Buying more annual leave

You can buy up to 5 days (37 hours) extra annual leave each year.

If you work part-time, the maximum hours you can ask for is the same as the weekly hours in your contract. If you are on a term-time contract or have a contract that is less than 12 months, you are not eligible to buy more annual leave.

You can only buy leave between the following dates each year:

• 1 to 24 March
• 1 to 24 September

Speak to your line manager before buying annual leave. You cannot get a refund once you have bought more annual leave. Managers can get an overview of how buying additional holiday works in the buying holiday guide (PDF, 1.88 MB).

Buy more annual leave during the relevant period above on My Oracle by selecting 'personal information' then 'my compensation'.

How you'll pay for the extra leave

You give up or 'sacrifice' part of your salary in exchange for more annual leave, this is known as a salary sacrifice arrangement.

Payments are made from your gross salary, so you pay no tax or national insurance on the value of the extra annual leave.

The cost is:

• spread equally over the remaining holiday year
• based on your salary at the time of buying the extra leave, so the deductions from your pay won’t increase or decrease if your salary changes during the holiday year 

As the cost of buying more annual leave comes out of your salary before tax is deducted, your amount of pensionable pay will be reduced.