Special leave provisions
A summary of special leave provisions is outlined in the following table.
Further guidance can be obtained in the special and compassionate leave procedure or by contacting the HR First Contact team.
| Leave type | Circumstances | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Child bereavement and funeral | The definition of a parent is anyone who has responsibility as one of the primary carers for a child who is now deceased | Minimum of two weeks leave at full pay |
| Bereavement and funeral | The death of a staff member’s next of kin, immediate family member or someone with whom the staff member has a close relationship | Five days paid leave within a rolling 12 month period (pro-rata for part time staff). A further two days can be granted in exceptional circumstances for travelling abroad |
| Serious illness of partner or immediate family member | Situation where a staff member’s dependant is critically unwell. A dependant is regarded as a staff member’s spouse, partner, child or parent | Up to three days paid leave |
| Dependants | Emergency situations only. Must only be for as long as it takes to make the necessary remedial arrangements | Up to three days paid leave in any financial year. The length of time granted, should only be for the purposes of making alternative arrangements. Therefore half-days or a few hours can be considered. Requests for unpaid annual leave can be made if further time is required |
| Parental | Staff with more than one years’ service who have (or expect to have) parental responsibility for a child under the age of 18 | Legal entitlement to a maximum of 18 weeks’ unpaid leave in total for each child and adopted child, up to the age of 18. Further details are available on the GOV website. Parental leave is unpaid and must be taken in full weeks |
| Urgent domestic | Serious domestic emergencies (e.g. flood, fire, burglary or other unexpected serious domestic incident) | One paid day in any financial year |
| Health related requests | Routine GP or dental appointments, that where possible, are made outside of work hours. Where this is not possible, staff must ensure that appointments cause minimal impact to the service with the agreement of their manager (e.g. arranging appointments at the start or end of the shift). | Paid time off will be given for hospital appointments, including travel time. For medical and dental appointment, staff must use their own time |
| Fertility treatment | Staff undergoing fertility treatment with 12 months or more continuous service | Up to five days paid leave. Additional annual or unpaid leave can be granted at discretion of a manager |
| Cosmetic surgery | Time off and the period of recovery for voluntary cosmetic surgery will not be treated as sickness absence and staff should utilise annual leave | No special leave provisions will be granted |
| Notifiable disease | If a member of staff is under medical supervision following contact with a notifiable disease, managers must award special leave with pay | Managers must liaise with HR managers, Infection Control and Occupational Health to determine duration of leave |
| Job interview | Pay will be granted for attending a job interview within the Trust. Job interviews outside of the Trust (inc. other NHS organisations) must be taken as annual or unpaid leave | Reasonable time off to attend internal job interviews. Annual or unpaid leave for external interviews |
| Public or civic duties | The Trust recognises the value of civic and public duties undertaken by staff. Special leave will be granted for these services where possible, in accordance with service needs | Full details are oulined on the special leave for public and civic duties page |