outstanding leave during their notice period. Otherwise, the amount due for outstanding leave will be added to the employee’s final pay.

If the employee has exceeded their pro-rata entitlement to holidays at the time they leave their employment, this will be classed as an overpayment and an amount to cover this will be deducted from their final pay, subject to the maximum that their final pay permits.

6. Associated Documents 

Reference	Title
GRP-HR-FRT-100	Holiday Request Form

7. Terms & Definitions 

Term	Definition
N/A