u/Hot_Decision7494

Dear all,

I left the NHS at the end of April; at that time, I had 42 hours AL left unused. During the notice period, my group manager, Band 8b, asked whether I wanted to take the leave. I said I would like to work until the end of April instead of using it. I did not confirm whether this can be paid after leaving, just assume that. This is a mistake.

After leaving without receiving any payment for annual leave, I asked the group, and the manager refused to pay it as follows,

"Apologies  I should have clarified this earlier as I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding. xxx was always free to take his outstanding annual leave if he wanted to, which is why it wasn't added to his leavers form on ESR. The policy is that outstanding leave is only paid in lieu if the staff member has asked to take leave and had this request turned down due to the needs of the service, which did not happen in this case. I'm sorry if he expected this to be paid to him but this is not something that I offered to him either verbally or in writing so he shouldn't have been relying on it. 

This might seem like a hard line but I do have a responsibility to follow xxx policies to make sure we are using our funding strictly for it's intended purpose, so I think I have to still say no on this one."

The relevant policy is "

9. Entitlements on Joining and Leaving 

• The Trust will make every effort to meet the needs of new employees in respect of commitments to holidays made prior to the commencement of employment. Managers should ask new members of staff whether they have any booked leave before the employee’s start date so they can plan in advance how to accommodate it. 
• All new employees will be entitled to annual leave plus Bank Holidays in the year of joining the Trust, on a pro-rata basis. On appointment, the Bank Holiday’s hours entitlement will be based on the number of Bank Holidays remaining in the current leave year. All employees terminating their contract before the end of the leave year will be entitled to accrued annual leave and Bank Holidays up to their leave date on a pro-rata basis. 
• An Annual Leave Calculator is available on the Trust Intranet to help with the calculation of annual leave and Bank Holidays entitlements for employees joining or leaving the Trust. Upon notice of termination of employment with the Trust, any outstanding annual leave and Bank Holiday entitlements should be taken during the employee’s period of notice. 
• Where in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the employee’s designated manager, the needs of the service necessitate that requests to take paid leave during an employee’s period of notice are not approved, the employee shall receive payment in lieu for any leave outstanding. Where, following termination of employment, the amount of annual leave taken during an employee’s final leave year exceeds the amount of entitlement accrued at the date of the termination of their employment with the Trust, the Trust shall recover from the employee pay equivalent to the number of days/hours the employee has exceeded their entitlement by. Where possible this will be collected from the employee’s final salary. When employees change their contracted hours, this will result in a re-calculation of their annual leave entitlement.  "

Just in case, is it true that I can not take the money? Seems to me like it's a grey area, as I didn't apply for leave, and they have no chance to reject the leave and agree to pay me for the work.

Thank you very much for the help.

Best wishes,

Dear all,

I left the NHS at the end of April; at that time, I had 42 hours AL left unused. During the notice period, my group manager, Band 8b, asked whether I wanted to take the leave. I said I would like to work until the end of April instead of using it. I did not confirm whether this can be paid after leaving, just assume that. This is a mistake.

After leaving without receiving any payment for annual leave, I asked the group, and the manager refused to pay it as follows,

"Apologies  I should have clarified this earlier as I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding. xxx was always free to take his outstanding annual leave if he wanted to, which is why it wasn't added to his leavers form on ESR. The policy is that outstanding leave is only paid in lieu if the staff member has asked to take leave and had this request turned down due to the needs of the service, which did not happen in this case. I'm sorry if he expected this to be paid to him but this is not something that I offered to him either verbally or in writing so he shouldn't have been relying on it. 

This might seem like a hard line but I do have a responsibility to follow xxx policies to make sure we are using our funding strictly for it's intended purpose, so I think I have to still say no on this one."

The relevant policy is "

9. Entitlements on Joining and Leaving 

• The Trust will make every effort to meet the needs of new employees in respect of commitments to holidays made prior to the commencement of employment. Managers should ask new members of staff whether they have any booked leave before the employee’s start date so they can plan in advance how to accommodate it. 
• All new employees will be entitled to annual leave plus Bank Holidays in the year of joining the Trust, on a pro-rata basis. On appointment, the Bank Holiday’s hours entitlement will be based on the number of Bank Holidays remaining in the current leave year. All employees terminating their contract before the end of the leave year will be entitled to accrued annual leave and Bank Holidays up to their leave date on a pro-rata basis. 
• An Annual Leave Calculator is available on the Trust Intranet to help with the calculation of annual leave and Bank Holidays entitlements for employees joining or leaving the Trust. Upon notice of termination of employment with the Trust, any outstanding annual leave and Bank Holiday entitlements should be taken during the employee’s period of notice. 
• Where in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the employee’s designated manager, the needs of the service necessitate that requests to take paid leave during an employee’s period of notice are not approved, the employee shall receive payment in lieu for any leave outstanding. Where, following termination of employment, the amount of annual leave taken during an employee’s final leave year exceeds the amount of entitlement accrued at the date of the termination of their employment with the Trust, the Trust shall recover from the employee pay equivalent to the number of days/hours the employee has exceeded their entitlement by. Where possible this will be collected from the employee’s final salary. When employees change their contracted hours, this will result in a re-calculation of their annual leave entitlement.  "

Just in case, is it true that I can not take the money? Seems to me like it's a grey area, as I didn't apply for leave, and they have no chance to reject the leave and agree to pay me for the work.

Thank you very much for the help.

Best wishes,