We've noticed your using a old browser this may cause issuse when experincing our site. We recommend updating your browser here this provides the latest browsers for you to download. This just makes sure your experince our website and all others websites in the best possible way. Close

Can an employer refuse a request for annual leave?

Annual leave entitlement and bank holidays

Looking at the leave entitlement data given on threads such as here on the Practice Index forum earlier this year, it seems that only 25% of practices offered 28 days’ leave including bank holidays. Some 28% offered 25 days plus bank holidays, and 22% offered 27 days plus bank holidays.

The amount of annual leave your staff might be entitled to can vary significantly. The legal minimum number of days of paid leave, which employees who work full-time are entitled to, is 28 days. However, this may include bank holidays and if it does, then the freedom to choose days off is limited to 20 days or four five-day working weeks and not 28 days. Nevertheless, an employer may offer a better leave entitlement – for instance, 28 days plus bank holidays. However, part-time staff have their leave entitlement apportioned and this includes bank holidays whether they normally work on that day or not. If you include bank holidays in the overall leave entitlement, then you can’t exclude a bank holiday from the pro-rata leave calculation. Are you lost yet?

Part-time staff and keeping leave records

Now, let’s make it more complicated! Part-time staff can work less than a five-day week and they might also work different hours on different days, as might full-time staff. This is where a system of calculating leave entitlement by annual hours might be introduced. I’m sure we’ve all come across staff who like to take leave on their longest working day or in a week when there’s a bank holiday, where bank holidays are excluded from the leave entitlement. I’ve done it myself. Whatever the system of calculating leave, a careful and accurate method of recording leave requested and taken needs to be in place. Employers usually use personnel software or hard-copy application forms and a card-index system to keep these records. Staff might also be encouraged to keep their own copy of their leave applications.

Not approving annual leave requests

FACT: Sick leave and maternity leave should not run concurrently with annual leave.

Unbeknown to many employees is the fact that an employer can refuse or even cancel a leave application. However, such a refusal shouldn’t, in my view, become a battleground; both employers and their staff need to be fair and reasonable about making leave requests and about approving them.

One colleague has told me that a holiday break in August 2019, requested in January 2019, was refused and that refusing leave is common with her employer. She’s decided to take unpaid leave instead. The ACAS website states that if you want 10 days’ leave, for instance, you need to make your application at least 20 days beforehand (not seven months, as in the example cited above). However, an employer can refuse a request for leave – for example, during busy periods – but they can’t refuse to approve any holiday leave at all. Nevertheless, an employer might specify when leave can be taken or limit how much leave can be taken at one time. Even in the NHS, I’ve come across contractual rules which state that two thirds of the annual leave entitlement must be taken before 30th September. That puts a blight on winter holidays.

Being fair and reasonable – an annual leave policy

Hopefully any sensible employer can avoid a battleground with employees and have in place contractual requirements that stipulate quite clearly how annual leave applications might be handled. Ideally, there should be an Annual Leave Policy, set out in an Employee Handbook. Such arrangements and documentation might include specifying:

  1. How much notice should be given for leave applications, e.g. at least one week
  2. The maximum number of days allowed to be taken in any period of leave
  3. The times of the year when leave might not be permitted
  4. In what circumstances leave might not be approved, such as busy periods or staff shortages
  5. The minimum ‘core’ staffing levels required at any one time
  6. What rota arrangements should be in place during bank holiday weeks or half-term and summer school holidays
  7. How much leave might be carried forward to the next leave year
  8. Who approves leave and whether there’s a right of appeal if leave is refused

Examples of Annual Leave Policies can be found in Practice Index’s Resources section.

Where annual leave has not been approved, there should be a system in place to ensure that staff who have been refused leave are given priority for any subsequent leave requests or permitted to carry forward leave to the next leave year. I’ve always felt that as GP practices don’t provide services on bank and public holidays, it’s unreasonable to include such days in the standard leave entitlement. In the mainstream NHS, local government and the civil service, public holidays are kept separate from the annual leave entitlement. It must be remembered that across the employment spectrum, many employees work weekends and public holidays so their leave entitlement needs to reflect bank holidays. But this is NOT the case in general practice.

A few final words to ‘leave’ on

In conclusion, research suggests that annual leave awarded to GP practice staff varies significantly from practice to practice, and this begs the question how or why some practices can and do afford to give a better pay deal to staff. It’s important to keep in mind that staff may want to develop a career in general practice and might not wish to move to a practice with a poorer contract deal. It might also be difficult to retain staff if NHS leave entitlements are adopted, especially when it comes to practice nurses. NHS negotiators will always argue that additional leave comes at a cost – probably a reduced pay rise. But these days, is 28 days including bank holidays a fair and reasonable leave entitlement? I think not.

Author – Robert Campbell

Rating

Robert Campbell

Former GP Practice Manager with over 25 years experience working in Upton, near Pontefract, Seacroft in Leeds, Tingley in Wakefield, Heckmondwike and more recently Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. www.gpsurgerymanager.co.uk

View all posts by Robert Campbell
Holiday Manager – Meet your new best friend 😍

January 18, 2024

Get ahead for the new annual leave year

March 14, 2024

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

Get in the know!
newsletterpopup close icon
practice index weekly

Subscribe to the Weekly, our free email newsletter.

Keeping you updated and connected.