Our holiday year begins on 1st January each year. You will be notified of fixed closures as far in advance as possible.
Your annual holiday entitlement is shown in your Statement of Mains Terms of Employment. During the first year of employment with us your entitlement to annual leave is calculated pro rata from the start date of your employment to the end of the annual leave year. During your first twelve months employment with us, you are only entitled to payment for annual leave that you have accrued pro rata.
It is our policy to encourage you to take all of your holiday entitlement in the current holiday year. Annual leave entitlement cannot be carried over to the next holiday year without the written consent of the Manager. You must send an email request to hr@bumblesdaycare.com to request to carry over a certain number of days / hours that you have remaining in your current annual leave balance. This can be checked on your Bright HR profile. Where consent is granted, a maximum of 5 days may be carried forward into the next leave year. These 5 days must be taken by the end of March of the following leave year. Except as otherwise set out in this policy, any entitlement not taken by the end of the holiday year will be lost and you will not be entitled to any payment in lieu.
In the event of the termination of your employment you will be paid in lieu for holidays accrued but not taken. However, in the event of you having taken holidays which have not been accrued pro-rata, the appropriate amount will be deducted from your final wages/salary.
Applying for Annual Leave
You should request annual through your Bright HR log in. You must ensure that your request is has been approved in Bright HR before making any holiday arrangements.
Every effort will be made to facilitate annual leave requests but employees should note that operational efficiency must be maintained at all times and normally a maximum of two members of staff will be permitted to take holidays at any one time. Holidays will not normally be granted during the month of September.
You should give at least four weeks’ notice of your intention to take holidays of a week or more and at least one week’s notice is required for requests for less than one week’s leave. Even in the event of this notice being given, you should still not make any firm arrangements for booking holidays until authorisation for the annual leave has been given as holiday requests are not guaranteed until approved by your manager.
Holiday Entitlement During Family Leave
Your annual leave entitlement continues to accrue during any period spent on maternity, adoption, paternity, parental, or shared parental leave.
If you are planning a period of family leave that is likely to last beyond the end of the current holiday year, please speak to your line manager as soon as possible and in good time before your family leave is due to start, to discuss your holiday plans. We encourage you to take as much of your holiday entitlement as possible before the leave starts, or where that is not practicable, immediately before your return to work. Any holiday entitlement that cannot reasonably be taken in this way may be carried into the next holiday year but should be taken within the first three months of the holiday year.
Long-term sickness and holiday entitlement
Your holiday entitlement continues to accrue during a period of sick leave. If you have a period of sick leave that spans two holiday years, or if you return from sick leave so close to the end of the holiday year that you cannot take all of your accrued entitlement before the end of that holiday year, then you are entitled to carry over any basic statutory holiday entitlement that you have been unable to take into the following holiday year. Please note that the basic statutory holiday entitlement to which this relates is four weeks holiday, as the remainder of your holiday entitlement is made up of additional statutory holiday and may also include contractual holiday allowance.
Any holiday entitlement carried under this provision must be taken within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which the annual leave accrued, otherwise it will be lost and you will not be entitled to any payment in lieu of it.
Alternatively, you may take your accrued holiday entitlement during a period of long-term sick leave. If you choose to do so you should submit a written request in advance to your line manager. Such holiday will be paid at your normal holiday pay rate.
This handbook has been prepared by Mark Mason Employment Law Consultancy for the exclusive use of Bumbles Day Care Limited and is not to be made available for use within any other organisation.