Where an employee has been absent through sickness for a period of 3 months or more, managers have discretion to limit their leave entitlement to an amount equal to the period of the employee's actual service during the leave year.  It is normal practice for leave to be abated for absences of more than 3 months.  

Any such abatement of leave is subject to statutory minimum of 28 days which equates to 207.2 hours for full time 37 hours workers and is pro-rata for part-time workers. For teachers, this is 28 days/196 hours, pro-rata for part-time. 

This 'how to' will help you calculate abated leave for employees. The HR Helpdesk team can also help you with this calculation, there is a table shown below which details the information needed to carry out the calculation. Please contact HR Helpdesk hrhelpdesk@falkirk.gov.uk.

SJC / Craft / Chief Officers

For SJC, Craft and Chief Officers, abatement should be applied where an employee has a sickness absence which lasts over three months. In such circumstances, an employee's annual leave will normally be limited to an amount pro-rated to the period of actual service given during the year, provided:

Their annual leave in a full leave year does not fall below the statutory minimum (currently 28 days). This includes public holidays which fall before or after the period of sickness absence, and annual leave which would otherwise have been lost because of the sickness absence may be reinstated if required to facilitate a phased return.

Abatement calculations change depending on whether an employee was off in one year only or across 2 years.  Abatements should be notified to hrhelpdesk@falkirk.gov.uk to allow adjustments to be made to MyView entitlements. This should be done as soon as an employee reaches 3 months absence. The 3 months+ absence report on PowerBI may be of assistance with this.

Managers should make employees who are on long term sickness aware that they are able to book annual leave to run consecutively with their sickness absence which will increase their pay in half and nil pay situations and help use up their leave balance. Any unused leave will be lost if this is more than 37 hours (pro rata for part time). Specific arrangements are in place for employees who have been continuously absent for 12 months in any one leave year – see carry over arrangements below.

Teachers and professions aligned to teaching

Where a teacher has a continuous absence of 8 consecutive days or more, they accrue compensatory leave in line with national conditions. More information on this and carry over arrangements can be found at: SNCT Part 2 Section 6: Sickness allowances and notification arrangements.

An abatement will apply where a teacher has a sickness absence which lasts over three months and Headteachers should contact the HR Helpdesk for assistance with this calculation.

Non-teaching term-time employees

Managers of non-teaching term time employees who have been absent for more than 3 months should contact the HR Helpdesk to allow a check to be undertaken to make sure that the employee has received their statutory minimum leave for the annual leave year. If they have not and any leave is due to be taken, this will be notified to the employee and their manager.

Please contact hrhelpdesk@falkirk.gov.uk for guidance.

For SJC / Craft / Chief Officers / Education Associated Professionals

Information needed for calculations

• Absence dates 
• Is the employee part time or full time? 
• What are their working hours? 
• Are public holidays included in their leave entitlement? 
• Did they start during the leave year? 
• Are they a leaver?  
• If they are term time, please contact the HR Helpdesk

No abatement of leave required.

For SJC / Craft / Chief Officers / Education Associated Professionals

Use the annual leave hours calculator to calculate the abatement.

• Choose 'full time' or 'part time' under leave type as appropriate 
• Choose '28' under entitlement days
• For 'part time' enter the weekly working hours under 'decimal weekly working hours' 
• Choose 'leaver' under type – as this is used to help give the pro-rata calculation for the period at work 
• Choose '31/12/2024' (or end of leave year as relevant) 
• Use the box entitled 'annual leave entitlement' to give the abatement calculation, this will  be the abated entitlement 
• For full time employees, public holidays that fell before and after their sick leave will need deducted from this total before notifying HR to make the adjustment 
• For part time or shift workers who work public holidays, public holiday entitlement is included in the leave entitlement as standard. Any public holidays that they have taken before and after sickness should already have be requested as leave so should not be included in this calculation. It is however always useful to check MyView for this. 

In this example, the employee is due 207.2 hours for 2024 after the abatement calculation. As they are full time, any public holidays that fell before their sick leave or will be taken after a return to work following sick leave should be deducted from this total.

