Our team has presented below the most commonly asked questions with answers in order to keep you informed. If none of these solve your query, please contact us via trent@beds.ac.uk
In 2015 the decision was taken to calculate leave for all Professional Services staff in hours, then in 2023 for all Academic and Research staff.
Leave for part-timers has been calculated in hours to ensure that entitlements and the actual time taken off is accurately calculated and captured on the system for part-timers who do not work the same number of hours each day.
Calculating the leave in hours also provides staff with the opportunity to book specific hours instead of needing to book a half day/full day.
Pro-rata entitlement for BHs and CDs is calculated in the same way as annual leave entitlement.
Your pro-rata holiday entitlement is calculated using your full time equivalent (FTE) figure. A full-time person has an FTE of 1. Your FTE is calculated by dividing the number of hours you are contracted to work per week by the number of hours worked per week by a full-time person (37 hours for professional staff and 35 hours for academic and research staff).
For example, for a professional staff who works 30 hours per week the FTE is: 30/37 = 0.81 FTE.
The pro-rata entitlement for BHs and CDs is calculated as follows:
FTE x 96.5 hours (hourly entitlement for full-time professional staff - it can vary every academic year). 0.81 x 96.5 = 78 hours
Another example, for an academic staff who works 30 hours per week the FTE is: 30/35 = 0.86 FTE.
The pro-rata entitlement for BHs and CDs is calculated as follows:
FTEx 91 hours (hourly entitlement for full-time academic and research staff - it can vary every academic year). 0.857 x 91 = 78 hours
The entitlement to BHs and CDs is pro-rated, in the same way as annual leave is pro-rated, for part timers to ensure fairness.
By calculating pro-rata entitlements, part-time staff working the same number of hours per week are given the same amount of holiday relating to BHs and CDs whatever days of the week they work.
If the entitlement was not pro-rated, part-time staff who normally work on a Monday would benefit from taking off all BHs falling on a Monday. They would therefore take off more days then someone who did not normally work on a Monday.
Your working pattern does not affect your Bank Holidays and Concessionary Days leave entitlement as this is not based on the days that you work but on your fte.
The example below shows two people who both work 18.5 hours per week but have a different work pattern.
| Person A’s work pattern (hours) | Person B’s work pattern (hours) | |
| Monday | 7.5 | 0 |
| Tuesday | 7.5 | 0 |
| Wednesday | 3.5 | 4 |
| Thursday | 0 | 7.5 |
| Friday | 0 | 7 |
| Saturday | 0 | 0 |
| Sunday | 0 | 0 |
| Total Hours | 18.5 | 18.5 |
The pro-rata entitlement is the same for person A and Person B and is calculated as follows:
FTE = 18.5/37 = 0.5 fte
Entitlement = 0.5 x 96.5 (total BHs and CDs in a specific year) = 48.25 hours
Your working pattern does however affect the number of BHs and CDs leave you actually take against your entitlement.
In both examples you can see that Person A, who normally works on a Monday, actually takes off more BHs and CDs than Person B. If the entitlement was not pro-rated and working patterns not taken into account Person B would be disadvantaged in both examples.
You can also see that Person A will take off more days bank holidays and concessionary days than their entitlement. To ensure equal treatment, Person A needs to either make up the time or deduct the overtaken leave from their annual leave entitlement. Person B is free to book and use the outstanding entitlement on the days when they wish to.
The additional time taken off will either be deducted from your annual leave entitlement or alternatively, in line with the University’s Annual Leave Policy, you can work with your Line Manager/Head of Department to arrive at a mutually agreed solution for making up the hours.
The annual leave entitlement is running during the academic year from 01st September to 31st August.
The Bank Holidays (BHs)/Concessionary Days (CDs) can vary every year and need to be approved by the Vice Chancellor.
