If you are an eligible employee, you have a legal entitlement to take SPL and therefore all continuous periods of leave will be accepted by the University. Requests for discontinuous leave will be considered.
Continuous leave is taken in one block of leave together made in one application.
Discontinuous leave is where you applying for separate blocks of time off in one application.
Considering Discontinuous Leave
Managers will review requests and make an assessment of the operational requirements, significant events during the leave period, busy periods, impact on delivery and cover arrangements. Based on this assessment, discontinuous requests may be declined.
You will be notified within 14 days of your original notification being received if the request has been declined and you will be required to withdraw the request or take the leave in a continuous block. Alternative dates could also be proposed by the manager to be agreed with you.
Not Approving Discontinuous Leave
If the request is not approved, then you have the following options:
- You can withdraw the request (not counting as one of the three notices of leave)
- Do nothing, in which case the default would go to a period of continuous leave, starting on the date the first period of discontinuous leave was requested.
- Alternatively, your manager may explore with you, your alternative start/leave dates, to accommodate your requirements and the operational requirements of the team/department.
You will then have 5 days to decide from the date you receive confirmation of the declined request.
Approving Discontinuous Leave
If approval is given for discontinuous leave, there may be an impact on pay. The University policy states enhancement to ShPP is based on taking one block of leave. Therefore, multiple blocks of discontinuous leave may have an impact on pay.
Subsequent Leave
Three separate notices to request leave can be given, provided 8 weeks’ notice is given before each period of leave. Separate continuous blocks of leave will be accepted, but you should also be aware of the pay entitlement for blocks of leave taken this way.