Annual leave

Annual Leave 
Working Time Directive (WTD) legal requirements 
Management of Annual Leave 
Managerial Responsibilities 
Leave Entitlements 
Aber People (Self-Service)
Adjusting leave entitlement
Annual Leave Calculator 2024
Annual Leave Calculator - 2025
Annual Leave Calculator - 2026

1. Annual Leave

Aberystwyth University promotes a positive and healthy work-life balance, and recognises the importance of annual leave in achieving this. This guidance, which applies to all members of staff, aims to provide a fair, consistent and equitable approach to the accrual and taking of annual leave, ensuring that individual needs are balanced with operational requirements.

2. Working Time Directive (WTD) legal requirements

The Working Time Directive requires all employees to take a minimum of 28 (days) / 204.4 (hours) leave per year for which payment in lieu is not allowed (pro-rated for part time staff).  For the purpose of the WTD these 28 days currently include bank holidays and university closed days, but this does not reduce the annual leave entitlements.  Therefore managers should encourage employees to take their full annual leave entitlement within the leave year, but as a minimum must ensure that a full time employee who benefits from the bank holiday and closed days, also takes at least 16 days1 / (116.8 hours) of their annual leave entitlement, in order to meet the legal requirement of 28 days leave.

3. Management of Annual Leave

The University annual leave year runs from 1st January to 31st December and a full time entitlement would be 27 days (197.1 hours)

4. Managerial Responsibilities

Managers have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are able to, and do, take reasonable periods of annual leave throughout the year; to meet the requirements of the WTD (based on the health and wellbeing of the employee); to ensure staff do not lose annual leave on moving from one leave year to the next; and to avoid excessive costs accrued in paying for outstanding annual leave at the end of the employment contract.

Any instance of unauthorised leave should be discussed in detail with your relevant Human Resources team.

In addition, for employees who require a visa to enable them to undertake work in the UK, the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 obliges the University to disclose to the UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) any period of unauthorised absence which exceeds 10 working days.  Managers are therefore required to report any such absence to their Human Resources Team within 13 working days of the first day of absence to enable to the University to comply with its legal obligations.

5. Leave Entitlements

Annual leave is calculated in hours for all staff to ensure consistency among full time & part time staff.

 
Holiday entitlement (Hours)
Holiday entitlement (Days)
FTE (7.3 hours x 27 days)
197.10
27

In addition to the above entitlement, all full time staff are entitled to eight public holidays and four university closed days depending the period of employment.   For a full list, please see the University website

 
Entitlement (Hours)
Entitlement (Days)
Public holiday 
58.4
8
Closed days 
36.5
5
Totals
94.9
13

Part-time staff entitlements are pro-rata and can be checked manually using the annual leave calculator

Annual leave must be taken during the University leave year which is 1 January to 31 December and with the agreement of the Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor / Head of Department (or his/her nominee) / Head of Professional Services (or his or her nominee).  Normally up to 36.5 hours, full time equivalent (pro rata for part time staff) annual leave may be carried forward into the next leave-taking year. When there is a clear business case, exceptions may be authorised by a Head of Department in consultation with the Director of Human Resources.

6. Aber People (Self-Service)

All employees absences must be recorded, either by the employee or the Institute/Department administrator via Pobl Aber People (Self-Service).  This is due to a number of legal and contractual obligations such as:-

  • Monitoring Annual Leave taken (for health and wellbeing / WTD).
  • Monitoring outstanding annual leave at the end of the employment contract.
  • Reporting accrued untaken leave for Financial Regulations (IFRS 102).
  • Meet legal obligations for reporting absence of sponsored individuals.

How Pobl Aber People calculates your leave entitlement

Pobl Aber People will automatically calculate your annual leave entitlement in hours, based on your contract hours, duration and Work Schedule (Work Pattern) to automatically remove the public holidays and closed days from your total entitlement.

If you change your working pattern, contractual hours or move positions, it is important that you check if Pobl Aber People has been updated accordingly

The Annual leave balances screen will show the details of your annual leave entitlement including:-

Carried forward Number of hours carried forward from previous year
Annual leave entitlement = hours / 36.5 * 197.1 * duration of days worked in year

Bank Holiday / Closed day adjustment

 = adjustment made if any hours recorded in the work schedule (work pattern) falls on a BH/CD hours then compares against full time entitlement of 7.3 hours for each BH/CD. (part-time pro-rated)
Overall entitlement = Annual Leave entitlement + carried forward + BH adjustment
Taken The amount of annual leave that has been taken within the leave year
Balance = Taken - Overall entitlement

All employees can use the annual leave calculator to view how Pobl Aber People calculates their entitlement. If you believe that your entitlement is incorrect, please download it and then contact HR, who will gladly assist you.

Please note that the annual leave adjustment process updates balances every five minutes and may not immediately reflect any new absence entries.

Guidance on booking leave via the system can be found on the Pobl Aber People web page

7. Adjusting leave entitlements

There are occasions when it may be appropriate to adjust an employee’s leave entitlement

  • Maternity absence: in exceptional circumstances it may be necessary for staff who have accrued leave during a period of maternity under
  • Sickness absence: for staff who have accrued leave during a period of sickness absence
  • Other exceptional circumstances: carryover of leave in excess of 36.5 hours (5 days) (or pro rata) is subject to the appropriate authorisation by the Head of Department and Director of Human Resources
  • Annualised contracts

This is not an exhaustive list, please contact HR for further information

  • 16 Days based on 12 PH / Closed days; 15 days required when 13 PH / Closed days
  • Absence Year for staff on Legacy T&C’s is 1st April to 31st March

Policy Review

Human Resources will co-ordinate a review of this policy in order to maintain compliance with legislation and good practice. The review will be undertaken in liaison with the recognised trade unions and any proposed amendments will be submitted to the appropriate relevant committee, University Executive and Council if required.

Version 1.1

Last Reviewed: May 2015

Review Date: May 2016