Information on the leave arrangements policy
Annual leave entitlements are to be provided to ALL employees of the Council from day one of employment. Employees who work on a part time, hourly paid/variable or temporary, short term basis will receive an appropriate pro-rata entitlement to annual leave. This pro-rata entitlement will also include a pro-rata entitlement to Bank Holidays.*
The leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March, except where an employee’s written conditions of employment otherwise provide. It may be necessary for leave to be taken during specified periods of the year, as determined by the particular nature of the job. If this is the case, it will have been made clear at the time of appointment. Annual leave may only be taken with the prior approval of the manager.
The starting basic annual leave entitlement for all employees across all pay bands is 185 hours. Basic annual leave entitlement for employees is based upon the permanent full time equivalent of 37 hours per week.
In addition, employees will receive:
Up to 29.6 hours annual leave may be carried forward from one leave year to the next. There is no requirement for employees to obtain approval to carry forward leave but any leave carried forward should be taken by 31 May. Employees whose leave year ends on a date other than 31 March should take any leave carried forward within 2 months of the end of their leave year. Any carry forward of more than 29.6 hours will need to be authorised by a Director, Assistant Director or Executive Head and managed locally. Pro-rata leave entitlements continue to apply for part time employees.
Additional leave with or without pay may be granted in special circumstances at the discretion of the Executive Head/Line Manager in line with the guidelines below.
Up to a maximum of 88.8 hours leave with pay in any 12 month period may be granted in order to undertake the following public duties:
For employees serving in the Reservists/non-Regular Forces, paid leave will not be pensionable. Any paid leave in respect of Reservist leave will not, therefore, be counted towards an employees’ reckonable service under the Local Government Pension Scheme. Payroll must be notified of agreed Reservist Leave in advance of the leave being taken.
Employees will be entitled to take paid leave in respect of polling station duties only. For employees carrying-out postal vote duties, annual leave or flexi should be requested or with their manager’s approval, employees can request to be paid the difference between their usual hourly rate and the rate of postal voting duties, where their usual hourly rate is lower. For all other electoral duties, including training for polling station duties and counting, annual leave or flexi (where the scheme is in operation) must be taken.
Employees holding more than one of the duties listed above are entitled to no more than 12 days in total in any period of 12 months.
Employees acting as a Governor in a school/college or other educational establishment, will be permitted a maximum of 14.8 hours in any period of 12 months to support the carrying out of these duties. This provision is in addition to any special leave an employee has taken under the arrangements set out elsewhere in this section. The same arrangements will apply to part-time employees on a pro-rata basis.
Any fees, emolument or other remuneration, except expenses received by employees in carrying out these duties (other than election duties and attendance as a member of the non-regular forces), must be paid to the Council.
In exceptional circumstances, Directors, Assistant Directors or Executive Heads may consider other applications for special leave of absence.
Where an employee is called up for jury service, they must submit a ‘Discretionary Paid Leave’ through My Time Management on MyView for it to be authorised by their line manager. .
The employee must also provide a copy of the Court Summons. Paid time off work will be given for attending Jury Service on the understanding that the employee receives reimbursement from the court (subject to the maximum daily allowance) for the earnings paid by the Council, for the full period of Jury service. Monies reimbursed by the Court must be repaid to the Council.
If on any day the employee’s services are not required at the Court, they will be required to return to work for that day.
The Council will need to complete the Certificate of Loss of Earnings (which the employee will get with the letter confirming their jury service). The Certificate of Loss of Earnings must be completed by the Council’s Payroll Department:
Please forward to: Payroll@torbay.gov.uk or Payroll, Lower Ground Floor, Town Hall, Castle Circus, Torquay, TQ1 3DR
Once complete the Certificate of Loss of Earnings will be returned to the employee who will then need to send the Certificate of Loss of Earnings to the relevant Court, as part of their claim for expenses once jury service is complete.
Executive Heads and line managers are expected to consider sympathetically any request from an employee who has lost a relative or where a member of an employee’s family is ill. The illness would be of a serious or life-threatening nature.
The following guidelines will apply to the granting of compassionate leave:
Managers can also grant up to 37 hours unpaid leave in addition to the relevant compassionate leave allowance in the case of death/illness of a spouse/partner or an immediate relative.
