University of Brighton
Special leave
1
Introduction
1.1
The university offers special leave, paid or unpaid, in a range of situations subject to the time
limits and other requirements stated in below and in the attached table.
1.2
Special leave is granted on a pro-rata basis to part-time staff.
1.3
Special leave must be agreed beforehand with the head of school/department. The specified
notice periods are a minimum. Ideally, you should give as much notice as possible so that cover
and contractual details can be arranged.
1.4
Wherever possible, the university’s flexible working arrangements or annual leave should be
used instead and timing should minimise disruption to university services.
1.5
Requests for activities not listed in the attached table or beyond the time limits will be decided
by heads of school/department in consultation with the Director of Human Resources.
2.
Notifying leave
2.1
Some types of special leave need to be notified to the Human Resources Department using the
university’s Request for special leave form PDL provided to all school/departmental offices.
These are: Family support leave, Compassionate leave of more than 2 weeks, Parental leave
(unpaid) and Other unpaid leave. There are separate schemes and notification forms for
adoption leave paternity leave parental leave and maternity leave.
3.
Unpaid leave
3.1
All unpaid leave of up to six weeks will count as continuous service for assessing annual leave,
sickness payments and all statutory entitlements.
3.2
For each whole month of unpaid leave annual leave entitlement decreases by a twelfth.
3.3
Members of the Local Government Pension Scheme
You need to continue contributions for the first 30 days of unpaid leave. Thereafter, you can
opt to remain in the scheme to avoid a break in pensionable service. W hen you pay
contributions, the university pays the employer's contributions.
Contributions are based on the salary you would have received had you not been on unpaid
leave. They can be paid in a lump sum or deducted monthly from your salary when you return
to work (the deductions are usually deducted over a period of time equal to that of the unpaid
leave.)
Members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS)
Unpaid leave is not pensionable in this scheme.
Members of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)
See www.uss.co.uk for further information.
Your National Insurance (NI) and state retirement pension
NI contributions do not continue automatically during unpaid leave but you may wish to make
voluntary contributions to avoid a break that may affect your state pension. For further
information see: Do you need to top up your National Insurance contributions? : Directgov Pensions and retirement planning
HR/September 2013
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Summary of Special Leave provisions
See the important information on taking special leave overleaf.
Type of leave
Maternity, paternity
and adoption leave
Parental leave
Family support
leave
Other unpaid leave
Compassionate
leave
Jury service
Candidate for
parliamentary (not
local) elections
Public duties
Examination leave
Other paid leave
Trade Union duties
HR/September 2013
Leave period
Notification procedure
Note: All leave must be agreed beforehand by your head of
school/department
See adoption leave paternity leave and maternity leave on staffcentral/Human
Resources
See parental leave on staffcentral/Human Resources.
• 18 weeks unpaid for each child (child must be in school or secondary education)
• must be taken in 1 week blocks (can be less than a week for disabled child)
• Or, reduced work hours for the period or a combination of full-time leave and
reduced hours
• Up to 1 week’s paid leave in any 12 month period for important family or domestic
issues (e.g. caring responsibilities, a close relative is suffering from serious illness,
new staff need time to sort out new accommodation, medical, school, etc.)
• Also a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with family emergencies other
than death (Compassionate leave is used for death)
Unpaid leave of up to one week at the discretion of the head of school or department
Longer periods are by agreement between the head of school/department and Director
of Human Resources
• Up to 2 weeks’ paid leave at discretion of head of school/department
• More than 2 weeks is at discretion of Director of Human Resources
See specific guidance documents for procedure
• Staff notify their manager at least 21 days in advance
• The manager notifies the Human Resources Department
in advance on form PDL
Manager notifies Human Resources Department on form
PDL as early as possible.
Notify Human Resources Department in advance on form
PDL.
If you need more than 2 weeks, your head of
school/department requests agreement by the Director of
Human Resources on form PDL.
• Inform your manager as soon as notified of jury duty
• Send the court's Loss of Earnings form to Payroll
• Send the court's Remittance Advice form to Payroll
• No need to notify the Human Resources Department
• For any queries contact Payroll
• Paid leave to attend as required by the court
• Must attend work on any days or part days when not in court
• The Court will pay you an allowance to cover your loss of earnings. An amount
equal to the allowance will be deducted from your pay. See the column on the right
for the procedure.
• Up to 3 weeks' paid leave up to and including the date of the poll. Timing in
No need to notify the Human Resources Department
agreement with head of school/department
• Paid leave is not granted for attending party political conferences
• Up to 18 days' paid leave a year.
No need to notify the Human Resources Department
• Timing in agreement with head of school/department.
• Types of public service covered are: Magistrate, local authority member, school
governor, Justice of the Peace.
• Types not eligible are: presiding officer, poll clerk or election counting assistant.
For job-related courses agreed by the head of school/department only. Paid time off for
No need to notify the Human Resources Department
the exam and pre-exam leave of 1/2 day per exam during the preceding 2 weeks.
Paid time off for medical/dental appointments (including screening) or job interviews if it
No need to notify the Human Resources Department
is not possible to arrange them outside of work time.
For details of paid leave relating to trade union activities, see the Recognition of and facilities for safety representatives and Recognition of and facilities
for trade union representatives on the Human Resources website on staffcentral. Special leave is not granted for attendance at political conferences.
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