If anyone works in the nhs please can you shed any light on this holiday allowance?

[nalzer]

I want to know if my ex (Dd’s) dad is telling me the truth.

He says if he doesn’t use his holiday allowance then he doesn’t get to roll it over or get paid for it. Surely you get paid for holiday if you don’t take it?? That’s what’s always happened in my work but I work in the private sector in finance.

He is basically saying he hasn’t been able to take the leave and now will lose it and not be paid for it either. Is this right? He is a fellow if that makes a difference.

I'd think it's extremely unlikely he's worked a full year and not taken any annual leave!
Most Trusts encourage staff to book leave and point out to them when they have a lot left, telling them to get it booked in. It does happen from time to time that leave has to be cancelled due to staff shortages

I work in the NHS and we can carry over 5 days with line manager’s ok, but we also have to state we have taken statutory minimum. We can buy a week’s leave but can’t sell back, although I know you can in some trusts.

Definitely use it or lose it in the NHS. At your managers discretion you can carry over a maximum of 5 days, but even that's not a given.

Working in the NHS and working in the NHS as a doctor are very different things. They have different pay scales, leave policies etc, so most of these replies probably aren't that relevant. It seems unlikely he hasn't taken any leave, or had some weekends off, but it's irrelevant really isn't it? If he wanted to make time to see his child he would have. That must be hard to hear, but I think you know it anyway.

If he's on a 12 month FTC then he'll have lost a bunch of leave already at end March and then he'll accumulate again from April

I'm an NHS manager and keep an eye on leave being booked - if staff are not managing their leave we would proactively book periods of leave in. If he's a doctor, as a few have said, it would be different.

In most nhs organisations AL carry over is usually only allowed in exceptional circumstances. You would only get paid unused leave if leaving employment mid holiday year. Your company sounds like an exception public and private sector.

I work NHS. We are not allowed to carry over holiday and it is a use it or lose it policy where I am. We do not get paid if we don’t use it. For goodness sake he’s had 12 months to use it up. No excuse for not using your leave entitlement.

We can carry forward a maximum of one working week so 5 days if full time - any more then you lose it
Anything carried over has to be taken within the first 3 months of the subsequent holiday year

Do you mean he’s a doctor doing fellowship? There will be the legal nhs position which I’m pretty sure is you use it or can carry over a small few days but unofficially, my husband very frequently just didn’t get to take some annual leave because there was no cover so he just lost it. He also often had to go in on his day off for no extra pay. It gets easier when they are a consultant but it can be very difficult to take leave/use your post call days etc before then.

So if there’s no cover you can’t take leave and we don’t have enough doctors/nurses so…
burn out is so high for a very good reason

My husband (Band 8C NHS) can carry over 5 days but yeah, it's use it or lose it. He tends to take a day or two off midweek in march if he has any left.

All trusts have slight variations but use it or lose it is common. Some trusts let you roll over some don't. You don't get paid if you don't take it. His manager should be flagging in advance that he needs to get his leave booked before it's too late

For a 12 month contract that probably would start the leave year from when he started and not April. It's 1st a April for permanent roles

5 days only carry over except at managers discretion eg after sick leave

As far as I'm aware, even if you can carry over leave, you can't carry over any of the minimum 5.6 weeks.

I get 38 days holiday, I'm able to carry 5 forward. In exceptional circumstances (other than maternity related, possibly long term click), I'd be able to carry over 10 days as that's my allowance over the legal minimum.

This varies across trusts but there definitely are some that won't let you carry leave over and in most you wouldn't usually be paid for any unused. It's your responsibility to take your leave within the year and your problem if you don't - you've got a years notice about it!

I'm NHS I can't carry over. I don't know what he means by not being paid?
You get paid if you're on leave.
You don't get paid more if you don't take it.

I'm NHS. So we're told "use it or lose it" with annual leave. You can apply for up to 5 days carry over but that's at line manager discretion.

A couple of points have confused me though OP (sorry if I've missed them!) Your DH has to take bank holidays as A/L, so that will have used some of them. But the biggie to me is that he has until 1st April 2025 to use them, so why is he worried about this now?!

I’m nhs……we are not allowed to carry over any leave ……we were for 2 years during covid….but it’s been stopped again….so it’s use it or lose it.
my partner was local authority….he could carry over each year up to a maximum of 4 weeks

It’s incredibly hard to get AL as a fellow. Yes he’s right. Won’t get paid for it and will lose it.
the only option he’s got is if he’s tried to take it and been repeatedly refused and has escalated this before at that point he could raise with HR

i know fellows getting married that got their AL refused. Basically swapped a shift. Got married and back to work next day. So shit the way the nhs treat junior docs.

My NHS Trust is pretty strict use-it-or-lose-it with absolutely no carry over. You only get a payout for unused leave if you're leaving a job with accrued leave.

I think the OP has assumed he can ‘sell back’ unpaid leave (i.e. get an extra day’s pay for each day not taken).

I know that is possible in some jobs but according to multiple posters, not the NHS.

He’s telling her he doesn’t get paid for unused leave days and it sounds like he’s telling the truth.

Ahh Just caught up. As Foofighter says, to the best of my knowledge it's pro-rata'd, as when I did a 9 month NHS post my leave was pro-ratad and I still had to use it within the April-April time frame.

So bank hols aside has he really not taken any time off OP? Not for Christmas or New Year? He's telling the truth that he'll lose any leave he hasn't taken, but he'd only be entitled to pro-rata'd leave from 1st April - now, so a couple of days. Any from the last financial year he already lost in April. Why on earth didn't he use any I wonder!

I'm NHS. In my department it's the same as your Ex's. If we don't use our yearly annual leave entitlement by April 1st we lose it and don't get paid for it.

I don't think it's a hard and fast NHS rule, it varies depending on which trust/dept you work for.