annual leave

[midnightmunchies]

I work for the NHS and have good amount of annual leave entitlement. The problem is I am a single mother and need to take leave during some of the school holidays. I usually take 2 weeks in August, 1 week at Easter and some of one of the half terms. I have just been told that for the next year of annual leave entitlement I can only take 1 weeks in total over the school holidays. Is there anything I can do about this? I am going to have a nightmare with childcare.

[tribpot]

As with all leave, it is at employers' discretion but that said, this notification seems extremely odd to me. Has everyone else been told the same? With what justification? Fair enough leave has to be staggered to ensure shifts can be covered but to know now that you won't be able to take any holiday during the school hols sounds very suspect.

[midnightmunchies]

The justification is that the amount of leave that can be taken in any one week as previously been calculated incorrectly and that is there reasoning for this sudden change. Do I have any help as a single parent? - my daughter is about to turn 11yrs

[tribpot]

I don't understand that - are you part-time and they're saying they've miscalculated your overall leave allowance as a result?

Even if the amount you can take in a week has been calculated wrong (still don't really get what that means, sorry) - why can't you take the time over several successive weeks? And why the ban on school holiday times?

I would doubt you were entitled to special considerations with an 11 year old, but I don't think that's the issue here. I'm not a single mum, although my DH would struggle on his own during the school hols as he's chronically ill, and I would be very unhappy to be told I couldn't take any of my leave in school holidays.

[midnightmunchies]

The total number of leave hours that can be taken in a weekly rota by any of us has been reduced. i.e it used to be approx 118 hours and is now 80 hours. full WTE is 37.5 hours, so it has reduced the number of people able to take leave in a week from 3 to 2. However we have always managed to cover it in the past - all be it with some bank shifts - but there are always plenty of bank shifts outstanding even at the best of times.

[tribpot]

So is the organisation trying to cut down on the number of bank staff it uses? Assuming 16 weeks of the year are school holiday weeks, does that mean there are 32 people in the team, all of whom will want a week off in school hols?

[midnightmunchies]

off the top of my head there are about 15 of us in the dept and around half have school age children. The organisation is always trying to cut down on bank staff - its the NHS we are permanently over spent! Just feel like we get treated like numbers not people. seems so wrong.

[tribpot]

Right, so assuming that everyone would like the Christmas weeks off but most people without school-age children will positively want to avoid the holiday periods, that doesn't stack up at all.

On top of which, school hols or not, NHS staff do have quite a lot of leave (I'm NHS as well but not front-line) and it's all got to be taken somehow. I don't think the maths stacks up at all here, it sounds like someone just taking the piss. Certainly it doesn't translate to you being told you can only take one week in school holidays. I can see how it might translate to only one week in the summer holidays, given the likely desire of many staff to take longer in that period, but I think they need to be much clearer about the basis for this ruling, who it affects and why. I'm hoping some of the HR buffs will be along soon but I think I would put it in writing to my line manager expressing concern that the policy change has not been fully consulted.

[midnightmunchies]

Thanks for your advice and help. I've got a meeting with my line manager tomorrow to try and find out / understand more.