A statement on the outcome of the negotiations around buying and selling annual leave for NHS staff has been released by the NHS Staff Council.
During these discussions, it was not possible to reach a joint national agreement due to a lack of consensus over what constituted an appropriate rate of pay at which leave would be sold.
The 2018 framework agreement made provision for the development of a national framework for buying and selling annual leave.
During 2018/19, the NHS Staff Council have been undertaking discussions with a view to reaching a collective national agreement to support local employers and trade unions in England who agree to develop and implement buying and selling leave policies.
Despite not reaching agreement there were several areas of good practice where the consensus was reached. These included:
- Limiting the amount of leave which employees could request to sell, to 37.5 hours per year (pro rata, for part-time staff).
- Ensuring there is a fair process for considering requests to buy or sell annual leave with a default position of accepting requests unless there is a clear objectively justified reason for not approving an application. This should include a right of appeal.
- Putting in place an annual review of all the requests and decisions for buying and selling annual leave, undertaken in partnership with local trade union representatives for the purposes of equality, fairness and consistency.
In the absence of a national agreement, UNISON branches should consider these
points if negotiating local buying and selling leave policies with their employers.
Next steps
UNISON will now begin work with the other NHS trade unions to produce guidance for staff sides to use if engaging in local buying and selling negotiations.