HOME OFFICE ANNUAL LEAVE CHANGES

Members will have seen MB 20/22 which outlined the detail of the imposed pay offer for 2022. As part of the offer, Home Office changed the annual leave entitlements, and the amount of service that members must achieve to gain an increase in annual leave entitlements.

Members with less than 5 years of service (between 1 and 4 years) will be allocated the additional days they have accrued while members with more than 5 years of service will receive an annual leave entitlement of 30 days.

This is a positive move and will mean staff will not have to wait 10 years to move from 25 to 30 days leave. While this does not meet our pay claim for 35 days, PCS have campaigned for some time for these changes so this is a welcomed step towards this.

Length of service Annual leave entitlement

Up to 1 year 25 days

1 year - up to 2 years 26 days

2 years - up to 3 years 27 days

3 years - up to 4 years 28 days

4 years - up to 5 years 29 days

5 years or more 30 days 

For members who work part-time or have another flexible working pattern, the annual leave entitlements (rather than service) will be calculated proportionally. Service with other Civil Service Departments should count towards the 5 years.

This entitlement comes about on 1 st March 2023, and successive 1 st March, rather than your service anniversary. PCS were informed that this was because of the vagaries of the Metis system, although this was part of the 2022 / 2023 pay offer. The delay in implementing this change forms part of the same year as it is implemented ahead of the 1 st July settlement date, although members should note that changes to HR policies can be made at any point.

PCS would advise members to check their new leave balances which were published on Metis yesterday and ensure that the correct number of hours have been credited to their account.

Pete Wright (Group Vice President)