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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you could take only unpaid leave, how much would you take?

38 replies

forinborin · 14/06/2021 06:48

Out of interest. I am at the moment on a contract where any time off I can take can be only unpaid. Really struggling to persuade myself to book more than one or two odd days for the summer break, but immediately start thinking about it in terms of opportunity cost / money lost.

So... would you take your usual amount of annual leave, if you had to take it unpaid (assuming that the overall level of compensation is maintained).

OP posts:
coronafiona · 14/06/2021 06:51

I'd probably take 4 weeks a year but what I'd really like to do is take the school holidays

burritofan · 14/06/2021 07:02

I’d take the absolute maximum I could afford to, and would rather do without small treats and luxuries in order to afford the maximum. The opportunity cost of working is LIFE

Ragwort · 14/06/2021 07:06

I work part time and can more or less choose my own hours and the way it works I rarely 'need' to use my annual leave. I have to sort my own cover which is not always easy (I manage a charity shop & have to ask the volunteers to cover for me) ... I am actually quite relaxed about it and don't feel I want extra time off .. but I love my job and have no young DC to worry about school holidays etc.

Ylvamoon · 14/06/2021 07:07

I'd work hard during the winter months. Save some money and have anything from 4 - 6 weeks off at intervals during the summer months.

Namechangedlady · 14/06/2021 07:07

Are you sure you can't take any? Unless you are self employed you should accrue holiday, even if on fixed term

WisestIsShe · 14/06/2021 07:08

This is always in my mind as I'm self employed. I usually end up taking about 3 weeks a year.

User135792468 · 14/06/2021 07:09

In your position, I would make a plan for the rest of your contract. Figure out how much money you need to earn for the next 6 months to be comfortable for example and then work back from there. I would only be concerned about earning as much as possible if I thought I would be unemployed in the near future.

MinnieMountain · 14/06/2021 07:12

DH takes roughly 6 weeks a year.

The “how much am I loosing?” thing is just something you have to get used to when contracting. He doesn’t really factor it in for family holidays but does if he goes away without us.

Cassandraprobs · 14/06/2021 07:13

I think I'd take even more than I do now, as long as I could afford to live on whatever salary that left, and as long as taking more holiday didn't affect my job going so often. I'd probably take about 10-12 weeks a year tbh if I could afford it and would work harder/longer between holiday times.

worrybutterfly · 14/06/2021 07:13

I'm in this situation and I'm taking 3x 1 week holidays this summer. Although in one of those weeks I did do about 1-2hours a day of work (more to keep a big client happy than for the money).

However I'm not on a single contract so I'll have the odd quiet day here and there to chill too.

The way I view it is pre-contracting my daily take home was half what it is now. So if January - April are good months then I can afford to take a generous amount of days off in the spring/summer.

HairyToity · 14/06/2021 07:15

When I was self employed I always took the max I could get away. With young children I preferred to have time off with them, and buy clothes second hand, driven older car, and holidays be in a static caravan.

Without DC I might have taken less.

worrybutterfly · 14/06/2021 07:17

@Ylvamoon

I'd work hard during the winter months. Save some money and have anything from 4 - 6 weeks off at intervals during the summer months.
This is pretty much what I do.

I try to work 4-5days a week through the autumn/winter. Then in the summer I'll try to work 3days a week plus have a 3-4weeks off.

SimonJT · 14/06/2021 07:17

I take the full four weeks of parental leave a year as I need it to cover school holidays, even then I’m left a bit short. I consider it in my yearly plan, so each month I put money away to cover the months where my wages will be short.

Are you self employed?

cupsofcoffee · 14/06/2021 07:18

I'm self employed and normally take 3-4 weeks a year plus a few half days and long weekends.

I close completely over Christmas for two weeks, have the long Easter break off and normally take a week in August or September too. I also don't work bank holiday weekends and often add on an extra day so I have four or five days off instead of three.

NameChangeforMoneyThings · 14/06/2021 07:20

I had the choice to do this in my old job (unpaid leave but essentially working part time with the part time taken irregularly in line with business needs). I cut my hours by 20% so took an extra 10 ish weeks off a year - so a lot more leave that I get "given" as a rule. Very few things are more valuable to me than time.