The standard carry-over process has been automated, so you do not need to complete a carry-over form or seek separate management approval. Any eligible unused annual leave will be automatically carried over and added to your new annual leave allowance. However, no additional leave above carry-over limits can be carried over, except in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances are, for example, due to maternity leave or other periods of long-term absence. Where this applies, colleagues should complete the online form; please contact People and Culture for the online form.
More details about your Annual leave can be found in the Annual Leave policy [PDF]
If your fixed term contract ends before 31st August please contact trent@beds.ac.uk and we will do a pro-rata calculation for you.
If you have more than one post at the University, your entitlement is split between these posts and the line manager who approves time off in each post might be different. You will need to ensure that when you request leave in the system, you do so against the right post. For example, if you want to take a week off and you normally work 20 hours in post A and 10 hours in post B, you will need to submit two separate requests.
Your pro-rata entitlement would be recalculated. In some situations you could end up not having sufficient entitlement to cover the days taken/to be taken off in the leave year. If this is the case the response to the question "What happens if more Bank Holidays and Concessionary Days fall on my normal working days than my entitlement?" above will apply.
The system adds the bank holidays and concessionary days (BHs and CDs) to and then extracts them from your entitlement.
Personal Holiday + Bank Holidays & Concessionary Days = Total Annual Leave entitlement (Total Annual Leave entitlement – Bank Hols & Concessionary Days – Personal Holiday Booked = Remaining Holiday)
or in iTrent: Remaining entitlement = Total Entitlement - Taken - Scheduled
where:
*taken = the amount of leave that has been taken so far within the leave year, it will include holiday taken, plus bank holidays & concessionary days.
*scheduled = the leave that has been allocated, but not yet taken within the leave year. It will include holiday booked, plus bank holidays & concessionary days due to fall on working days within your working pattern.
*remain = the balance is a particularly helpful figure, as it shows how much annual leave is available for you to book in the current leave year.
| Start date | Holiday name | Day | Hours: Prof Serv |
Hours: Acad & Res |
| 25 Dec 2026 | Christmas Day | FRI | 7 | 7 |
| 28 Dec 2026 | Boxing Day (in lieu) | MON | 7.5 | 7 |
| 29 Dec 2026 | Concessionary day | TUE | 7.5 | 7 |
| 30 Dec 2026 | Concessionary day | WED | 7.5 | 7 |
| 31 Dec 2026 | Concessionary day | THU | 7.5 | 7 |
| 1 Jan 2027 | New Year's Day | FRI | 7 | 7 |
| 25 Mar 2027 | Concessionary day | THU | 7.5 | 7 |
| 26 Mar 2027 | Good Friday | FRI | 7 | 7 |
| 29 Mar 2027 | Easter Monday | MON | 7.5 | 7 |
| 30 Mar 2027 | Concessionary day | TUE | 7.5 | 7 |
| 3 May 2027 | Early May | MON | 7.5 | 7 |
| 31 May 2027 | Spring Bank Holiday | MON | 7.5 | 7 |
| 30 Aug 2027 | Summer Bank Holiday | MON | 7.5 | 7 |
| Total | 96 | 91 |
This may be because you haven't been set up on the UoB network yet. If you are unable to login plase contact us at trent@beds.ac.uk
The answer to this can be found in the Employee Self-Service User Guide under My Time and booking, amending and cancelling annual leave>Booking a holiday>Part day
The answer to this can be found in the Employee Self-Service User Guide under My Time and booking, amending and cancelling annual leave>How to delete or amend a personal holiday
The answer to this can be found in the Employee Self-Service User Guide under Useful Links - internal vacancies job search and apply online
The answer to this can be found in the Employee Self-Service User Guide under How to amend your personal details.
The answer to this can be found in the Employee Self-Service User Guide under My Pay - payslips and P60s.
There are some fields that you are not able to amend it yourself, the system requires an additional verification that is completed with one of our staff.
For more details, please contact us via HR@beds.ac.uk or Trent@beds.ac.uk