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Annual leave

The annual leave year, for both the accrual and taking of leave, is 1 January to 31 December.

Please be aware that with effect from 10 August 2023 you will need to connect to VPN and MFA if you are off campus and wish to access iTrent Employee Self Service to book holiday, view payslips, record sickness, submit PTA timesheets or review your personal and employment information. Guidance can be found online here: Off campus access with VPN and MFA guidance and you should contact the IT Service desk if you require any additional support. 

Taking annual leave

It is always important for the health and wellbeing of employees that they take leave from work, which is why we encourage colleagues to take all their annual leave during the leave year. 

The leave entitlement for full-time staff employed all year is as follows:

Grade A to D:  284.7 hours (39 days) inclusive of bank holidays and closure days.
Grade E+:  299.3 hours (41 days) inclusive of bank holidays and closure days.

The number of discretionary hours (days) available to book will depend on the number of bank holidays and closure days that fall on your working days.

For part-time staff working fewer days or hours, leave entitlement is proportionate. You can calculate your pro-rata leave entitlement with our Annual Leave Calculator 2023‌. 

The annual leave entitlement for staff joining or leaving the employment of the University during the course of the year is proportionate to their completed service during the leave year. Use our Annual Leave Calculator to help you calculate these part-year entitlements.

If an employee whose employment ends during the year has taken more days of leave than s/he has accrued up to their final date of employment, then a deduction will be made from their final salary payment. Staff employed on a fixed term basis are expected to take annual leave before the expiry of their contract.

Use our annual leave calculators to help you calculate annual leave entitlement for part-time employees and staff who join/leave mid year.‌

Annual Leave Calculator 2023

Annual Leave Calculator 2024

Annual leave calculator 2022

Confused by decimals in iTrent and wondering how they convert to minutes? You are not alone. Please use this guide to help you -  A guide: decimal to minutes

The procedure for booking annual leave in your College or Service will be explained to you by your line manager during the first week of your induction.  Staff are encouraged to book annual leave via Trent Self Service and we strongly recommend you use this system.  Your Line Manager will advise you of any changes to this procedure.  You should review your annual leave records on iTrent and report any errors to your manager and humanresources@exeter.ac.uk. This includes ensuring that your working pattern is recorded on Trent correctly as this will affect your annual leave balance.

It is not recommended that you use Trent to record your annual leave if you have no fixed working pattern and in these cases it is vital you keep a record of your annual leave so any outstanding, untaken annual leave can be paid to you if/when you leave the University. 

The timing of leave is by agreement with the relevant Manager/Head who will take into account both individual preferences and operational requirements. 

Staff in academic roles

In the case of staff in the Education & Research, and Education & Scholarship job families, leave will normally be taken during University vacations. For further information please see Annual leave for staff in the Education and Research job family or Annual Leave for staff in the Education and Scholarship job family.

Term-time staff

For staff working term-time only, their annual salary includes their pro-rata paid leave entitlement, to be taken on unspecified days during the vacation periods. Leave may not be taken during term-time.

Standard Terms 

Staff are expected to take their leave in the leave year in which it is accrued. While there is no entitlement to carry forward leave, where it is not possible (eg for operational reasons) for employees to take all their leave entitlement, they may - with the permission of their Pro Vice Chancellor/Head of Service or delegate - carry forward up to 5 days’ leave to the following year. Your manager will be asked about this in an email from HR in November each year. You do not need to take any action.  

Any leave carried forward should be taken by 30 April in the following year or it will be lost. If a member of staff has more than 5 days’ leave outstanding at the end of a year, the excess over and above 5 days will be lost. There is no entitlement for payment in lieu of untaken leave. 

Exceptional temporary terms 

Taking account of the exceptional circumstances created by the current Coronavirus health pandemic, the University has agreed with the following temporary change to the existing carry-forward arrangements for the following years: 

The maximum carry forward from 2021 to 2022 was 10 days (73 hours) – including the standard c/f allowance of 5 days (pro rata). 

