The Annual Leave Purchase Scheme provides you with the option to purchase up to 10 days additional annual leave. We offer two opportunities throughout the year, this is the second window which opens from Monday 11th September and will close on Sunday 24th September 2023.
Please note the 10 days are pro-rated for part-time colleagues (e.g. if you work three days a week, you'll only be entitled to buy an additional six days of annual leave). To be eligible to purchase leave in this window you must:
- have completed three months service.
- have not purchased any leave in the March 2023 window.
- discuss your application with your line manager, specifically the number of days you wish to purchase, prior to making your application.
If you’re eligible to purchase additional leave, you'll need to apply through the Hive by selecting the ‘Your benefits and rewards’ tile, then the ‘Additional Annual Leave’ tile, once you've logged in. Here's everything you need to know about purchasing additional annual leave:
- For leave purchased in this window, the cost will be deducted from your salary over a 6-month period.
- The deduction will be set on your salary at the time of application and will not fluctuate or be amended due to salary increases or decreases in year - e.g. where an employee reduces their working hours.
- As this is part of a salary sacrifice scheme, the deduction will be made from your gross salary. Where the deduction would take the colleague's salary below the National Minimum Wage (NMW), you can still purchase additional leave; however, the deduction will be made from net salary (because your salary cannot go below the NMW).
- For full time colleagues, leave purchased will be shown in days, whereas for part time colleagues, leave purchased will be shown in hours.
- Additional leave purchased will be added to your leave entitlement by 9th October 23.
- Any additional leave bought, must be used in the leave year April 23 to March 24. It cannot be carried forward into the next leave year. Therefore, please carefully consider the number of days you wish to purchase.
- The rules around booking leave apply in the same way as if you were booking leave from your normal leave entitlement.
- Where a colleague leaves the organisation and has not used the additional days purchased, they’ll be repaid or may be required to take the leave during their notice period. Similarly, where a colleague has taken the days purchased but has not paid for these in full, the outstanding payment will be deducted from their final pay.
- GC open two annual leave purchase windows each year, however, please note that you can only make one application per year. Therefore if you purchased leave in the first window, you will not be permitted to purchase any more days in this window.
If you meet the criteria and wish to purchase additional leave, make sure you apply on the Hive before Sunday 24th September 2023. For more information, please read the Annual Leave Policy. If you have any questions, please contact the HR Service Desk.