7. Unpaid Leave

7.1 Unpaid leave for periods of over 1 month for personal or career development opportunities may be granted at the discretion of the Head of School/RI/University Service. 

7.2 This policy statement covers periods of unpaid leave other than those already provided for within University policies i.e. Maternity/Adoption Leave, Paternity Leave, Parental Leave and Academic Study Leave.

7.3 Authorisation Process

  • Having discussed the matter informally with their line manager, the member of staff should make a formal request for unpaid leave through Employee Self Service, specifying the duration and purpose of the requested leave.
  • The member of staff should provide reasonable notice of the request for unpaid leave.
  • The request will be considered by both the manager and the Head of School/RI/University Service in consultation with College/University Services HR.  In deciding whether to approve or reject a request for leave, due consideration will be given to the purpose of the request, and the likely operational and financial implications of the absence.  
  • The decision to approve or reject the period of leave will be communicated to the member of staff as soon as reasonably practicable.   Where the application is approved, Human Resources will issue confirmation of this in writing, which will detail the start and end dates of the leave and all contractual implications (see ‘Terms and conditions’ below).

7.4 Terms & conditions during/after a period of unpaid leave

Whilst on unpaid leave the member of staff:

  • will not receive any salary, allowances or other contractual benefits, and superannuation payments will normally be suspended*;
  • will not accrue entitlement to paid annual leave or be paid for public holidays or other days;
  • will not be entitled to sickness leave even where this is medically certified;
  • will be entitled to conditions of service relating to notice of termination, redundancy compensation and disciplinary and grievance procedures;

The University undertakes, where possible, to hold the member of staff’s original post open until the agreed date of return.  Where this is not possible, for example due to a unit restructure, the member of staff will be offered another job which would be considered suitable alternative work, on comparable terms and conditions to those that they had prior to the leave of absence.  Where a member of staff’s post becomes at risk of redundancy during their period of absence they will be notified and consulted with in accordance with the University’s Management of Organisational Change / Redundancy Policy and Procedure.  

*In certain circumstances, for example where the purpose of the leave will bring benefits to the University, employer pension contributions may, at the discretion of the Head of School/RI/University Service, continue to be paid for an agreed period so long as employee contributions are made.  Where no pension contributions are made, the member of staff will be treated as a deferred member of the pension scheme (for further information on pension implications please contact the Payroll Section).