Time off work

Contents:

• Adoption time off (family policy)
• Annual leave (holidays)
• Carer's time off (family policy)
• Compassionate time off (family policy)
• Dependent time off (family policy)
• Flexible working
• Jury service
• Maternity time off (family policy)
• Office Closure 2025
• Parental bereavement time off (family policy)
• Parental time off (family policy)
• Paternity time off (family policy)
• Religious or cultural festival swap days
• Sabbatical time off
• Sickness absence
• Shared parental time off (family policy)
• Time off in lieu

Adoption time off

Sustain's adoption policy (updated May 2021) details the rights of staff and Sustain's mutual responsibilities on adoption leave, adoption pay, and other issues relating to time off from work after the adoption of a child. 

Annual leave (holiday)

For full-time paid staff, holiday entitlement (annual leave) starts at 20 days per year for new employees in addition to the normal bank holidays. For each year of employment, an extra 2 days annual leave are added, up to a maximum of 25 days. Annual leave and bank holidays will be pro-rated for part time staff.  

Annual leave cycles are based on the start date of employment and therefore vary for all staff.

If, at the end of the year, not all holiday has been taken, in agreement with the line manager, a maximum of up to five days may be carried over into the next annual leave cycle. 

Staff are expected to discuss their holiday plans with their line manager and team colleagues before booking the time off, to ensure that workplans and project commitments are met.

To book time off, employees must access the 'Annual Leave booking system" on the home page of the CMS, which keeps track of the holidays taken and holiday entitlement left over, and will send an automatic notification to the line manager to approve the request. 

Carer's time off

Employees are entitled to take one working week of paid carer’s leaveper rolling 12-month period to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need. A week is based on the number of days employees normally work in a week and further information an how to apply are detailed in Sustain's time off for carers policy (updated Jan 2025). There is no qualifying period before one can apply for carer's leave however notice should be given. Over and above the statutory entitlement for unpaid time off, Sustain has granted one week as a paid time for carer's leave.

Compassionate time off

If staff experience a bereavement Sustain offers up to two week's paid compassionate leave with further details contained within Sustain's compassionate leave policy (updated May 2021).

Sustain's supporting employees who have suffered bereavement' policy (updated May 2021) sets out our commitment to supporting staff through their grief by providing bereavement leave, keeping in touch with staff while they are away from work, and supporting staff on their return to work.

Dependent time off

Sustain's dependent leave policy (updated May 2021), details how staff can apply for reasonable (usually short-term) unpaid time off work to manange unexpected events involving someone who is dependent on them.

Flexible working

The right to request flexible working is a day-one right, with no qualifiying criteria, and Sustain's flexible working policy (updated Oct 2024) enhances the basic minimum in the legislation. Staff may make up to 4 flexible working requests per 12 month period (statutory guidance is 2 requests), and may apply for a trial flexible working arrangements with a review date. An approved flexible working application results in a permanent change of contract, and may include requests to reduced hours, compressed hours, part-time, staggered hours, etc. Requests must be made in writitng and decisions agreed within a specified time frame, with the right of appeal.

Jury service

Sustain’s jury service policy (updated May 2022) enhances the statutory guidance of unpaid jury service with a claim made to the courts for loss of earnings, and offers up to two weeks of paid time off for jury service. 

Maternity time off

Sustain's maternity policy (updated August 2020) details paid staff's rights and Sustain's mutual responsibilities on maternity leave, maternity pay, and other issues relating to pregnancy and maternity. 

Office Closure 2025

The Sustain office is closed this year (2025) between Christmas and New Year.

Thursday, 25 December 2025 - Christmas Day (bank holiday)

Friday 26 December 2025 Boxing Day (bank holiday)

Monday, 29 December 2025 - Office closure

Tuesday, 30 December 2025 - Office closure

Wednesday, 31 December 2025 - Office closure

Thursday, 1 January 2026 (bank holiday)

Parental bereavement time off

Sustain's parental bereavement leave policy (updated May 2021) applies to staff who have suffered the loss of a child (i.e. under the age of 18) on or after 6 April 2020. The policy also applies to parents who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Parental time off

Sustain's parental leave policy (updated Feb 2024) details the right of staff to request to take unpaid time off work to look after their child or make arrangements for their child’s welfare and is additional to paternity leave, maternity leave, adoption leave, shared parental leave and time off to deal with family emergencies. Parents of a child under the age of 18, who have been continuously employed by Sustain for one year or more are entitled to take Parental Leave if they meet the criteria set out in this policy.

Employees may take a total of 18 weeks parental leave for each child, which should be taken in blocks of usually one week or more, up to a maximum of four weeks per year for each child.

Paternity time off

Sustain's paternity policy (updated May 2021) details the rights of staff and Sustain's mutual responsibilities on paternity leave, paternity pay, and other issues relating to time off from work after the birth or adoption of a child. Paternity time off may be available to staff regardless of their gender or of the gender they identify with, and may be a husband, civil partner, or partner in the relationship who will have responsibility for care of the child, provided they meet the relevant eligibility criteria. 

Religious or cultural festivals swap with bank holidays

Sustain offers flexibility to swap up to 5 bank holidays per year to celebrate other cultural and religious holidays that are not part of the three bank holidays at Christmas and New Year. To request a bank holiday swap for religous or cultural festivals, the employee should email their detailed request with reasons to their line manager giving at least least four weeks’ notice. 

Sabbatical time off

Sustain's sabbatical time off policy (updated Feb 2025) offers staff with 3 year's completed service an opportunity to request upaid time off for an unpaid sabbatical for 1 to 3 months to pursue personal projects, research, fellowships, overseas travel, voluntary work, a university course, study or for longer-term family responsibility. Decisions to grant an unpaid sabbatical will include, but are not limited to consideration of current workloads, project funding, the impact on the team and stakeholders, project or campaign deadlines, length of time off and the ability to fulfill the role during the employee's time off. During unpaid sabbaticals, no salary will be paid, and entitlements to benefits and accrued annual leave will be paused.

Shared parental time off

Sustain's shared parental leave policy (updated May 2021) sets out the rights of staff and Sustain's mutual responsibilities on shared parental leave, shared parental pay, and other issues relating to shared parental leave.

Sickness absence

Sustain's sickness absence policy (updated July 2024) covers periods of short-term and long-term sickness absence, notification, payment and back-to-work meetings with line managers following sickness absence. Sustain offers a signficant enhancement to statutory sick pay provision and staff are entitled to full pay for sickness absence up to a total of 3 weeks per rolling year, beginning on the first date of absence, and based on a normal working week for staff. 

All staff must inform their line managers that they are absent at the beginning of each missed working day, and the Line Manager will record this using the CMS Dashboard. See 'Using the CMS Dashboard'.

Sickness absence reporting and monitoring arrangements, including requiring GP fit notes for periods of absence of longer than seven days, are an expectation for all staff members and line managers to apply fairly and consistently. This information and processes are important and necessary for e.g. supporting colleagues; planning reasonable adjustments; deciding how to arrange suitable cover during colleague absence; being accountable to funders and to government agencies such as HMRC; and policy and financial decision-making and risk management in the longer term. 

Time off in lieu (TOIL)

Sustain's TOIL policy outlines time off in lieu arrangements, where additional working hours that Sustain has required staff to work in order to carry out their role, can be taken off as time off. This may include attending a meeting or event outside of normal working hours, staying late to complete a specific piece of work with an impending deadline, travelling to or from a conference outside of the normal working hours of the day, or working on a non-working day.