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Special leave guide

Guidance on the council's special leave provisions. 

Managers should also refer to the agree/arrange special leave guide when considering a request that has been received.

1. Special leave with pay

Up to six days of paid special leave may be approved by your Head of Service in any one year and is pro rata to part-time employees. It will normally only be granted for emergency/unforeseen situations such as:

  • Funeral of a close relative or dependant (including in-laws) - one day.

  • Funeral of a close relative or dependant where the applicant is involved in the funeral arrangements or is the personal representative - up to three days.

  • Prospective fathers/partners – two ante-natal appointments, e.g. ante-natal visits and/or scans.

Your Head of Service may approve special leave with pay within the six-day allowance where circumstances justify it, including instances where special leave is required because of the sudden illness of a partner, parent, son, daughter or directly dependant relative.

Absence for the purpose of accompanying a dependant on a medical appointment, where they need to be accompanied, will also be considered sympathetically, particularly where the appointment cannot reasonably be arranged outside working hours.

Time off to attend appointments

Separate to these arrangements, time off for employees to attend medical, hospital and other health-related appointments will be allowed, as necessary, where appointments cannot reasonably be arranged outside working hours. See the Time Off for Medical Appointments section of the Attendance policy and procedure for further details. Requests for special leave with pay will be sympathetically considered, for example, where employees request time off for certain types of medical procedure.

Fostering leave

If you are considering or have committed to fostering, please refer to the guide further information.

Special leave without pay

Periods of unpaid leave of up to three months in any one year can be agreed by your Head of Service for any reason, such as:

  • Leave to undertake full-time courses of study or training related to your current and future employment with the council and should be for the duration of the specific course including allowing time for exams, assessments and essays.

  • Time to care for relatives who are seriously or terminally ill. These requests will be assessed on an individual basis having particular regard to the difficulties you may be experiencing.

  • Leave for extended visits to family members living outside the UK or for religious purposes. These should be for a maximum period of three months unless there are particularly exceptional circumstances.

You may wish to consider taking a sabbatical if you require a period of unpaid leave exceeding three months (up to a maximum of twelve months in duration).

 Other exceptional cases will be considered on a case‑by‑case basis.

Unpaid special leave for care of dependants

What is a dependant?

  • your spouse, civil partner, child or parent;

  • any person who lives in the same household as you (other than as a lodger, tenant, boarder or employee);

  • any other person who would reasonably rely on you for assistance if they fall ill or are injured or assaulted, or who would rely on you to make arrangements for the provision of care in the event of illness or injury; or

  • in relation to the disruption or termination of care for a dependant, any other person who reasonably relies on you to make arrangements for the provision of care.

You may take a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to take necessary action:

  • To provide assistance on an occasion when a dependant falls ill, gives birth or is injured or assaulted.

  • To make arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant who is ill or injured.

  • In consequence of the death of a dependant.

  • Because of the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant.

  • To deal with an incident which involves your child occurs unexpectedly while the child is at school/other educational establishment.

Requesting special leave for dependants

If you need to take time off for dependants, you should contact your manager at the earliest opportunity. If you become aware of an emergency situation while at work, you should immediately speak to your manager about leaving work early.

You should explain:

  • the reason for the absence; and

  • how long you expect to be absent from work.

 If your manager is unavailable, you must speak to an equivalent or more senior manager.

 If you are unable to contact the manager before taking time off for dependants, you should contact the manager as soon as possible.

 You must inform the manager as soon as possible of any change in the anticipated date of your return to work.

How much time off can be taken to care for dependants?

You manager will talk with you to agree what is considered a reasonable amount of time off, taking your individual situation and the needs of the service into consideration.

In most cases, this will be one or two days to enable you to actively seek alternative longer-term arrangements for the care of your dependant as soon as possible after the emergency occurs.

Once the immediate emergency has been taken care of, you are expected to return to work. If you are unable to make alternative arrangements, you must contact your manager and explain why further absence is required and request to take it either annual or unpaid leave. 

You may also want to refer to our Carer's policy.

Unpaid leave and pensions

If you take authorised unpaid special leave, how this affects your pension depends on how long the unpaid period lasts and when the leave starts.

From 1 April 2026, periods of authorised unpaid special leave lasting less than 15 days will count for pension purposes, except where the absence is due to strike action.

For authorised unpaid special leave of 15 days or more, pension contributions are not deducted for the full duration of the unpaid period. You can choose to buy back lost pension through a new arrangement called a qualifying additional pension arrangement (QAPA).

For authorised unpaid special leave that started before 1 April 2026, the period will not count for pension purposes unless you elect to pay Additional Pension Contributions (APCs), regardless of its duration.

Payroll Services will write to you to inform you of the cost to buy back your pension and the extra pension you will receive.

You can cover all or part of the unpaid leave period.

Visit www.lppapensions.co.uk or contact AskHR for more information.

Special leave approval

Special leave, whether paid or unpaid, must be approved by your manager. If it is not approved, the absence may be treated as unauthorised.