New job in the NHS - annual leave question

[sakurarose2022]

Hi all,

I am due to start a new job in the NHS and I was just reading through my contract. I understand I am entitled to 27 days annual leave but it also says plus 8 banks holidays. Does this mean I get bank holidays off or what exactly does it mean?

Many thanks!

Depends on the role. If clinical it means you can take equivalent al off if rostered to work.

Pretty normal in public sector

If you work mon-fri office hours you wont work the bank holidays and will be deducted from your leave automatically. If you work shifts and regularly work BH you can use the BH entitlement as you please

But if you work shifts and are off sick on a BH you will lose a day entitlement.

That would be below statutory minimum though

Depends on the role. Shift workers usually it's done in hours. So five years service + top of band five I get 222 hours a year. In sept because I requested my shifts cleverly I had 28 days off using 72 hours

It means 27 days you choose plus bank holidays. But if you’re in a role which is rota based you get 35 days to choose but could be rota’ed to work on bank holidays

As per PPS depends on if you are a shift worker. If you are a shift worker you don't automatically get bank hols off and they are taken throughout the year kind of like additional annual leave days. If you are 9-5 mon to Fri you take the bank holidays on bank holidays, and then you book the annual leave as desired/ can be accommodated by your service.

Also as per PPS if you are sick on a bank holiday you don't get the bank hol re-allocated to you if you are sick on annual leave you do get the annual leave back.

This is incorrect. The bank holidays come off your bank holiday allowance not your leave allowance. Bank Holiday hours a separate on ESR. In my trust you have to book those bank holiday hours on ESR and it doesn't happen automatically.

OP if you are not in an office based job you might have to work the bank holidays but you get to book the leave on another day instead. So you get your annual leave plus 8 extra days.

It depends on the trust as not all of them have the AFC accrual plan ESR config in place yet for the move to AFC averages over WTD payments. Some have a leave entitlement inc AL and BH in one base entitlement on the roster. Some trusts have split the entitlements in ESR to allow processing of automatic afc average payments.

I'm guessing your total leave is 27 + 8 = 35 days in total.

If you don't work the bank holiday then it is deducted from your annual leave. If you work the bank holiday you can take the holiday on a different day.

Sorry I should have been more specific I will be working the role of a healthcare assistant in a&e

@NoOneKnowsWhoYouAre it must be Trust dependent then. My A/L as a shift worker is calculated in total hours (including BH) which is around 280hrs/per year and I just book when I want through my leave requests through the employee roster

I also work in a&e

In that role I'd imagine you'll be scheduled for some of the bank holidays which means you'll be able to take it off on a separate day and it'll come out of the bank holiday allocation rather than the 27 days.