Book or carry over annual leave
How to book annual leave, use flexitime for leave, use additional annual leave you've bought, and carry over annual leave to 2021 and 2022.
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 2020, 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
All leave must be taken within the period 1 January of the year to which it relates and 31 January of the following year. Any leave not taken by 31 January will be forfeited with the exception of those employees who have 5 years' service or more.
From January 2009, employees with 5 years' service or more may carry over five days leave (full-time equivalent) into the next full leave year. The 'carried over' days must be taken by 31 December of that leave year subject to operational exigencies and with agreement of the line manager.
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.