Extended leave policy

All extended leave is unpaid.

Normally, extended leave will be for a consecutive period of between four weeks and 12 months with an agreed return date.

Employee pay is reviewed annually with changes to pay rates usually taking place from 1 April. Employees taking extended leave for three months or longer will not receive any pay increases until their return to work, subject to normal eligibility requirements.

Employees do not pay National Insurance contributions during extended leave and none will be paid by Barnardo’s.

Allowances such as telephone rental, required car user and office allowances will not be paid during extended leave.

You must continue to pay season ticket loan repayments monthly during extended leave and thereafter until the loan has been repaid.

You must continue to repay car loans monthly during extended leave.

Interest will continue to be charged during extended leave. You must continue to make such loan repayments after the extended leave period has expired.

You must repay short-term personal loans and salary advances in full before taking extended leave.

Barnardo’s sick pay is not payable during extended leave. An employee’s entitlement to Barnardo’s sick pay will be pro-rata to the number of complete months worked in the 12 month period.

One of the qualifying conditions for statutory sick pay is that average earnings must not be less than the lower earnings limit. Average earnings are calculated over the eight weeks prior to sickness. Employees should be aware that if they are on extended leave over this qualifying period their loss of earnings will adversely impact their entitlement to statutory sick pay. Full details are available in the Employee handbook.

Barnardo’s will not make any contributions on the employee’s behalf to either Barnardo’s Average Salary Section (BASS) or Barnardo’s Retirement Savings Plan (BRSP) during extended leave. 

Contact the pensions team for advice about your pension.

Continuous service will not be broken by the period of extended leave. 

However, the period of leave will not count towards length of service for the purpose of calculating entitlement to Barnardo’s sick pay, loyalty award and granting of additional annual leave after five years' service.

The period of extended leave will count towards statutory redundancy entitlement, but will be excluded from any Barnardo’s ex-gratia redundancy entitlement.

Annual leave will cease to accrue during any period of extended leave.

Annual leave entitlement for the leave year in which the extended leave is taken will be pro-rated in accordance with the number of days worked during that leave year. 

Note that you can carry a maximum of five days annual leave over from one year to the next.

You will not receive additional leave or pay for any bank holiday which falls during the period you are on extended leave.

Entitlement to maternity/adoption/fostering/shared parental leave, support leave and unpaid parental leave will continue. However, extended leave will cease if one of these types of leave is taken. For example, if an employee becomes pregnant during extended leave, Barnardo’s maternity policy will apply from the time that she notifies Barnardo’s of her pregnancy and extended leave will cease when her maternity leave begins.

One of the qualifying conditions for statutory maternity/adoption pay is that average earnings must not be less than the lower earnings limit. Average earnings are calculated over the two-month/eight-week period ending in the qualifying week, i.e. the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth or, in the case of adoption, the matching certificate.

Note that if you are on leave over this qualifying period your loss of earnings will adversely impact your entitlement to statutory maternity/adoption pay.

The period of extended leave will not affect your entitlement to Barnardo’s maternity/adoption/fostering pay.

However, Barnardo’s maternity/adoption/fostering pay is dependent on your meeting the relevant qualifying criteria. Full details are available in the maternity, adoption and fostering leave and pay policies on Inside Barnardo's.

You may keep a personally allocated vehicle or any other Barnardo’s equipment, e.g. mobile phone or computer at the discretion of your line manager’s manager, based on the needs of the section/service. If the leave is for more than three months you must normally return the property/equipment for the period of extended leave.

If you are required by law to maintain registration with a professional body in order to carry out your normal role at Barnardo’s you should make every effort to maintain your registration while on extended leave, so you are registered and ready to return to work at the end of your extended leave.

You should record extended unpaid leave on the planned/discretionary absence form and on Oracle via Direct Input in order for payroll to process.