Annual leave keeps being declined

[fledtoscotland]

Not wanting to give too much away because of outing myself in RL but I have having a nightmare with AL.

I work within the nhs and I cannot get any holiday in may, june, july or august as it books up more than 18months in advance.

I have requested holiday but it has been declined twice now and have put my third request this weekend.

Can they keep declining or is there something like the parental leave that they can only decline twice?

TIA

They can decline as much as they want, the only legal requirement is that you must be given the right amount of holiday. Your employer can dictate when you take all of it if they decide to do that.

Presumably if it's a case of it being booked up, then it's because there has to be a certain amount of cover at all times, so a rule like that wouldn't work any way, as it would involve not having the department covered or telling another member of staff to cancel their holiday, neither of which work.

Is there any reason you can't ask your manager which dates are still available before putting your request in, rather than putting in the dates you want and just hoping no one else already has? Presumably your manager keeps a record or a calendar of some kind saying when people are off? I'd say ask to see that, so you can make sure you don't waste time putting in requests for dates that are already booked. And book your next year's holiday at the same time by the sounds of things!

Thanks flowery

the annual leave is arranged by a central dept rather than at local level so you have no idea what is available until your request is agreed or turned down.

Its just frustrating as DH is at uni so we are tied to his holidays which of course are at peak times.

Really? So your manager has no way of accessing information about which of his/her team are on holiday when?

That sounds very strange! I would suggest in that case you contact whoever does authorise holiday and holds that information and ask them.

Its the oddest thing ever! As far as Im aware its the only part of the NHS that does this and it doesnt work imho.

Thanks for your advice- if my request is turned down again then I will ask then which dates are available as its unreasonable not to be able to have any time off during the summer.

Can't work really, can it? Makes no sense, and only adds to the administrative burden as well. Yes do ask them next time as it's getting ridiculous really isn't it?!