Employees have a legal right to time off without pay in a number of situations already (see Guidance Notes on Parental Leave and Time Off to Care for Dependants). The Council also operates a Career Break Scheme.
Other requests for unpaid leave may be granted in exceptional circumstances with the approval of a Director, Assistant Director or Executive Head. Unpaid Leave must be requested by the employee through MyView, under ‘My Time Management’.
Any periods of authorised unpaid leave or child related unpaid leave will not be treated as pensionable and will reduce the amount of pension earned during the year. Employees can, however, choose to pay Additional Pension Contributions (APC) to buy the ‘lost’ pension. Employees can elect to pay an APC within 30 days of returning to work and the Council will pay 2/3rds of the APC.
If the employee elects to pay an APC after 30 days or returning to work, the Council will not be required to make a contribution and the employee will bear the full cost. This 30 day window may be extended at the Council’s discretion, in agreement with Pensions. For employees who want to pay additional contributions to buy the ‘lost’ pension for this period, they should complete the LGPS Calculator and return one copy of their completed application form to Peninsula Pensions and the other copy to:- Pensions, Torbay Council, Lower Ground Floor, Town Hall, Torquay, TQ1 3DR. For any queries in completing the application for, please contact Pensions, Tel: 01803 207410.
Routine medical, dental, ophthalmic appointments (including treatment) and complementary therapies (where this is recommended by a G.P or the Occupational Health Service) that is not at a hospital should, where possible, be arranged to take place outside normal working hours (outside core time for employees on Flexitime).
It is recognised that sometimes the appointments may need to be within working hours and where there are particular difficulties (e.g. employees not on flexitime who are unable to obtain an appointment outside working hours) managers will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests subject to service considerations.
For those employees on Flexitime, if it is not possible to arrange an appointment outside of core time, up to 1 hour may be claimed in the adjustment panel.
Where the employee is referred for treatment by their GP at a hospital or other such clinic and the treatment lasts for half a day or more, the absence can either be treated as sickness and may qualify for sick pay or taken as flexitime (and not count as sickness absence/quality for sick pay).
Adjustment hours (under flexi) or sick leave cannot be claimed for treatments that are not specifically recommended by a GP.
Paid time will be granted for appointments with the Council’s Employee Counsellor, but not with private counsellors, unless referred by the Employee Counsellor, and sessions occur during the employee’s normal working hours.
The Employee Counsellor will, where reasonable, attempt to offer a time for an appointment which suits individual wishes and service needs, provided this falls within normal working hours. Employees must advise their manager in advance of such appointments if these fall within working time but other than the time, no other information will be sought by the manager.
This is a right allowing employees to take a reasonable amount of time off work to deal with certain unexpected or sudden emergencies and to make any necessary longer term arrangements. The emergency must involve a dependant of the employee.
The right to time off applies to all employees including those on part-time and fixed-term contracts. Employees are entitled to this right from day one of starting their job.
The right enables employees to take action which is necessary:
A dependant is the husband, wife or partner, child or parent of the employee. It also includes someone who lives in the same household as a member of the family. It does not include tenants or boarders living in the family home.
In case of illness, injury or where care arrangements break down, a dependant may also be someone who reasonably relies on the employee for assistance, e.g. an aunt who lives nearby whom the employee looks after, or an elderly neighbour living alone.
The legislation does not specify the amount of time off which is reasonable, since this will vary with the differing circumstances of an emergency. For most cases one or two days should be sufficient to deal with the problem. The leave should be enough to help the employee cope with the crisis – to deal with the immediate care of the child, visiting the doctor if necessary and to make longer term care arrangements.
The statutory right is intended to cover genuine emergencies only. Local Government also provides time off for foreseen events of a serious nature involving a dependant. No limit on the number of times an employee can be absent from work under this right has been set, however, a degree of reasonableness is expected.
If employees know in advance that they are going to need time off they should inform their line manager as soon as reasonably practical, for instance as soon as a hospital appointment is known. If using annual or flexi leave, they should ask for leave in the usual way. If the reason relates to their child, they may be entitled to take parental leave.
The right does not include an entitlement to pay. However, under Torbay Council’s policies some paid compassionate leave may be granted. It may be possible to make time up (through ‘time off in lieu’ or using flexi leave). The employee should discuss with the manager whether the time is to be unpaid, taken from an annual leave entitlement or time to be made up.
