Annual leave

Annual leave allowances will be in accordance with Annex F1.

See also annual leave for new starters and promotions

In certain cases previous relevant service with another employer may, at the discretion of the Public Services Commission, be taken into account in determining the appropriate allowance. Credit for previous relevant experience will be on a year-for-year basis with a normal maximum credit of 10 years.

(This Regulation took effect from the 1 October 1992 and amended the previous arrangement which only gave credit for past superannuable service).

F3 General provisions

No civil servant is entitled as of right to be absent on leave for the number of days leave for which he is eligible, or to receive any form of compensation if, owing to the exigencies of the Service, his annual leave allowance is curtailed. In practice however, unless there are very exceptional circumstances (eg emergencies or disasters) the full entitlement may be claimed.

F4 Leave year

The leave year is the year 1 April to 31 March. Records shall be kept of all annual leave taken.

Note: Regulation F5 blank.

F6 Applying for annual leave

No civil servant may take annual leave without prior permission. An application for leave should be submitted in the approved form to the Accounting Officer (or other appropriate person authorised by the Accounting Officer), at least 10 days before the date of the first day of leave requested.

F7 Leave allowance use

Civil servants should be encouraged to take their full leave allowance and, subject to official requirements, should be allowed some measure of selection of the period to be taken as leave, though they cannot claim to take leave at any particular period of the year.

Every effort should be made to ensure that civil servants who are due to retire take whatever leave is due to them. Wherever possible, therefore, the last day of attendance should be fixed to take into account any untaken leave. If this is not possible, the Regulations at F16 – Cash compensation to F21 – Calculation for payment/refund – will apply. These arrangements however, are not intended to enable civil servants to accumulate annual leave with the intention of converting it to a cash payment.

A) Appointments commencing after the start of the leave year

When a civil servant is appointed after the start of the leave year, only a strictly proportionate part of his annual leave allowance should be regarded as accruing in respect of each completed week's service in that year. The proportionate allowance should be rounded up to the nearest half day.

B) Employment ends during the leave year (resignation, retirement or death)

The leave allowance due to a civil servant who resigns, retires or dies in service during the course of the leave year, is a strictly proportionate part of his annual leave allowance accruing in respect of each completed week's service in that year. The proportionate allowance should be rounded up to the nearest half day.

Note: Regulation F10 blank.

Contractual annual leave will not be accrued during absences from work for the following reasons:

1. absences on either unpaid special leave, unpaid sick leave, additional maternity leave, parental leave or additional adoption leave and
2. continuous absence on sick leave prior to premature retirement on the grounds of ill health

However a) does not break continuous service for the purpose of qualifying for a higher leave allowance.

Consideration should be given to any entitlement to Statutory Leave (4 weeks’ paid leave each year) which may be applicable.

Last updated: 13 June 2013 – Amendment Ref. 13-009

F12 Anticipation of leave

Civil servants may be allowed to anticipate up to 9 days' annual leave during March, this being the last month of the leave year.

F13 Department discretion

Departments may, at their discretion, allow leave to be anticipated beyond the limits indicated above. Should the civil servant then be discharged or resigns before he has completed 9 months' service in the leave year, a refund of salary will be required for any leave anticipated beyond these limits.

The refund may be waived, however, if:

1. the discharge was not due to voluntary resignation or to misconduct
   
   
2. the anticipated leave was not taken after notice of discharge or preliminary warning of discharge had been given
   
   
3. the appointment was terminated during, or at the end of, the period of probation

F14 Deferment of leave

With effect from the 2012/13 annual leave year, (ie 1 April 2012) the accumulation of leave from year to year is permitted only to the extent that a civil servant may carry over up to 12 days' leave which may be taken during the next leave year.

With effect from 1 October 2013 this allowance, which may be taken during the next leave year, will be pro rata for part time staff proportionate to the number of full days or hours worked in the week.

The current full working week for a civil servant is 37 hours over 5 days. This is the basis for the pro-rata calculations.

The proportionate allowance for part time staff will be rounded up to the nearest half hour.

For the calculation of carry over for civil servants who work non-standard working patterns advice should be sought from the Office of Human Resources, HR Advisers.

_{Last updated: January 2019 - Amendment No 15-053}

_{Last updated: 24 April 2014 - Amendment No. 14-001}

F15 Exemption to leave carry over

Any leave in excess of 12 days not taken within the leave year will normally be lost.

However, if a civil servant in post is specifically prevented by management from taking his full annual leave allowance in the year in which it was earned, he should be permitted to carry over the balance into the next year.

Except in cases of dismissal, which are covered in Regulations F18 – Granting of annual leave during suspension or dismissal, payment for untaken leave should only be made in the following circumstances: 

1. where the last day of service is known well in advance (as is usual with normal and premature retirement and redundancy) payment should be made only for annual leave which a civil servant has been specifically prevented from taking by management
   
   
2. where a civil servant resigns, any leave outstanding should be taken before the last day of service and may be converted into a cash payment only where for management reasons he has been specifically prevented from taking it
   
   
3. when a civil servant is medically retired whilst on sick leave, cash compensation should be allowed only for the amount of leave untaken (subject to the provisions of Regulation F11 – Periods of absence where leave does not accrue) when the sick absence leading to the retirement began
   
   
4. after the application of F11, payment in full should be made for all leave untaken at the date of death in service. (Refer to Regulations F21 – Calculation for payment/refund – to calculate the payment)

Civil servants leaving the Service (including dismissal) who have exceeded their annual leave allowance should be required to refund from salary an amount equivalent to the number of days overtaken calculated in accordance with Regulation F21 – Calculation for payment/refund. When death occurs in service recovery should be waived.

