Leave

Personal Leave

Personal Leave is any absence from work for several hours or more to meet an individual’s specific and special need. There is no automatic right to personal leave except where government legislation makes specific provisions. Personal leave may be paid or unpaid or a combination of these.

We recognise that situations arise from time to time when it is necessary for you to attend to issues outside of work for example, a family bereavement or a domestic emergency. However, we will also support you if you contribute to the community e.g., magistrates, forces reserve volunteers etc. Full and sympathetic consideration will be given to requests for personal leave, considering operational circumstances. Consideration will be applied equally and fairly, and no employee should be treated less favourably on racial grounds or on the grounds of gender, religion, disability, marital status, age or sexual orientation. Where an application for personal leave is rejected, the grounds for doing so will be made clear.

Definitions are as follows:

• Paid leave is with full pay (i.e., basic pay). Absences on paid leave do not affect your basic pay, incremental date, holiday, entitlement or pension.
• Unpaid leave is without pay and will normally count towards service and pay progressions. However, when 4 weeks or more unpaid leave is taken there will be a pro-rata reduction in the holiday entitlement for the relevant leave year.

NOTE: Unauthorised absences or Industrial Action will not count towards pension provision unless the individual elects to pay both their own and the Company’s contribution.

Types of Personal Leave

Detailed below are examples of some specific circumstances where paid or unpaid leave may apply. However, it is not possible to detail every eventuality where paid and / or unpaid leave may be granted. The Directors will use their discretion in any other circumstances not covered below.

Statutory Rights to Time Off for Public Duties

The Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 requires that you be permitted time off (paid or unpaid) to undertake specific public duties. The amount of time off to be permitted and the occasions on which it should be allowed are those that are reasonable in the circumstances giving full consideration to:

• The amount of leave that is required both to perform the public duty in question and also on the specific occasion in question.
• The amount of leave that has already been permitted for such purposes, other public duties and/or trade union business.
• The operational consequences of your absence.

Legislation covers employees who are:

• A magistrate.
• Members of a local authority, a regional or area health authority or health board.
• Members of any statutory tribunal.
• Members of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment.
• Members of a water authority or river purification board.

Reasonable time off under the Act must be allowed for all magistrate’s duties, for attendance at meetings of the bodies referred to above and any of their committees or sub-committees, and for the performance of duties approved by the body in discharging its functions or by those of its committees or sub-committees.

Jury Service

One Degree North abides by all relevant legislation enabling you to take time off work for jury service, however, you must claim expenses including those for loss of earnings allowed by the Court as we will not pay you during this period. Details regarding allowable claims can be found on https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/what-you-can-claim.  You will only be entitled to claim for days on which you are required to attend. On days when you are not required to attend, normal working should be resumed. Similarly, for part days, if practicable to do so. If you are summoned to serve on a jury, you must immediately inform the director(s).  The summons must be complied with unless an exemption or deferment is granted by the Court. Exemption from jury service on the grounds of inconvenience to One Degree North should only be claimed if unacceptable inconvenience would be caused to One Degree North. In such cases, you will be asked to apply to the Court to be excused on those grounds and will be given a letter from us in support of the application.

Time Off for Dependants

A dependant is defined as your husband, wife, partner, child or parent, or anyone living in your household as a member of your family.  In addition, a dependant may also be someone not living in your household but who relies on you as their main carer. Under the Employment Relations Act 1999 an employee is entitled to take a reasonable amount of time off where necessary:

• To provide assistance on an occasion when a dependant falls ill, goes into labour or is injured or assaulted.
• To make arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant who is ill or injured.
• In consequence of the death of a dependant which includes taking time off to make funeral arrangements or attend the funeral.
• Because of the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant such as a childminder or nurse not turning up for work.
• To deal with an incident which involves a child of the employee, and which occurs unexpectedly in a period during which an educational establishment which the child attends is responsible for them.

In normal circumstances you will not be paid for any emergency leave that you take; however, this will be at the discretion of the director(s). Within reason, you can take as long as you need off in order to deal with the emergency. You must inform the director(s) as soon as possible as to why you are away from work and how long you expect to be off.

Ordinary Parental Leave

You are entitled to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave per child, if you are the birth or adoptive parent of a child who is under 18 years of age.  To qualify for ordinary parental leave, you must have completed at least one year’s continuous service with us. You may also be entitled to take paid periods of Maternity, Adoption, Paternity or Shared Parental leave. Further information about eligibility criteria and notification requirements can be found in the Maternity, Adoption, Paternity and Parental Leave Policy.

Parental Bereavement Leave

If you experience the loss of a child under the age of 18 or your baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy, you are entitled to two weeks’ leave. If you have more than 26 weeks’ service, these 2 weeks will be paid at the statutory rate. More information can be found in the Maternity, Adoption, Paternity and Parental Leave policy.

Paid Compassionate Leave

Paid leave is normally appropriate in the circumstances detailed below.  Please note the comments provided under the ‘Conditions’ section and also note that it is not possible to list every eventuality. It may be that a measure of paid leave is appropriate in circumstances that are not listed below and it is a director who will decide on such cases.

