Members have raised questions with the Branch on specific points. We have raised these with PCS DWP Group and have received answers, the details are published below:

Question:

“From Andrew’s Questions time…

Question 9: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Working Age Benefits, St Helens asked about swapping annual leave for flexi leave under the Employee Deal. She explained that if she had 2 weeks annual leave booked for the summer and now wants to take 2 of those days as flexi, instead of annual leave; does she have to arrange her own cover?

Andrew explained that if XXXXXX wants to change two days of her annual leave to flexi-leave then she doesn’t need to arrange cover because all she’s done is change the existing leave that she’s booked for a different kind of leave. If Jeanette wants to take an extra 2 days as flexi leave and is doing so at short notice then she’d need to arrange cover.”

Question is this correct that people are responsible to arrange their of flexi leave cover if short notice?

Answer

Thank you for your email. Flexible Working Hours Agreement (FWHA) Procedure 2 (h) states:

(h) Employees who have committed to be present by fixing either their start time or end time will be responsible themselves for arranging for a colleague to take on their commitment before they can flex off or take unexpected leave, and they must take responsibility for informing the manager of the change – although this general expectation will not prevent employees taking leave in emergencies.

This provision covers “unexpected leave” that impacts the employee’s fixed start or end time and implements Collective Agreement  paragraph 15(f). The extent to which it may apply in cases of “short notice” will depend on how short the notice is, the fact that this provision does not apply for “taking leave in emergencies” and whether or not a line manager, using the decision making standards in the HR Decision Makers Guide as required under FWHA Procedure 2 (k), supports the absence without application of the expectation for the employee to arrange cover. Managers are expected not to confuse consistency with uniformity under HR Decision Makers Guide paragraph 3.2.