We hope that you have managed to take a well-earned break at some point over the summer and enjoyed the bright and sunny weather we’ve experienced or have some time off to look forward to.  

You may recall from our communication earlier in the year, we set out our expectations for the utilisation of annual leave throughout the year: 

Recap 

  • Leave carried forward from 2020 will be used before the end of March 2021 (subject to any exceptions as covered below) 
  • 10 days of the allocation for 2021 are expected to be taken or agreed in the HR system by the end of June 2021 
  • A further 10 days are expected to be taken or agreed in the HR system by the end of September 2021 
  • Any remaining days are expected to be taken by the end of December 2021 (subject to any management agreed carry forward)

Therefore, by this point you should have now used or booked at least half of your annual leave with the plan to take your remaining days before the end of the year.  Leave should be planned and booked as far as possible in advance and should be mindful of the fact that at this time the expectation is that up to 5 days may be carried forward into 2022 as normal (with local management agreement).  These expectations apply equally to all colleagues, including those who have been on furlough. 

Public Holidays for 2022 

Next years’ public holidays have now been published on the HR webpages, and you may be pleased to see that in recognition of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, the Spring Holiday at end of May will be moved to Thursday 2 June and an additional public holiday on Friday 3 June 2022 to give a four-day Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s 70-year reign.  Essential staff who have to work on these days will be able to take an alternative day off, as agreed with their line manager. 

You can view all the public holiday dates on our Public Holidays webpage.  

First published: 6 August 2021

<< 9 August 2021