Close Family Bereavement

Guidelines –

Death of husband/wife or spouse* equivalent, parents or children (*Someone who could be considered the equivalent of a wife/husband)

Length of time recommended –

Up to 5 working days

Conditions –

Number of days leave will take account of closeness of relationship with the deceased, whether or not responsible for making the funeral arrangements, and if long distance travel is involved. Additional leave (with or without pay) may be granted in extenuating circumstances by the Directors.  

Parental Bereavement (statutory entitlement)

Guidelines –

Death of a child up to the age of 18 or stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy

Length of time recommended –

2 weeks

Conditions –

Employees with 26 weeks’ service will be paid at statutory rate of £172.48 per week.Employees with less than 26 weeks’ service will be entitled to pay as outlined above under “Close Family Bereavement”, then move onto unpaid leave.

Family Bereavement

Guidelines –

On the death of an immediate blood relative or equivalent, e.g., brother, sister

Length of time recommended –

Up to 3 working days

Conditions –

Number of days leave will take account of closeness of relationship with the deceased.  Additional leave (with or without pay) may be granted in extenuating circumstances by the Directors.

Family Bereavement

Guidelines –

Grandparent

Length of time recommended –

1 working day to attend funeral

Conditions –

One days paid leave to attend the funeral of a grandparent. Additional leave (with or without pay) may be granted in extenuating circumstances by the Directors.

Unpaid Leave

Unpaid leave is normally appropriate in the circumstances detailed in the table below.  Please note the comments provided under the ‘Conditions’ column and also note that it is not possible to list every eventuality. 

Where a lengthy period of unpaid leave is allowed, the following will be explained by us to you and recorded:

• Any conditions attached to the leave.
• The fact that you may not be able to return to your existing job.
• The changed conditions relating to your pension contributions during the period of leave and the options of electing to pay your own and One Degree North’s contributions. It should also be made clear that the HMRC would normally allow continued membership of a pension scheme during a period of absence only if there were a definite expectation of return to work, if you did not become a member of any other pension scheme and for a maximum of three years only. 
• Arrangements for keeping you informed of business activities and developments.
• The acceptability, or otherwise, of foreign medical certificates.
• The possible consequences of any failure to return to work on the agreed date. 

If an employee fails to return to work on the agreed date, the circumstances will be investigated as fully as possible and further action taken as appropriate under the rules and procedures relating to sick leave, discipline, or abandonment of service.

Parental

Guidelines –

Allowed to care for parents of birth or adopted children, under the age of 18

Length of time recommended –

Up to 18 weeks. Normally no more than 4 weeks in any 12-month period

Conditions –

Eligible employees applying for parental leave must give a minimum of 21 days’ notice. The leave must be taken in blocks of no less than one week. Leave taken to care for a disabled child can be taken in days. The leave can be postponed where business would be unduly disrupted if taken. In this situation One Degree North would state the reason in writing and specify the date that it can be taken which must be no later than 6 months after the original date requested.  
Leave cannot be postponed when an employee gives notice to take it immediately after the time the child is born or placed with the family for adoption. Parental leave should normally be treated as unpaid. The full policy on parental leave including eligibility criteria and notification requirements can be found in the Maternity, Adoption, Paternity and Parental Leave policy.

Public Duties

Guidelines –

For magisterial duties and local government work

Length of time recommended –

18 working days a year

Conditions –

Although the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 places no obligation on an employer for payment to be made, paid leave may be allowed provided such public duties are unpaid. Where the duties attract some kind of remuneration or paid leave limits have been exceeded, a measure of unpaid leave may be considered.

Carer’s Leave

Guidelines –

Carer’s leave is appropriate if you need to take time to care for a dependent with a long-term care need.

Length of time recommended –

Up to 1 week in a 12 month rolling period.

Conditions –

A ‘week’ means the length of time you usually work over 7 days. For example, if you usually work 3 days a week, you can take 3 days of carer’s leave.

A dependent is defined as a:

• Spouse or civil partner
• Child
• Parent
• Person who lives in the same household but is not a tenant, lodger, boarder or employee
• Person who reasonably relies on you to provide or arrange care. This could be, for example an elderly neighbour.

A dependent has a long-term care need if:

• They have an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months
• They have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010
• They require care for a reason connected with old age

Your leave can be taken separately as half or full days, up to and including one continuous week. Carer’s leave should normally be treated as unpaid.

You must inform the director(s) of when and how much leave you wish to take as soon as reasonably practicable. If your request is for half a day or 1 full day, you must give at least 3 days notice. If your request is for 2 days or more, you must give at least twice as many days notice as the amount of days required.

One Degree North may request that you postpone your carer’s leave in circumstances where your leave would cause serious disruption to operations. If your leave is postponed, within 7 days an alternative will be agreed with you to take your leave within 1 month or your original requested leave date.

Urgent Domestic Problems

Guidelines –

These will vary considerably and cannot be defined

Length of time recommended –

Up to 2 days

Conditions –

Can be allowed for each incident – this will not usually be paid unless agreed with a director.