To ask to do this or will my manager think it’s taking the piss?

So you work 4 days a week, paid for 5 and pay for childcare for 4?

realistically he’s got to manage someone who is working 4 days a week in practice but on paper he’s got a 5 day a week employee so no justification for additional staff to cover that day. Or he’s struggling as if there’s rules about only having 2 employees off at a time, this means only one person can book a week leave because you are always off.

you can ask, be prepared to hear no, or that if you want to reduce your hours formally he’ll agree, but that equates to a 20% pay cut.

This is spot on. Interesting how many people are saying everyone needs at least a week away from work when OP has said she doesn't. I'd similarly accommodate this if a sensible report who was good at their job requested it. It's how I've recently allowed two people come back from mat leave essentially part time on full pay and if they ask to extend I'll consider their request.

I won’t have a problem with it if you were my employee providing no one else was being impacted.

tbh a lot of people in my organisation are now doing 5 days over 4 or 10 over 9 having submitted flexible working requests successfully. The law has changed and the onus is on the employer to prove that the request would not work rather than the other way round. Only you know how this would be received at your organisation however.

I can't see this being approved at my workplace from a well-being point of view. You say you don't need a break but that's not true because everyone does. You also absolutely shouldn't be checking your work phone on your days off.
Can't you compress hours instead at least every other week or something so you can take a couple of weeks off a year?

I’m sorry OP, but if I were a fellow employee and your weekly absence impacted either my job day to day (covering essential work, answering phones more etc) or my ability to take holiday when I wanted to without additional complications, I’d be exceptionally pissed off with you being allowed that work pattern

If your job has zero impact on others though, I can’t see an issue particularly

I think if it's not against the company leave policy, it's completely fine. It wouldn't be allowed at my workplace, with the exception of post maternity or sickness leave to continue easing the returner in gently.
However, how about taking a week off but keeping your daughter in her ordinary childcare? I'm assuming that the childcare is possibly family who'd expect you to then have your daughter, otherwise you'd already have considered this. If so, don't tell them you're on leave!
When I was off on maternity leave prior to second's birth, it was wonderful to be off but with toddler in nursery!

There are definitely duty of care considerations here for any manager, could you not request flexible or alternative working patterns to do this formally while still allowing you to have your AL to then use on top?

As others have said there’s also the fact that it could potentially prevent others taking leave when they want to which isn’t fair, how much of an issue that is depends on your workplace though

It's your child not booked into nursery whilst at work, so if your off for a week they will still be in nursery and you get a break?

If I were your manager, I wouldn't think you were being entitled at all - I'd think you were using the benefits provided to you by your employer in the way that works best for you and your situation.

I suspect when your manager is encouraging people to take full weeks off and have proper breaks, he's speaking from a wellbeing perspective rather than actually hinting that he has a problem with your current arrangement. Most people's wellbeing does benefit from a proper break from work, but there's no one-size-fits-all here, and it sounds like you're an exception to that, which is totally fine.

Where I work, using annual leave in this type of way is something that would be thought of us as part of our flexible working policy and totally acceptable.

Not necessarily entitled but as a manager I would decline this as a long term option under duty of care as working every week without a proper break is not good from a health perspective

Another couple of reasons that may only be relevant in some areas but I have come across it:

• everyone needed to take 2 weeks at some point during the year for fraud prevention purposes (in fact anyone not taking full leave and working a pattern such as yours would be flagged). This was in teams that had access to financial systems
• having a person taking one day off would mean that nobody else could take that week as there would not be sufficient cover

These may not apply to your job but the duty of care aspect would definitely come into play

In my experience, it very much depends on the role and the size and depth of the team. As pp have suggested, if it makes it hard to cover for your days off, or impacts others leave requests, it would be a no.
In some roles, not taking full weeks leave can be seen as a red flag for fraud ( not suggesting that’s you op !) and therefore this pattern of leave would be denied.
All you can do is ask, explaining why, but be prepared that your new manager may disagree.

Think its unreasonable tbh as you are never getting a proper break from work. Also your dd is never getting a proper break from childcare.

YANBU to ask, they don't have to agree though.

I've worked in a number of places where this wouldn't be allowed. Habe you checked your staff handbook to see what the policy is on this.

But he is always talking about people having proper breaks and a full week off etc. I absolutely do not need a week off as I can’t think of anything more stressful than 7 full days with dd without a break at this age.

i want to continue this annual leave pattern until she is 4 and closer to going to school. I am going to ask and obviously nobody here can tell me what he will say. But do you think I should entitled? I do always have my work phone and check in if needed and have worked on my days off etc so I intend on reminding him of this.

Well there is no break there at all if you are working on your days off
You do need time away from the office, and work.

Your home life is not their concern to be honest, can you put your dd in childcare even if you are not working?

Same here also public sector, this wouldn’t be allowed but they might let you apply to do condensed hours. You’d still have to take at least one full week off in the summer, they prefer for you to take 2 full weeks.

I think this is the problem "I do always have my work phone and check in if needed and have worked on my days off etc ". Why on earth are you doing this? You're on leave. I wouldn't dream to do this. I wonder if there's a better arrangement like compressed hours. I do agree that from a wellbeing perspective, having a longer break from work would be beneficial.

This wouldn't be allowed in anywhere I've worked, because you're not taking a proper break from work. You're even checking your phone on your days off. My workplaces would have wanted to ensure you have proper downtime. However, I think as your manager I'd be tempted to allow it given how you've explained that you couldn't think of anything worse than spending 7 days off. In certain cases, they should allow it. Just because I don't think its a good way to use holidays doesn't mean the next person shouldn't.

I think, depending on your role, having a member of staff always off one day a week could be annoying. Also it could stop others booking a week off as other poster says. When do you actually have a break too.

I wouldn't think you were taking the piss, but I do think at least one full week off a year would be a good idea, even if you keep your daughter in childcare for the week.
I have done this over summer holidays in the past, taken one day a week to reduce my childcare costs. I now keep one day a week meeting free all year to give myself breathing space from work instead!

I think there’s no harm asking. As PP have touched on whether you are BU could depend on whether the nature of your role means that there must be cover when you are off which could have a knock-on effect on others. However see what can be worked out.

If someone asked this of me I wouldn't consider it a luxury as you put it at all, or a privilege. It's your leave. I'd feel sorry for you you weren't able to get a proper break and I might just mention I'd like you to consider taking a chunk of time off at some point for your own sake.

I wouldn't consider it cheeky though or anything like that.

I know that this wouldn't be allowed at my work (public sector). Annual leave shouldn't be taken as a substitute for what is essentially an alternative working pattern to the one you're contracted for.
If you want a 4 day week you'd have to move to P/T or work compressed hours if that's something available to you.

It's not fair on your colleagues or employer who will not be able to put in place permanent cover for the day you're missing every week.

If anything it sounds like you're not really getting the benefit of the leave, and it's more a childcare based arrangement. I can see why boss might think from a wellbeing perspective you should have some of your leave as a few days to relax or go away etc. but if it's not negatively impacting the rest of the team then they should hopefully let it continue.
The issue maybe if everyone wanted to do similar it could cause issues with being short handed pretty much most of the time. Whereas if you're off for a week then they could arrange things easier, or get a temp or something.
I hope that they let you continue if that's what's best for you though.