Public and Commercial Services Union

DWP/BB/082/09 - statutory changes implemented by DWP

Statutory annual leave changes from 20 January 2009

DWP is still discussing the impact of the European Court ruling. Annual leave Policy needs to be applied with regard to interim HR guidance issued April 2009, which was backdated to be effective from 20 January 2009.

This DWP guidance can be found on the DWP Intranet HR Home Page by clicking on Guidance Updates and then scrolling down to April – 14/04/09. This interim guidance states:

Carry over of statutory annual leave following sick absence

The department’s annual leave policy says that employees can carry over 14 days annual leave on return from long-term sick absence.
With effect from 20 January employees will now be able to carry over 20 days statutory annual leave (or the untaken part of it if leave was taken before the sick absence) on their return to work.
The normal arrangements for authorising absences, which balance the employee’s and the business’ needs, will apply.

Payment for untaken statutory annual leave when leaving the department

Employees are entitled to payment for any untaken annual leave (including statutory annual leave) on leaving the department.

If an employee is on sick leave on their last day of service, statutory annual leave will accrue up to the last day of service. This overrides paragraph 13.3 of the annual leave policy and paragraph 7.2 of the sick leave procedures.

Working hours statutory change from 6 April 2009

The statutory right to request a change to hours of work, or change the times required to be at work, was amended from 6 April 2009, to give this statutory right to the parents of children aged under sixteen rather than under the age of six.

DWP working hours and working patterns policy para 18 has now been amended. However, policy para 19 remains unchanged, which states: “In DWP, employees can apply regardless of whether they have children or other caring responsibilities”