Coronavirus (COVID-19): Annual Leave Protocol

Making and managing leave requests during the pandemic

Throughout the pandemic period staff are encouraged to take their annual leave as normal and within the current leave year wherever possible, unless there are important operational reasons not to do so. Staff are also reminded not to cancel leave without line manager consent. 

Line managers should note that some staff may wish to use annual leave as a means of managing the balance between work and their responsibility to their families during any periods of where normal arrangements are impacted by the pandemic. Line managers should accommodate such requests as much as possible, whilst balancing the needs of other team members.

If necessary, and in order to manage leave requests fairly, line managers can require staff to take annual leave on particular days, provided they give at least twice as many days’ notice as the number of days to be taken, e.g. notice should be given at least 10 days before the start of a 5-day period of annual leave. Line managers can also decline requests in the interests of operational requirements, by giving at least the same number of days’ notice as the number of days requested, but should only do this where absolutely necessary, and should ensure that staff can take their leave at alternative times. These notice periods can be reduced by agreement with the staff member.

Summary of annual leave enhancements made by the University

In recognition of the significant pressures that staff were under due to the pandemic, the University enhanced the arrangements for annual leave in 2020 and 2021, as follows:

  • 24 December 2020 was an additional closure day.
  • Staff were not required to use annual leave to cover the 2020 closure days (24, 29, 30 and 31 December 2020) and benefited from being able to use the days that would normally have been deducted at another time in the leave year. Staff who are required to work during closure days due to essential operations were able to take the equivalent number of days worked on the closure days at another time in the leave year.
  • A temporary increase to normal carry forward provisions was agreed by the University, to allow the carry forward of up to 10 days (pro-rata for part-time staff) of untaken annual leave from the leave year 2019/2020 for use by the end of the leave year 2020/2021.

Deferring annual leave

Certain staff may be asked to defer annual leave to enable business critical functions to continue to operate during this period and/or to assist in the effort to combat COVID-19 (for example, researchers involved in COVID-19-related research or staff at the School of Clinical Medicine who are involved in direct care of affected patients). Line managers should only make these requests where absolutely necessary, and staff should be permitted to rearrange that leave as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards.  

Carry forward provisions during the pandemic

Where it is not reasonably practicable for staff to take some or all of their leave entitlement in the current leave year due to the effects of coronavirus, they are entitled to carry forward any leave remaining into the following 2 leave years. This provision was introduced by the Government as a temporary COVID-19 measure and could apply, for instance, where:

  • Departments have been unable to accommodate annual leave requests due to critical coronavirus-related work.
  • Staff have been self-isolating or too sick with coronavirus to take holiday before the end of the current leave year.

When considering whether it was not reasonably practicable for a staff member to take leave under these provisions, the following factors should be taken into account:

  • whether there was a significant increase in demand due to coronavirus that reasonably required the staff member to continue to be at work and which could not be met through alternative practical measures
  • the extent to which operations were disrupted by the coronavirus and the practical options available to provide temporary cover of essential activities
  • the health of the staff member and how soon they needed to take a period of rest and relaxation
  • the length of time remaining in their leave year, to enable them to take holiday at a later date within the current leave year
  • the extent to which taking leave would impact on wider society’s response to, and recovery from, the coronavirus situation
  • the ability of the remainder of the available workforce to provide cover for the staff member whilst on leave.

Staff Travelling Overseas 

If staff travel outside of the UK (where this is legally permissible in accordance with the government regulations in force), they will need to ensure that they have booked sufficient annual leave to cover any period of quarantine required on their return or, alternatively, consideration should be given as to whether they could work from home or the place they are staying during that period. They should also check whether their destination country has any restrictions in place and plan their leave accordingly. 

All staff that travel overseas at this time must be aware that government guidance can change with very short notice and should therefore plan accordingly. It is recognised that there may be extenuating circumstances where staff may be required to take leave from work at short notice outside of the UK, for example to attend the funeral of a close family member, in which allowances can be considered exceptionally. If there are specific circumstances please speak to your line manager or HR School team. All annual leave should be requested following the usual procedure. 

Last updated: 11 January 2021