If they were absent from 01 January 2024 to 16 April 2024, they will take 4 public holidays (May, September, 2 x December) therefore 4 x 7.4 (29.6) hours needs to be deducted before the amount is notified to HR. The amount to be notified is 177.6 hours.

This total does not include any leave already taken, and the outstanding balance on MyView will reduce accordingly once HR have updated this.

There is a maximum carry forward of 37 hours (pro rata for part time employees) from one leave year to next.

Purchased annual leave is treated separately from any abatement and should not be taken into consideration.  

Please use the annual leave hours calculator and for year 1 use the option for a leaver with the 'leaving date' being the start date of absence, use the normal contractual leave for this. Please use the annual leave hours calculator and for year 2 use the option for a starter with the 'start date' being the end date of absence, use the normal contractual leave for this.

Example:

Absent from 11 November 2023 to 25 March 2024.

2023 – due 273.74 hours including public holiday entitlement.

2024 – due 238.62 hours including public holiday entitlement. 

Where an employee has been absent for a 12-month period in any one year and has therefore been unable to take annual leave during the leave year, they will be entitled to carry over any outstanding leave from a maximum entitlement of 20 days (148 hours), pro rata for part time to the following year or be paid in lieu of such holidays if they leave employment with Falkirk Council. Please contact HR Helpdesk if this applies.

Employees who are on long term sick are able to take annual leave during their sick leave which allows them to be paid normal pay instead of half pay or nil pay for that period.

Where the employee returned to work prior to the end of the relevant leave year and had the opportunity to take outstanding leave, the abatement of leave would apply and there will be no entitlement to carry over this additional leave. The carry-over of leave from one leave year to the next is limited to a maximum of the equivalent of 18 months entitlement.

Where an employee is leaving after a period of sickness, leave should be abated and pro-rated to their leaving date. 

Calculate the leave using the appropriate option from the above examples. For the year they are leaving use the leavers tab on the annual leave hours calculator:

Where an employee is off for over 3 months in the year enter their leaving date and entitlement as 28 days. They are only due the annual leave entitlement, not the public holiday entitlement.

Example:

Full time employee leaving on 30/06/24 after 5 months absence – due 103.03 hours on leaving. 

Where an employee is off less than 3 months in the year they are leaving, enter their leaving date and appropriate leave entitlement (27-34 days). They are due the annual leave balance shown excluding public holiday entitlement.

Example:

Full time employee leaving on 25/02/24 after 5 months absence – due 38.5 hours on leaving. 

For term time leavers, please contact HR Helpdesk hrhelpdesk@falkirk.gov.uk for assistance.

The phased return to work process is an integral part of the Managing Sickness Absence Policy. In implementing a phased return to work plan, managers should consider how abated annual leave and/or special leave can be used to facilitate the phased return to work.

Managers should calculate how much leave the employee is entitled to after the abatement of leave. This can be done by deducting the abated leave from their normal balance.

Example:

Normal balance of 251.6 hours – (minus) abated leave of 177.6 hours = 74 hours that can be used towards a phased return. 

Annual leave which would otherwise have been lost due to abatement can be used to facilitate a phased return to work on reduced hours. Phased returns should use paid special leave and should be managed locally, these do not need to be recorded on MyView. Please contact your HR Business Partner if you need any advice on this.

Where an employee is absent due to sickness or disablement as a result of an accident or incident arising out of and in the course of employment, which has been investigated and accepted as industrial injury, the employee will be entitled to payment of Industrial Injury Allowance. This kind of absence would be treated differently from sickness absence, and abatement of leave would not apply.

See the Managing Sickness Absence Policy for more information.

 Employees on long term sick leave can apply to take annual leave whilst they are on sick leave. They should contact to their manager with their request. Managers or employees can enter the leave on MyView. The sickness absence should not be removed or changed as this runs concurrently with the leave, but the annual leave will be paid instead of the sick leave for the relevant period.

Where an employee has already been absent for 3 months or more in the current year, an abatement of leave would apply to reflect their actual service. An abatement should be calculated before any leave is approved to make sure leave is not overtaken.