NHS AL hours query - AL in hours if part time

[Lanzarotelady]

Can anyone help me?

I do 30 hours, which is the equivalent of 2 LD one week 3 the next, I have done this pattern for 18 months, I have since moved jobs.

If I want a week off, if its my 3 day week I take 36 al, if its a 2 day week 24 hrs leave and 2 weeks equals 60 hours - fine.

I need to put my requests in for the next financial year, so April 25 to March 26
and want a week in February off - which falls on my 2 day week so have requested 24hrs leave, but my new job/employers are saying they cannot guarantee what hours I am going to be working that week as I could be on long days, short days or I might have to do 3 day week so balance out the numbers. So I don't know what to request, my fear is, if I request 24 hours as that is the week I think I am in 2 days, get leave granted and book a holiday, they will say well we need you to work 3 days.

I don't know where I stand.

First you need to clarify what your contract says - does it confirm the working pattern you describe of alternate 3D then 2D weeks in which case that’s how it always is and once agreed you can book your leave accordingly or is this just a practice you and your former manager have fallen into ? And in reality you should have received shift notices covering the next 6 / 8 weeks in advance ? If it is you need to discus with HR to be clear on what your contractural rights are and how you book going forward.

You should request 30 hours AL as that is your contract hours. Your rota should then be written around this to ensure you work 90 hours of shifts across the remaining 3 weeks of the roster period (assuming your work writes rosters over a 4 week period).

My contract just says 30 hours per week, but the dpt I work in prefers us to do long days.

Do you have to request all your leave for the next financial year now, and you have requested February 2026? Feels impossible to book all your leave a year in advance if you are working part time and not to a fixed pattern. Could you request leave on the dates that you want off, and when it is determined how many hours you would have worked that week, take that number of hours off your leave entitlement?

If you’re contracted to 30 hours per week you take 30 hours annual leave and the rest is fitted around that week. It doesn’t matter if you do long days or not.

Yes you have to request your leave for the year ahead, there are 150 of us and we can only have so many people off in one week so it has to be worked out fairly and if you want school holidays you have to get them in.

Yes, this is how it is done in our team.

Agree if you are contracted 30 hours per week, your leave week should be 30 hours. The rest of your months shifts worked around that to total 120 hours for the 4 week period.

Thank you everyone.

When I started in this trust I was putting in 30 hours per week for my annual leave, was then told I had to either request 36 or 24 hours depending on how my hours fell, I told them it was wrong, but as we self rostered we just sorted out between ourselves!