Booking Leave¶

This guide explains how to book time off, check your leave balance, and cancel a request if your plans change.

Leave Types¶

When you book leave, you choose a type. Each type has a different purpose and rules.

Annual Leave¶

Your standard paid holiday. It counts against your annual leave quota. Partners book in whole-week blocks (Monday to Friday). Salaried clinicians book individual days.

Day Not Working¶

Available to partners only. Use this for a planned non-clinical day that is not annual leave (for example, an administration day). This does not count against your annual leave quota.

Study Leave¶

For attending courses, conferences, or other educational activities. Study leave does not count against your annual leave quota, but it always requires admin approval.

Planned Sick Leave¶

For pre-arranged medical appointments or planned procedures. This does not count against your annual leave quota. This type can only be added by an administrator — you cannot book it yourself from the leave booking page.

Coroner's Court¶

For days when you are required to attend a coroner's court. This does not count against your annual leave quota, but it always requires admin approval.

Booking Leave¶

Opening the booking form¶

Select My Leave from the navigation menu.
Press the Book Leave button at the top of the page.

You can also reach the booking form from the Dashboard by pressing Request Leave in the Quick Actions section of your profile.

Step 1: Choose leave type¶

At the top of the booking page you see a row of cards, one for each leave type available to you. Click the card for the type of leave you want. The card highlights to show it is selected.

Only the leave types you are eligible for are shown. For example, "Day Not Working" only appears for partners.

Step 2: Select dates¶

Once you have chosen a leave type, the calendar unlocks below. The calendar shows weekdays (Monday to Friday) for the current month and approximately three months ahead. Use the Previous and Next buttons to move through the months.

The calendar uses colour coding to show how much spare capacity each day has:

Green -- three or more clinicians could be absent and the practice would still be covered.
Yellow -- two clinicians could be absent.
Orange -- one clinician could be absent.
Red -- no spare capacity; the practice is at or below its minimum staffing level.

Your own existing leave is also shown: pending requests appear with a dashed yellow border, and approved requests appear with a solid green border.

To select a date, click on the day you want.

Salaried clinicians: Click a single day. Each click selects that one day.
Partners booking annual leave: Click any day in the week and the whole working week (Monday to Friday) is automatically selected. Bank holidays and days where you already have leave are skipped.

After you click, a confirmation pop-up appears showing the leave type and the date or dates you selected.

Confirming your booking¶

The confirmation pop-up shows:

The leave type you selected.
The dates that will be booked.
For annual leave, a quota impact section showing how many days or weeks this booking will use and what your remaining balance will be afterwards.

Press Confirm to submit the request. A success message appears at the bottom of the screen.

What happens after you submit¶

Your request is saved with a status of Pending. An administrator is notified and will approve or deny it. You receive a confirmation email at the address on your account.

You can check the status of your request at any time on the My Leave page (see "Checking Your Balance" below).

Checking Your Balance¶

Opening the leave page¶

Select My Leave from the navigation menu.

Annual Leave Summary¶

At the top of the page you see a summary card with three panels:

Remaining -- how many days or weeks of annual leave you have left to take.
Entitled -- your total entitlement for the year, including any adjustments.
Used -- how much you have already used, shown as a number and as a percentage of your entitlement.

Below the three panels is a progress bar that fills up as you use your leave.

If your entitlement has been adjusted (for example due to a change in working pattern), an Adjustments note appears below the progress bar showing the number of days or weeks added or removed.

If your entitlement has not been set up yet, the page shows a message asking you to contact an administrator.

Your leave requests¶

Below the summary, all of your leave requests for the current year are listed, grouped by leave type. Each request shows:

The date range.
The day of the week the leave starts.
The number of days the request covers.
The status:
Pending -- waiting for admin approval.
Approved -- confirmed by an administrator.
Denied -- not approved; a short reason may be shown.

If a request has been denied, the reason is displayed next to the status.

Cancelling a Request¶

You can cancel a request that is still Pending or Approved.

How to cancel¶

Go to My Leave from the navigation menu.
Find the request you want to cancel in the list.
Press the Cancel Request button (for pending requests) or Cancel button (for approved requests) next to it.
A confirmation page appears showing the full details of the request. If the request has already been approved, a warning explains that cancelling may affect rota planning.
Press Cancel Leave Request (or Cancel Approved Leave) to confirm, or Go Back to return without cancelling.

What happens when you cancel¶

The request is removed from the system.
If the request was for annual leave, the days or weeks are returned to your remaining balance.
An administrator is notified that the leave has been cancelled.

You cannot cancel a request that has already been denied.

Rules to Be Aware Of¶

A few system rules affect when and how you can book leave.

6-week fixed period¶

You cannot book leave within the next six weeks. This period is locked because the rota is already settled and clinicians have been assigned. If you need time off at short notice, contact an administrator who can add the leave for you.

Christmas and New Year restrictions¶

Leave cannot be booked between 24 December and 2 January. This restricted period is blocked for all clinicians because practice cover must be guaranteed over the holidays. If you have an exceptional circumstance, speak to an administrator.

Quota limits¶

Annual leave is limited by your entitlement for the year. When you book, the system checks that you have enough days (or weeks, for partners) remaining. If you try to book more than your balance allows, the system will prevent it and show an error message.

Other leave types (study leave, coroner's court, day not working, planned sick) do not count against your annual leave quota.

Overlapping leave¶

You cannot book leave on a date where you already have an existing leave request, regardless of type. If you need to change your leave, cancel the existing request first and then submit a new one.

Weekends and bank holidays¶

Leave requests cannot include weekends or bank holidays. The calendar only shows working weekdays, and bank holidays are marked so you can see them at a glance.