Time off for emergencies not covered by the new right will be at the discretion of the manager but will be considered sympathetically, taking account of the circumstances, including who else may be available to deal with the emergency.
Employees who think they have been unreasonably refused time off, or subjected to detriment (e.g. denial of promotion or training opportunities or dismissal) for exercising a statutory right should first raise their complaint as a formal grievance. Employees may make a complaint to an employment tribunal against their employer once they have pursued their grievance through Council procedures.
This scheme is provided in addition to the Maternity Scheme. Therefore, employees participating in any Fertility Treatment Scheme will be entitled to the usual maternity/paternity (maternity support) benefits, should they be successful in the treatment.
The leave applies to anyone requiring personal medical intervention in order to conceive a child for whom they will then either have, or expect to have, responsibility for its upbringing. The types of treatment that may be covered are as follows:-
This applies to all employees, regardless of whether they work full or part-time, are permanent or temporary, or are in a same-sex partnership.
The Scheme allows employees undergoing such personal medical treatment some paid time off work. The Scheme may be used for NHS or private treatment and an appointment card must be produced. As much notice as reasonably possible should be provided for taking time off for treatment.
| Employee | Total time allowed | How this time is allocated |
|---|---|---|
| All female employees | 111 Hours | 37 hours are allocated for each cycle of fertility treatment |
| All male employees | 33.3 hours | 11.1 hours hours are allocated for each cycle of treatment |
Where an employee has exhausted their entitlement to paid time and still requires more time off, e.g. because they are having a fourth cycle of treatment, managers may use their discretion to decide whether further paid time may be taken. Managers should consult Human Resources if this situation arises.
Where an employee becomes unwell as a result of fertility treatment, any absence should be classed as sickness absence. Again, managers will need to be mindful of the cause of absence and may need to use discretion as appropriate.
Parental Leave is the individual statutory right of a female or male employee to take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid leave. Leave must be taken for the purposes of caring for the child.
From 5 April 2015, parental leave applies to eligible parents of children up to 18 years old.
All eligible employees who have completed one year’s qualifying service are entitled to take a period of unpaid leave to care for each child if they:
During the leave period, the following terms of employment will still apply: implied duty of trust and confidence; implied duty of good faith; and terms and conditions, if any, relating to:
Employees on parental leave shall have the same right to return to their job as provided to those on maternity leave. For employees who take leave for a period of more than 4 weeks in duration, consideration should be given to introducing the employee back to the workplace by providing any necessary training or updating.
The employee needs to give as much notice as possible with a minimum of 21 days (3 weeks) notice in writing. If requested, an employee must confirm the age of the child and their relationship to them. Parental leave may be granted to employees who have not given the required notice in special circumstances at the discretion of an Executive Head. Such discretion shall not be unreasonably withheld.
Torbay Council will have the right to postpone the leave for up to three months from the date the employee wished to take the leave. In exceptional circumstances, this leave may be postponed for up to six months. This right arises if the Council’s business would be “unduly disrupted” by the employee’s absence (for instance, where it is difficult to re-arrange staff cover or where the service user would be disadvantaged, in Schools for instance). Consideration by the Council and employee should be given to adjusting the length of leave, pattern of leave or date of leave in the case of postponement. The Council will give notice of the postponement within seven days of the request for leave confirming the reasons for postponement and the period of rescheduled leave. Every attempt will be made by the Council to avoid postponement.
Postponement may not be used where employees in the particular circumstances outlined below have requested parental leave:
The Council will be as flexible as possible in accommodating leave-taking arrangements by employees.
Under the Council’s scheme, Parental Leave may be taken:
The 18 weeks entitlement is the total entitlement for a parent, up to their child’s 18th birthday, equivalent to 1 week per year.
Employees are expected to make every effort to report for work on time and to remain at work for their usual working hours, however, it is recognised that certain conditions, such as adverse weather, disruption to travel arrangements or power supply issues may affect or prevent this. Torbay Council is committed to protecting the health and safety of all its employees however must ensure that disruption caused to its services remains minimal.
Torbay Council will always encourage employees to use any flexible options available to them to cover any periods of absence, where appropriate. Unpaid leave will always be the last option however may be the only option available when all other options have been exhausted.
