After three meetings with Andy Comyn and Kathryn Jones, the ‘3 Week Rule’ issue regarding annual leave was brought to the Joint Consultative Committee meeting. It was suggested that “a line manager can authorise more than 3 weeks continuous annual leave instead of having to contact the Assistant Principal.” This offer was brought to the last full UCU meeting (28.06.17) and attending members voted unanimously in favour of accepting this offer.

The current annual leave policy is as follows:

“…3 weeks continuous holiday can be agreed by the line manager. Where staff require holidays of more than 3 continuous weeks they should make the request in advance to their Vice Principal, with sufficient advance notice, so that the college’s business needs may be fully considered prior to a decision being made.”

We will confirm with all members once this amendment has been ratified. All staff will then be able to put in requests for up to 4 weeks’ annual leave, ensuring the college’s business needs are considered, and this should be approved by your line manager. If you believe that any requests have been unfairly rejected, please contact a UCU rep.