TulisaIsBrill · 14/06/2021 07:43

As much as I could afford too! I could afford to take months off per year and it make zero difference to lifestyle. Given the outrageous tax bands I’m in, it’d barely make a difference nominally too. 😤

Meruem · 14/06/2021 07:45

I hate bank holidays for this reason! I never do anything on a bank holiday so it’s a days pay lost for no good reason.

My current role is wfh, it was before covid. Because of covid though, a lot of things were affected at my work and there were plenty of weeks where I’d log on and there would maybe be an hours work to do all week. So last year I ended up taking no leave at all until Christmas. I just didn’t need it.

Other years I have worked for most of the year with no real time off. But then taken a few months off. I don’t like taking just one week off. It’s too short to really wind down and relax. I’d rather just plough on then take a decent chunk, at least a month.

At the moment I like a bit more time to myself during the week so don’t do full time hours. But once covid is under control (I keep hoping) and we can travel properly again, I may go back to doing more hours and taking chunks of time off to travel.

The “lost money” thing was always at the back of my mind but I’ve learnt to shrug it off. Time to yourself is important too. I am a work to live person and day to day live pretty frugally. I don’t feel a need to accumulate money for the sake of it. Not at the expense of never having time to myself.

Original poster
forinborin · 14/06/2021 08:24

Thank you all. Not self employed technically, paid as PAYE but on a rolling FTC contract - so never accrue any leave. One of post ir35 solutions, I think, self employed is still the closest equivalent. Used to contract before, usually took my breaks in the gaps between the contracts, for some reason did not have such hesitations then. But then the children were not in school yet, so holidays were much more flexible too.

OP posts:
Original poster
forinborin · 14/06/2021 08:34

I see several posters mentioned three weeks / year max, yes it more or less is in line with my own feelings about it.

OP posts:
maddening · 14/06/2021 08:36

On a contract you should account for holidays and sickness as part if you wage, so your hourly wage should be much higher than an employed person, is this not the case for you?

Forrrestttheout · 14/06/2021 08:38

Hi OP I am in a similar situation I work a full time job and am not self employed as such but my benefits including leave are as if I am. Last year I took 7 days leave in total and then also had most bank holidays unpaid. Its frustrating as like you i'd love a break but I find myself adding the lost wages to the cost of the holiday and as a result it never happens.
What I did do last year is took those days either side of Easter and christmas so that I got maximum days off for minimum leave days as I am told whether or not I need to work bank holidays and if i'm told no I still don't get paid.

Original poster
forinborin · 14/06/2021 08:40

@maddening

On a contract you should account for holidays and sickness as part if you wage, so your hourly wage should be much higher than an employed person, is this not the case for you?
Yes, that's true - I don't have any grievances as to the pay level, it is excellent. My issue is within my head on this topic, just need to talk myself into accepting that yes - I will be throwing money away if I go on holiday.
OP posts:
Original poster
forinborin · 14/06/2021 08:48

Last year I took 7 days leave in total and then also had most bank holidays unpaid. Its frustrating as like you i'd love a break but I find myself adding the lost wages to the cost of the holiday and as a result it never happens.
Yes, that's exactly what I think now. OK, we'll take a week of holiday now, but then there's 5 other weeks of summer childcare to cover, new uniform for the new school year, activities to be paid for the autumn term upfront, boiler needs to be replaced... there's a waiting list of expenses, and I feel like I will be cheating myself to opt out of earning, if only for a week.

OP posts:
ufucoffee · 14/06/2021 08:55

I don't even use all my paid leave so in answer to your question I'd take hardly any leave. Only what I had to.

BusyLizzie61 · 14/06/2021 11:19

@forinborin

Last year I took 7 days leave in total and then also had most bank holidays unpaid. Its frustrating as like you i'd love a break but I find myself adding the lost wages to the cost of the holiday and as a result it never happens. Yes, that's exactly what I think now. OK, we'll take a week of holiday now, but then there's 5 other weeks of summer childcare to cover, new uniform for the new school year, activities to be paid for the autumn term upfront, boiler needs to be replaced... there's a waiting list of expenses, and I feel like I will be cheating myself to opt out of earning, if only for a week.
Do you not proportion your pay over the year to account for annual leave etc? Same with uniforms? We all know we need the money for them come summer etc. When I contracted, I knew what I earned a year approximately, so used to work out what annual leave I'd want, like you was technically unpaid, and so I divided my pay packets to cover the entire year with money purposely put aside to facilitate the annual leave weeks.