F18 Granting of annual leave during suspension or discharge

A civil servant who has been suspended or given notice of discharge should not be granted leave which, together with leave previously taken, would exceed the strictly proportionate part of the full period of leave in respect of each complete week of service in the leave year.

F19 Probation termination waiver

The requirements of this regulation may be waived in the case of civil servants whose appointment is terminated during, or at the end of, their period of probation.

F20 Payment upon employment termination

_{Last updated: 19 October 2010 - Amendment No 09-015}

A civil servant dismissed from the Service shall forfeit his right to any contractual annual leave untaken at the time of their dismissal.

Statutory Leave

In accordance with the provisions of the Employment Act 2006 all workers are entitled to:

• 4 weeks’ paid leave each year (‘statutory leave’ pro rata for part time staff) and
• payment, when their employment terminates, for any statutory leave to which they are entitled but which they have not taken

A week's leave should allow workers to be away from work for a week. It should be the same amount of time as the working week:

• if a person works a 5 day week, he or she is entitled to 20 days' leave
• if he or she works a 3-day week, the entitlement is 12 days' leave.

Where a worker's pattern of work is based on weekly or monthly hours rather than a fixed number of days, (so that the number of days worked in a week or the length of shifts etc. may vary) it will not normally be possible to say what a 'day' means so that a different basis of calculation is required:

Example 1

A person who works 35 hours a week is entitled to 35 x 4 = 140 hours' paid holiday.

Example 2

A person works 150 hours a month. The total amount of hours worked in a year will be 12 x 150 = 1800. 4/52 x 1800 equates to 138.46 hours' paid holiday.

F21 Calculation of payment/refund for annual leave

Payments or refunds of pay for days of untaken or overtaken leave should be based on the full daily rate of pay inclusive of all regular allowances and other emoluments in the nature of pay such as Shift Disturbance Allowance, but exclusive of overtime, on-call and other allowances of a reimbursement nature, which would be applicable on the date of termination of service, or which would have been applicable in the case of a civil servant whose pay has been reduced eg sick leave on half pay or pension rate. Payments for untaken leave are subject to the normal statutory deductions but not for superannuation contribution purposes.

The following formula should be used for the calculation of payments or refunds:

( (Annual Salary + Reckonable Allowances) ÷ (52.2 (weeks) x 5 (days)) ) X Number of days leave

F22 Leaving the service

a) If a civil servant leaving the Service is given a cash payment in lieu of untaken annual leave, that payment will not be regarded as a pensionable emolument. For superannuation purposes, service will only accrue up to the last actual day of service, (ie any payment made in respect of untaken leave does not count towards a civil servant's period of service).

b) Similarly, if a civil servant is required to make a refund because he has exceeded his leave allowance, this will not affect the rate of pensionable pay and reckonable service. For superannuation purposes, service will only accrue up to the last day of actual service, and no adjustment will be made in respect of the period of excess leave which the refund relates to.

A part-time civil servant should be allowed paid annual leave appropriate to his allowance, proportionate to the number of days/hours worked in the week. The calculation of annual leave in hours should be resorted to only when the pattern of working is so variable that it is impracticable to calculate it in days.

When, in the course of a leave year, a civil servant becomes eligible for a higher leave allowance, he should be given, in that year, a part of the increase due, proportionate to the part of the leave year remaining. Any fractions of a day will be rounded up to the nearest half-hour.

Last updated January 2019 Amendment: PSC 15-054

Where a civil servant working full time requests reduced working hours and the request is approved, credits of annual leave accrued prior to the effective date of the change in hours will be proportionate to the contract in force at the time and will not be reduced on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the newly contracted hours.

For example - a civil servant working full time who gains approval to reduce his working hours to 18.5 hours per week effective from 1 August, will be permitted to credit annual leave accrued between 1 April and 31 July at the rate of 7 hours and 24 minutes.

Where a public, bank or privilege holiday occurs during a civil servant's absence on annual leave, the holiday should not reckon against his annual leave allowance.

F27 Sickness during or before annual leave

Annual leave may not be taken instead of sick leave and shall not be granted immediately following a period of sick absence unless the civil servant produces either a self-certificate or a medical certificate of fitness to return to duty (with the exception of civil servants returning to work on a part time basis following sick leave – see Sickness Advice & Guidance Notes within the Public Services Commission Civil Service Regulations Handbook).

F28 Sickness during leave reporting procedure

If a civil servant falls sick during a period of annual leave and his Accounting Officer is notified immediately, provided that the period of incapacity seriously interrupts the period of leave (ie 4 or more days of serious illness) and the civil servant produces a self-certificate or a medical certificate to that effect in accordance with Section E to these Regulations, the period of illness should be recorded as sick leave and not as annual leave.

Note: Regulations F28 to F34 are blank.