The maximum carry forward from 2022 to 2023 will be 7.5 days (54.75 hours) – including the standard c/f allowance of 5 days (pro-rata). 

From 2023 the maximum carry forward will revert to the standard 5 days (36.5 hours) (pro-rata). 

In all cases, carry forward of annual leave, must be approved by the manager. 

In exceptional circumstances, with the approval of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Director of Service, employees may be able to carry forward more than 7.5 days/54.75 hours. 

Any adjustments to your 2023 holiday allowance (including the approved carry forward of leave, or the carry forward of a negative leave balance) will be automatically added to your annual leave records in the week commencing 9 January 2023.  

Please remember that when you take annual leave, the leave you accrued first is taken first – for example, if you carry forward 5 days (36.5 hours) from 2022 to 2023, these are the first 5 days of leave you take in 2023 

There is no change to the following arrangements: 

  • An employee leaving the University in 20212023 who has not taken both their pro-rata holiday entitlement for the year and leave carried forward from 2020-23 will be expected to take this leave during their notice period, where this is operationally possible. 

  • Employees who are on sick leave at reduced sick pay can continue to book a period of their sick leave as annual leave (and receive holiday pay at their full-time rate), but there is no requirement that they must do so.  

  • Employees who are not normally permitted to take annual leave during term-time will continue to be required to take their carry forward leave outside of term-time. 

(This page was updated on 9 November 2022.) 

To meet operational requirements, the University may require staff to work on a designated closure day, in which case alternative paid leave will be provided, to be taken by agreement with management, and no additional payment will be made. Staff in grades A to D may qualify for additional payment when they are required to work on a closure day in addition to their normal working week

Where attendance on a bank/public holiday is required, the University will in the first instance seek volunteers, subject to the right of the University to require staff to work on bank/public holidays to meet its operational requirements of the University where insufficient volunteers are available. Where staff are rostered to work on a bank/public holiday, the University will manage the rosters so that bank/public holiday working is evenly shared among staff. Where staff are required to work on a bank/public holiday within their normal working week, alternative paid leave will be provided, to be taken by agreement with management, and no additional payment will be made. Staff in grades A to D may qualify for additional payment when they are required to work on a bank/public holiday in addition to their normal working week.

The Bank Holiday and Christmas/New Year closure arrangements for 2022 will be as follows:

1 January 2022 Saturday  University Closure
2 January 2022 Sunday University Closure
3 January 2022 Monday Bank Holiday
15 April 2022 Friday Bank Holiday
18 April 2022 Monday Bank Holiday
2 May 2022 Monday Bank Holiday
2 June 2022 Thursday Bank Holiday
3 June 2022 Friday Extra Bank Holiday 
29 August 2022 Monday Bank Holiday
25 December 2022 Sunday Bank Holiday
26 December 2022 Monday Bank Holiday
27 December 2022 Tuesday Bank Holiday
28 December 2022 Wednesday University Closure
29 December 2022 Thursday University Closure
30 December 2022 Friday University Closure
31 December 2022 Saturday University Closure

Please note, when Christmas Day falls on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, to avoid campuses being open for a single day (ie either Christmas Eve or 2 January) the University reserves the right to determine when one day of leave is to be taken.

The Bank Holiday and Christmas/New Year closure arrangements for 2023 will be as follows:

1 January 2023 Sunday  University Closure
2 January 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
7 April 2023 Friday Bank Holiday
10 April 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
1 May 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
8 May 2023 Monday
Additional Bank Holiday*
29 May 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
28 August 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
25 December 2023 Monday Bank Holiday
26 December 2023 Tuesday Bank Holiday
27 December 2023 Wednesday University Closure 
28 December 2023 Thursday University Closure
29 December 2023 Friday University Closure
30 December 2023 Saturday University Closure
31 December 2023 Sunday University Closure

* Information to follow on the additional bank holiday in 2023.

