Been refused any annual leave this year.

[HolidayNotAvailable]

§Name changed as I don’t want my name to be associated as I know some people who work for the same company are on here.

I am entitled to 25 days annual leave, which increases every year after two years.

If you don’t take all your annual leave you can carry over 35 hours but if you don’t take the rest then you lose it.

Things are made more complicated by the fact that people are allowed to buy additional annual leave, and this means that a lot of people have up to 35 days.

The upshot of this is that there isn’t enough quota in the calendar to allow all annual leave requests.

Our annual leave system is digital, we book annual leave and receive a message to say it is either declined or accepted.

And the annual leave is based on how many people are available in the department not the team.

Most people end up booking all their annual leave at the beginning of the year, including their extra two weeks which most people have bought.

Which means that if you haven’t booked any annual leave for the next year by the end of December when the annual leave is released on to the system you pretty much don’t stand a chance.

I didn’t book as soon as the leave was released not least because I didn’t have any specific plans, but even when I started to try a couple of days in all my requests were declined.

To date I have attempted to book several weeks in every month of the year, and apart from one week in December, and one day which I know I will get over Christmas because those are booked separately, every one of my requests has been declined.

So this means that by the end of the year I am going to have about four weeks annual leave left, and I can only carry over one week.
I am certain that this is made worse by the fact that people are able to buy extra leave and that realistically we don’t have enough quota in the department to accommodate existing annual leave as wel as essentially several months worth when you take into account all that has been bought.

Some people have 6/7 weeks booked in, and I can’t even get one.

I’m sure there’s no way I can get the time off, so I’ve resigned myself to not taking any annual leave this year apart from that one week in December.

But would it be reasonable to approach my employer and request that, given I’ve been declined any leave, they buy it back off me? I don’t know what else to do.

As pp have all said - escalate to HR, Union and ACAS. Don’t just accept your manager’s pathetic response.

Good grief. Do you have staff suggestions scheme? A feedback forum? A speak to the seniors meeting? Something for people to be able to speak openly about useless department!

I run the AL in our business which is shift working 365 and it can’t be entirely automated. People need to make their case sometimes. Big trips. Weddings. Who designed the digital system anyway without accounting for the extra leave people? Sounds incompetent.

And this is why our manager refused to allow “buying extra holidays”. We work on bare minimum of staff so only one person can be off at a time . She refused to end up in a situation where some staff couldn’t take their AL.

It’s not just ‘oh I don’t like this’ it’s against the law! You have to be allowed take your annual leave.

I know it’s hard to speak up but you have to. Email manager ‘I am unable to take any leave this year, this system is not working. By law I am entitled to take annual leave.’

good luck

Extra bought weeks should be allowed to be booked until everyone has been able to book their accrued A/L That gives people a better chance.
Or maybe everyone gets to book two weeks once they are open to book then in February the second round of booking and so on.

Exactly!!

Too bad, you need to go and see them and state they are leaving you in a position is against the law.....for them!

Don't resign yourself to it and don't accept your managers excuse of 'their hands are tied'. That's rubbish, your manager is not managing effectively if she sympathises but isn't willing to find a solution. Its her duty to look after her teams welfare and annual leave is one of these duties. Stand up for yourself, no one else in your work place will.

My DSD knows her employment last and the same issue arose with my best friend. You can carry all your remaining leave over if there isn't room to take it or the company says you can't take it because of operational reasons. You need to sit down with a manager and book any gaps. Talk to your shop steward too.

I wouldn’t accept your line manager saying their hands are tied. If it was one of my staff members I would be pretty forthright in sorting this out on your behalf.

You're entitled to 28 working days paid leave a year (pro rata), there is no legislation on when / how you get to take them.

There's no law saying you get them in block of a week or at times of your choosing.

..employment law...

If you work for a bank, then you absolutely must raise this with HR.
Not only is it a legal requirement you can take 28 days including BH, it is also an indication of non financial culture issues that any regulator would be interested in. Any bank where you can’t take holiday is not a healthy one: in fact in some banks you are mandated to take 2 consecutive weeks off. Many of the major frauds have happened in companies in which not taking holiday enabled fraud.
Please speak to HR as you say your boss won’t help.

I would speak to your manager surely normal annual leave should take priority over extra weeks?

Where I work one person was buying extra leave and expecting to block up
most of the school six week holidays with this bought annual leave now thankfully in departments with fewer staff such as mine managers look at buying extra leave on a case by case basis and thankfully this person has been refused this, this year.

OP regardless of what annoying department says you are legally entitled to your holidays.
Added to which if you are working some bank holidays you are not only not getting holidays you are working extra days.
Contact your union or if you don't have one go directly to HR.

My friend used to work for Nat West, did nearly 30 years. Every year there was blue murder and wangling over school holidays. She was relieved when the children were older because she didn't have the appetite for the infighting. She missed out too.

If you work in a Bank there will be both a HR department and a union so they will have no choice but to resolve the matter.

They will probably also have a 2 consecutive weeks rule for fraud purposes also.

Email manager and HR and also contact the union.

Email HR, explain, and ask them if they are going to override the system on to ensure you have at least the legal minimum amount of time off. If they try to fob you off, go to ACAS.

Firstly I would request the system is changed so you can at least see the available dates. In the meantime ask for the dates you can book. They don't have to tell you anyone else's holiday just the weeks you can book.
If there is a, no availability or b, a response of no I would escalate to hr. If you are being really petty and have time you can systemically request weeks until you have tried them all but as you work shifts with your lack of proper systems I wouldn't bother. You wouldn't hand your salary back. This is part of your paid compensation and you are entitled to take it.
Let us know how you get on

Not receiving the holidays you want and not receiving holidays are very different things.

agree with the pp about getting it in writing. They literally are breaking the law.

where i am people have between 25-30 days a year then bank holidays. You are legally entitled to at least one stretch of 2 weeks off (so 10 working days if you are a monday-friday worker) but most people take 3 in summer. At my company you have to have planned 20 days of your leave before the end of the previous year, simply to avoid this kind of thing.

Who designed the digital system anyway without accounting for the extra leave people? Sounds incompetent.

I have a small bet on the person who pitched/designed the digital system having been promoted to a senior role on the back of the triumph, with the consequence that they and the system are now untouchable by anyone below board level. Call it a hunch.

What are you basing the legal requirements to 2 weeks consecutive leave on?

I work for a financial institution and the requirement to take 2 consecutive weeks off was dropped during covid. Wholesale defrauding is less of an issue now that everything is system based and hardly anyone uses cash.

Sounds like a you problem.

Funny everyone else manages to book time off but you can’t