Updated staff FAQ: annual leave
01 Apr 2020
Frequently asked questions are updated regularly
This advice is correct at the time of publication of this news article.
If you have health concerns then you should refer to the NHS website as recommended by Public Health England, however to make other queries regarding the current situation you can email coronavirus-info@manchester.ac.uk.
We will be updating the staff frequently asked questions on a regular basis.
The latest question is:
Can I still take annual leave during this period?
Yes, it’s important that colleagues have the opportunity to take a break from work during this period, even if you’ve had to cancel your holiday plans given the latest Government advice stay at home and away from others. To help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, you’re strongly encouraged to take any pre-booked annual leave you already have planned and to carry on booking annual leave in the same way that you usually would.
You may have read in the media that the Government has announced that rules on carrying over annual leave are to be relaxed to support key industries during the COVID-19 period. At the moment there are no plans to increase the amount of annual leave colleagues can carry over at the end of the leave year. This means that a maximum of five days of annual leave (or the pro-rata equivalent) can be carried over into next year’s annual leave allowance. We expect all staff to take leave to help ensure their wellbeing during this difficult period unless there are exceptional operational reasons why they are unable to. Only staff who are unable to take annual leave because they are critical to delivering essential services during this period, or who are unwell with coronavirus for an extended period of time, will be eligible to carry over more than five days of annual leave and this would have to be following discussion and agreement with their line manager.
If you have resigned and intend to leave the University, it’s important to remember that you may be required to take any, or all, of your outstanding leave allowance during your notice period.
All colleagues are also entitled to an additional two days of paid annual leave over Easter on Thursday, 9 and Tuesday, 14 April 2020. These two extra days will be treated as two additional ‘University closure days’ so will be in addition to your annual leave entitlement. The small number of essential support staff who are required to work on these days will receive the same level of pay as they would for working on the Public Holidays of Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
If you work part-time or are an agency worker due to be working on either or both of these dates you will receive one or two days paid holiday. If you work part-time or are an agency work and not due to be working on either or both of these days, you won’t be eligible for payment or time off in lieu.