Torbay Council will ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees. Employees are reminded of their duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their actions or omissions. This includes taking extra care when travelling to and from work in severe weather conditions.
Employees are advised to always drive within their capabilities and if the conditions are too severe, not to travel. Torbay Council does not expect employees to put themselves at additional risk by driving in adverse weather conditions. Individuals will need to undertake a personal assessment of the risk as they feel it applies to their driving capabilities and personal circumstances to determine whether they should risk driving in severe weather and/or leave work early in such circumstances. This assessment should be made in consultation with their line manager whose permission must be sought so that they can take account of any impact to the service and service users.
Torbay Council recognises that severe weather particularly affects employees whose job involves driving or working outdoors. Line managers are advised to undertake regular risk assessments to ensure that employees working in these conditions are properly instructed, provided with the appropriate clothing and equipment and given sufficient rest breaks.
Permission to leave work early must be sought from the immediate line manager and will not be unreasonably refused, given the impact of the weather conditions upon travel needs (including possible disruption to public transport) and other personal responsibilities (e.g. collecting children from a school that is closing due to bad weather). The time of leaving must be recorded by the employee or their manager.
Dependent upon the individual situation, it may be possible or necessary for an employee to take work home with them as appropriate.
Where planned power outages occur, employees’ ability to continue working will differ depending on job role and service. Employees who can continue to work safely should do so and should ensure that equipment such as laptops, phones and tablets are kept fully charged during times when there is a risk of power outages. Employees should also familiarise themselves with accessing files and documents offline.
Where it is not possible to work offline, either due to the nature of the role or health and safety reasons alternative arrangements should be considered, this may include a temporary adjustment of working hours or use of flexi-leave. Any temporary changes must be agreed between the employee and their line manager, see Paid Options below.
Employees should endeavour to adhere to their normal hours of work, even if this means arriving into work late. However, it is not Torbay Council’s intention that employees put themselves at unnecessary risk when trying to attend work. Employees should use their own judgement and, if unable to attend work, contact their line manager as soon as possible (i.e. within one hour of their usual start time). Where travel disruptions prevent the employee from travelling back to their usual home location, e.g. flight delays, and they are due back at work, they should make reasonable attempts to contact their line manager to explain the situation, giving an estimated date of arrival back at work. Where the situation becomes prolonged, the employee should keep their manager informed of the situation in order for service cover arrangements to be made.
Where travel conditions prevent safe travel to work, then the possibility of working from home should be explored with the immediate line manager. This could be particularly effective where some advance warning of hazardous road conditions has been given and a degree of planning to work from home can be discussed. Managers should seek to consult with employees in advance about the possibility of homeworking and have a record of employees who are able to work from home. The health and safety aspects of remote working, safeguarding business confidentiality and data protection requirements should always be considered in advance of any homeworking arrangement. The Council’s Homeworking policy and guidance contains further details.
It is recognised that for many employees the option to work from home does not exist, in which case please see below.
When a half day or shorter periods of time are lost, these can be dealt with through the Flexitime Scheme. In such cases the normal maximum of 14.8 hours in debit (equivalent to 2 standard working days) may be increased to 18.5 hours in debit (equivalent to ½ a standard working week) and be carried forward for a reasonable period, i.e. up to six weeks. Flexible bands may also be extended to accommodate an earliest start time of 6am and a latest finish time of 10pm.
When a complete day, or more than one day is lost, this can be regarded as annual leave, to be set against the employee’s annual leave entitlement. If the current year’s entitlement is exhausted it may be set against the following year’s entitlement. Up to a maximum of 37 hours can be taken against next year’s entitlement. Alternatively, flexi-leave can be taken to cover complete days in line with the arrangements set out above.
For employees who do not have flexible working hours, temporary local arrangements should be made wherever possible for lost hours to be made up at another time (e.g. swapping of shifts, taking into account the Working Time Regulations 1998), as an alternative to taking a day or half day’s leave.
Line managers should take all reasonable steps to avoid the need for their employees to lose pay. In order to ensure consistency across the Council, ‘credit’ should not be given for lost time, unless approved generally in specific circumstances, in which case this will be the subject of a separate notification.
