Renfrewshire Council

All annual leave requests must be made and approved on Business World.

If you work part time or job share, you need to book a full day off, even if you only work part of the day or part of a shift. 

Book annual leave

To book annual leave:

• log on to Business World
• select the 'Absences' link under the 'Start pages' panel on the homepage
• select the 'Absence request' link on the 'Absences' screen
• on the 'Absence request' screen, select 'Annual Leave' from the 'Reason' list
• put in the dates for first day and the last day of your annual leave - if it's just one day, put in the same date for both
• select your job title from the 'Position' list
• if you're not booking a full day, on the 'Is this a full day?' option, select 'no' and choose either AM or PM 
• you can add any extra details in the 'Additional information' box if you need to
• click on the 'Send for approval' button on the bottom left to submit your request.

When you submit it, it will go into 'In progress' until your manager has approved or declined it. 

If your manager approves your request, you'll see it in the 'Approved' panel of the Absences screen.

Your annual leave balance will then automatically adjust when your request has been approved. 

You should not save your annual leave requests as drafts on Business World. 

You should submit your request to your manager or delete it until you are sure of what annual leave you want to book. Leaving draft annual leave requests in Business World can impact the efficiency of the Business World platform.

How to change your annual leave request

If your post has the flexible working hours scheme (flexitime)

If your post is suitable for the flexible working hours scheme (flexitime), you also need to book your annual leave on the Imperago flexitime system.

To record your annual leave on the flexitime system:

• log on to Imperago
• click on 'Requests' on the left-hand side
• click on the 'new' button at the bottom
• on the 'New request' screen, set the 'Request type' to 'Absence / Adjustment'
• set the 'Absence / Adjustment reason' to 'Annual leave'
• select the dates for the first day and the last day of your annual leave - if it's just one day, put in the same date for both
• if you're not booking a full day, select one of the options from the 'Duration' list - you can select either AM, PM or Hours Value
• if you've selected 'Hours Value', put in the number of hours you want to take off in the 'Hours Value' field
• you can add any additional information in the Comments box if needed
• select 'Save' at the end to save your annual leave request.

Your flexitime balance will then automatically adjust after your annual leave has occurred. 

Using your flexitime for leave

If you want to use flexitime hours to take time off work, select the 'Absence / Adjustment reason' to 'Flexitime leave' on Business World. Make sure that you have agreed using your flexitime for leave with your line manager first. 

You'll also need to record your time off using your flexitime hours on the Imperago flexitime system. 

Make a new request on Imperago and:

• set the 'Absence / Adjustment reason' to 'Flex Leave'
• select the dates for the first day and the last day of your flexi leave - if it's just one day, put in the same date for both
• if you're not booking a full day, select one of the options from the 'Duration' list - you can select either AM, PM or Hours Value
• if you've selected 'Hours Value', put in the number of hours you want to take off in the 'Hours Value' field
• you can add any additional information in the Comments box if needed
• select 'Save' at the end to save your flex leave request.

Your flexitime balance will then automatically adjust after your flex leave has occurred. 

Using additional annual leave

If you bought additional annual leave for 2023, you should use this first before your normal annual leave entitlement. 

Book your annual leave in the normal way on Business World but use your additional annual leave first. Your Additional Annual Leave and any carried over leave  will be shown separately from your standard annual leave allowance on Business World.

Carry over annual leave

As the annual leave year runs from 1 January to 31 December, you are generally expected and encouraged to use your annual leave within this period, supporting your health and wellbeing and rest time away from work. However, if you require to carry over unused annual leave into next year, your line manager will consider this in line with service demands as per your terms and conditions of employment.   

If you have more than 5 years' service, you can request to carry over a maximum of 5 days (pro-rated) of your leave entitlement into 2024 and this can be used throughout 2024.  

If you have less than 5 years' service, you can carry over a maximum of 5 days of your annual leave entitlement and use these by 31 January in 2024, otherwise you will lose them. Your Head of Service may agree some discretion with HR&OD in exceptional circumstances.

If you are not sure what your annual leave entitlement is or you think it's wrong, speak to your line manager first. If it needs to be adjusted, they will contact HR to get it changed.

See your annual leave entitlement.