Annual leave is paid leave from work that is to be taken during a one-year period.
All full-time staff recruited on or after 14 December 2011 have an annual leave allowance between 22 and 30 days. This is subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant recruitment competition.
Annual Leave entitlements vary by:
- grade
- length of service
- workshare pattern
Entitlements are affected by unpaid leave such as Shorter Working Year (will be a link).
The Organisation of Working Time Act (1997) gives all full-time employees a statutory minimum of four working weeks’ Annual Leave (or equivalent for worksharers).
You must take your annual leave during the year in which it is accrued. In some cases, you can take it within six months of the start of the next leave year.
If your manager approves your request for annual leave, the annual leave will be updated automatically. Your time and attendance system will be updated as per arrangements made between HR Shared Services and your Department/Office.
Apply online via the HR portal
- Enter your self-service user ID and password
- Select ‘annual leave’
- Complete the e-form and click ‘submit’.
- Your line manager will approve the e-form and you will get an email confirming your case ID.
- If you are applying online for parental leave, you need to download this eForm Job Aid which sets out instructions for filling out the parental leave eForm
If you have any questions about the process of submitting an application, see the How to Guide (link).
You can submit requests for annual leave and non-annual leave online using the HR portal (link).
This automatically routes requests to your manager. When your manager approves the request, your leave will be automatically updated in employee self-service.
Certain types of non-annual leave requests require approval from your local HR. The NSSO will send these requests to your local HR. When you apply for non-annual leave, you must provide the relevant documentation to the NSSO once your manager has seen it.
As a manager, you can approve requests for annual leave and approve or recommend requests for non-annual leave online using the HR portal (link). All requests for annual leave that your staff make will be emailed to you. If you approve an annual leave request, your staff member’s record will be automatically updated on the portal and may be updated on the local time and attendance system, depending on arrangements between NSSO and your department or office.
Certain types of non-annual leave requests will require Local HR approval. The NSSO will send these requests to your local HR.
You can cancel future annual leave yourself if none of the dates of the leave have passed. Please see Cancelling Pending Leave. If you need to cancel annual leave that occurred in the past, your manager should raise a case to instruct the NSSO to cancel the leave.
If your manager approved a half day of leave and you now wish to take the full day, the system will not allow you to apply for a second half day on the same date. If the day is in the future, you can cancel the half day and apply for a full day. If the day is in the past, your manager must raise a case instructing the NSSO to cancel the half day and replace it with a full day.
Please note: If you have been out of work due to illness or injury, this is an unscheduled absence from work and not leave. You can find information and guidelines on sick leave absences in the unscheduled absence page of this site.
Some civil servants are provided an annual leave allowance higher than their statutory minimum. The days provided on top of statutory minimum are called annual leave in excess of statutory minimum or non-statutory annual leave.
- Sequence in which leave is taken
- Statutory annual leave carried in
- Statutory annual leave accrued during the leave year
- Non-Statutory annual leave accrued during the leave year
- Non-Statutory annual leave carried in
Carrying over annual leave should be uncommon. Managers should ensure that employees take their full leave entitlement each year. In cases where work requirements mean it is not possible to grant leave at a particular time, managers can allow employees to carry over any untaken leave under certain conditions.
You can only carry forward untaken annual leave for two consecutive years subject to the following conditions:
You must discuss your remaining annual leave with your line manager in sufficient time before the end of the leave year to enable you to take that leave during the current year, provided it is granted. And, the manager’s refusal to grant leave must only be due to the requirements of official work.
Staff On Cycle Year 1 or Cycle Year 2:
- You should agree with your manager that you can carry over leave which cannot be taken due to business requirements
- Leave will carry over automatically
- No further action is needed.
Staff on Cycle Year 3:
If you are in cycle year 3, carrying over leave above the statutory minimum is restricted to the difference between your statutory minimum entitlement and your current leave year allowance (i.e. this does not include carryover of annual leave from previous years).
You will lose any leave in excess of the statutory minimum that you have carried into cycle year 3 and have not used it by the end of the leave year. You must:
- Discuss and agree this carryover with their line manager before the end of the leave year
- Apply to carry over the leave through the HR[G1] portal
- You must complete applications to carry over leave from year 3 to year 1 according to the provisions of Annual Leave Circular 27/2003[G2] .
Year 3 Carryover Exceptions
Exceptions to the restrictions of carryover in Year 3 only apply to:
- Officer who were on Maternity Leave during Year 3
- Officers who were on extended sick leave, where 28 or more consecutive days of the sick leave occurred within the final 6 months of Year 3.
Exceptions to Year 3 carry over rules do not apply under any circumstances other than those outlined above. Neither line managers nor HR departments have discretion to approve carry over at the end of Year 3 for business reasons.
For more details and examples of carryover for officers, please consult the FAQ document (link).