(Different arrangements for bank/public holidays may apply to staff based overseas: for more information contact globalemployment@exeter.ac.uk)

Please note, when Christmas Day falls on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, to avoid campuses being open for a single day (ie either Christmas Eve or 2 January) the University reserves the right to determine when one day of leave is to be taken.

King Charles III Coronation Additional Bank Holiday 2023

The government has declared an additional bank holiday on Monday 8th May 2023 to mark the coronation of King Charles III.

Arrangements for staff who are scheduled to work on Monday 8th May 2023 

Some colleagues may be required to work on Monday 8th May 2023 to maintain essential services as the day falls in the Summer Term and the exam period, the campus will still be open to students. Where a colleague is required to work on Monday 8th May, they should take an alternative day leave by agreement with their manager. 

Part-time colleagues who do not normally work on Mondays should take an alternative day's leave by agreement with their manager.  

Compressed hours colleagues who are not due to work on Monday 8th May should take an alternative day's leave by agreement with their manager.

Staff who work term-time only 

The bank holiday occurs during the summer term so although term-time colleagues are not normally permitted to take leave during term-time they will be permitted to take this day of leave. If they have to work then they will be allowed to arrange to take another day during term-time by agreement with their manager. 

(Part-time and term-time colleagues will be permitted to take one of their normal length days as a compensatory day of leave, irrespective of their FTE fraction.) 

All staff

It will not be possible to include the additional day (Monday 8th May) in Trent Annual Leave, so any colleagues who need to book a compensatory day of leave will have to arrange this with their manager outside of Trent Self Service. 

Please note that colleagues who join the University after 8th May 2023 will not be entitled to a proportion of the additional Bank Holiday (as they are with the permanent bank holidays. 

Staff who are providing on-call services will be paid at their normal on-call rates of pay.

Staff who are on family friendly leave should arrange with their manager to take an additional day's leave upon return from family friendly leave. Managers please make a note to discuss this with your staff member.

Staff who have already booked 8th May 2023 as annual leave

Staff who have already booked this day off as annual leave can cancel this day in their annual leave booking via Trent self service.

The Bank Holiday and Christmas/New Year closure arrangements for 2024 will be as follows:

1 January 2024 Monday Bank Holiday
29 March 2024 Friday Bank Holiday
1 April 2024 Monday Bank Holiday
6 May 2024 Monday Bank Holiday
27 May 2024 Monday Bank Holiday
26 August 2024 Monday Bank Holiday
25 December 2024 Wednesday Bank Holiday
26 December 2024 Thursday Bank Holiday
27 December 2024 Friday University Closure
28 December 2024 Saturday University Closure
29 December 2024 Sunday University Closure
30 December 2024 Monday University Closure
31 December 2024 Tuesday University Closure

(Different arrangements for bank/public holidays may apply to staff based overseas: for more information contact globalemployment@exeter.ac.uk)

Please note, when Christmas Day falls on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, to avoid campuses being open for a single day (ie either Christmas Eve or 2 January) the University reserves the right to determine when one day of leave is to be taken.

The University is committed to granting an additional five days of paid leave per year (pro-rata for part time employees) to Reservists specifically to enable them to attend their annual camp or equivalent continuous training exercises (this is in addition to the member of staff’s normal leave entitlement) i.e. 50% of the time off for the two weeks annual training is met by the University with the balance from the employee’s annual leave. Please see Reserve Forces and Mobilisation for additional information. 

The university will seek to provide flexibility on the timing of annual leave for university staff who are partners of Service personnel before, during and after their partner’s deployment, subject to operational requirements. The university will consider allowing the employee to take an extended period of leave (from their standard annual entitlement) and/or allow leave to be carried forward into the following year or brought forward from the following year, subject to operational requirements. Please ensure you have discussed and agreed with your manager before taking the leave. You may need to discuss this with your HR contact to ensure it is reflected in itrent.

For more information on the support offered by the university please read the Armed Forces Covenant.