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Aug
Talks to amend ‘generous’ holiday terms that allow council staff up to 58 days off
North Yorkshire Council is in talks with Unison about reviewing ‘generous’ staff terms that allow employees to have up to 58 days off each year.
Staff are entitled to 28 days’ annual leave, increasing to 34 after five years of continuous employment.
They can also claim up to 24 days of flexitime for working additional hours.
It means staff could be entitled to up to a maximum of 58 days off a year.
The holiday allowance is described as ‘generous’ in a council report about its ongoing discussions with the union.
The report, seen by the Stray Ferret before it was removed from the council website, also says the amount of days staff have off is causing managers problems. It proposes reducing maximum flexi leave to 18 days.
About 10,000 staff would be affected by the changes.
A council spokesperson said annual leave and flexidays were “two entirely different things”.
They added:
Annual leave is a contractual entitlement linked to individual staff terms and conditions, reflecting factors such as role, length of service and inherited employment arrangements. Flexitime, by contrast, is an operational tool designed to help services respond to temporary workload pressures and exceptional service demands.
Flexi leave is a way of recompensing staff who have worked additional hours over and above their contracted hours, where this has been agreed in advance with management. It is not an automatic entitlement, nor does it provide staff with an unrestricted right to work extra hours and claim them back later.
The council's current terms and conditions were brought together when the authority was formed from eight predecessor organisations in 2023, each with different employment arrangements.
The spokesperson said “a review is now being undertaken to ensure those arrangements remain fit for purpose”.
They added flexi leave was not available to senior managers, and only two staff have claimed the maximum flexitime available.
The council hopes the proposed changes will save £268,000 a year, but its recommendations are dependent on future pay decisions and ongoing negotiations with Unison.
The lowest paid council staff currently receive £13.28 per hour.
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