In the event that due to severe disruption the Council takes the decision to close the offices, the following arrangements will apply:
Official communication on closure in this instance will be issued by a Director, a member of the Council’s Emergency Planning Team or the Head of Human Resources having taken into account the nature and level of disruption. Managers and Employees are encouraged in advance as part of Business Continuity to agree in advance teams and individuals where either option above would apply and plan accordingly.
In both situations employees are advised to keep in communication with the Council as to when it will re-open through contact with the line manager, the Torbay Council Website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Employees who are on pre-booked Annual Leave, Flexi Leave or another form of pre-arranged leave or absence that has been approved by the Manager via MyView will be deemed to be away from work as agreed during the period of closure and there will be no further credit or recompense available to them.
Where all paid options have been exhausted, employees can take lost work time as unpaid leave. Employees with childcare/dependent responsibilities can request this under the Time-off to Care for Dependents policy as a short-term option.
Unpaid Leave must be requested by the employee using the Unpaid Leave through MyView.
It is intended that the Council should not unfairly penalise those employees who clearly make every effort to report for work in exceptionally severe weather conditions or during periods of disruption to public transport. Managers should contact Human Resources to ensure that all employees are treated consistently.
In rare circumstances adverse weather or other circumstances may result in it being unsafe to provide a service either completely or to the usual level/standard (for example, where the service relies on driving activities).
There are a couple of options to consider:
Torbay Council promotes equality and anti-discriminatory practice. In doing so, it recognises that employees may need time off to meet their religious commitments.
Time off may include:
All requests must be treated with the utmost respect; under no circumstances will the domination or devaluing of others’ beliefs be acceptable. Managers are expected to accommodate reasonable adjustments to the working day or leave arrangements to cater for religious observance, however this does not mean that individuals are entitled to ‘extra leave’ over and above the standard entitlements.
It may not always be possible to cater for everyone, particularly if the majority of staff are wishing to take time off to observe the same festival. Where necessary, a fair system of allocation should be used (rota’s, ‘first come first served’ etc.). Managers are also expected to help employees find a suitable place within the workplace where they may meet their commitments to prayer.
If mutual agreement cannot be reached between the employee and manager, or further advice/assistance is required, then Human Resources should be contacted. Arrangements such as the flexi scheme, annual leave, home-working, career breaks etc may provide solutions to work/life balance needs in respect of religious observance.
| Date | Page | Details of Change | Agreed by: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 February 2008 | 10 | Amendments to IVF section to refer to Fertility Treatment in general and inclusion of same-sex partnerships | TJCC 28.2.08 |
| 28 February 2008 | 11 | Greater flexibility re: paid time-off for additional treatment (if required) | TJCC 28.2.08 |
| June 2010 | 2 | Changes to annual leave entitlement following harmonisation | Single Status Group (as part of JE agreement) |
| June 2010 | Various | Changes to job titles - Assistant Director/Director replaced with Executive Head | |
| September 2010 | 15 | New section added – Adverse Weather/Travel Disruptions | TJCC 9.9.10 |
| April 2014 | 5 | Addition of new information re: Jury Service | SSG 11.4.14 |
| April 2014 | 6 | Addition of new information re: Unpaid Leave Request Form and Pension Contributions During Unpaid Leave | SSG 11.4.14 |
| April 2014 | 13 | Legislation changes – Parental Leave (13 weeks to 18 weeks) | For information only |
| April 2015 | 13 - 15 | Legislation changes – Parental Leave (applicable to children up to 18 years old) | TJCC 18.3.15 – for information only |
| April 2015 | 4 | Changes to electoral duties | TJCC 22.4.15 |
| December 2015 | 6 | Changes to APC 30-day window – at Council’s discretion. | For info only – changes to pensions regulations. |
| June 2016 | Various | MyView process changes. | For info only – process changes. |
| June 2016 | 5 | Compassionate Leave Entitlement – in the case of serious illness of a spouse | partner |
| June 2017 | Various |
Compassionate Leave – reviewed to ensure compliant with Collective Agreement Dec 2016. Unpaid Leave – to be claimed through MyView. Process change. |
For information only |
| January 2019 | 11 | Updated in response to Storm Emma taking into account working practice and guidance from LGA. | For information only. |
| May 2022 | All | Put into new corporate template | |
| February 2023 | 12 | Inclusion of power supply issues and remedies | TJCC for information only – 17th February 2023 |
Policy to be reviewed as and when required due to operational or legislative changes.