Booking your leave

All your annual leave should be requested via Staff Connect.

Additional guidance and resources can be found on the Staff Connect support site.

Contact your line manager or head of admin if you experience any difficulty. 

Leave entitlement

Professional services and support staff

Your annual leave entitlement is entered into Staff Connect automatically. This includes bank holidays and customary days (Christmas holidays) which you will also need to book if you work part-time.

Academic staff

There are no prescribed hours for academic staff. However, there is a ‘notional’ leave entitlement for academic and research staff to record their leave in Staff Connect, if desired. 

You can apply to buy extra annual leave - up to a week each year - through our Additional Leave Purchase scheme. 

Paid time off in lieu on an hour-for-hour basis can be awarded to those who are contractually obliged to work a prescribed number of hours per week.  

The decision whether to offer time off in lieu will be made by the responsible supervisor and will be communicated to the member of staff before the work is undertaken. 

The taking of TOIL leave must be mutually agreed between the member of staff concerned and the responsible supervisor.

We recognise that staff may need a period of time away from work, for a variety of reasons. 

Our Career Break Policy supports our commitment to work-life balance and also enhances our capability to recruit and retain staff.

Research & Innovation or Scholarship & Academic Practice

Find out if you qualify for academic leave  and how to apply.

Academic staff can apply for leave for a temporary appointment elsewhere, approved work outside the University or study leave funded by an external body.  

We have developed a policy and procedure to set out the provisions and rights for expectant and new mothers. We have also produced guidance for staff and managers to step you both through the process.

We have developed a policy and procedure to set out the provisions and rights for members of staff whose partner is pregnant, or has been notified of a match for adoption and is the secondary adopter. 

We have developed a policy and procedure to set out the provisions and rights for staff who are newly adopting a child, including the relevant guidance and forms to inform the University of intent to take adoption leave.

18 weeks' unpaid leave is available for staff who have a child aged under 18.

Shared Parental Leave allows a mother/primary adopter to share part of their maternity/adoption leave and pay with their partner/secondary adopter/child's father. 

This allows you both more flexibility in deciding who will care for your child in the first year following the birth/adoption. 

We have developed a policy and procedure to explain this type of leave and guidance for you and your manager. 

We offer special leave for public service, including volunteering, Jury Service and appearing as a witness, and for members of the Territorial Army and Reserve Forces.

Kent is a caring employer and provides considerable support to all staff in times of sickness and personal difficulties. To do this we need to know if you are unwell, therefore all sickness absence should be recorded in Staff Connect. 

Advice on supporting colleagues who are absent due to illness is available for Heads of schools/departments, and those responsible for staff via the HR Employee Relations Team.

Kent has a long-standing practice of doing its utmost to support staff who are terminally ill. 

We all recognise the vital role that work can play in establishing some normality, security and social support when colleagues and their families have to face challenges and difficult decisions during this time.

Kent is able to offer special leave covering, for example:

• compassionate reasons
• emergency/domestic situations 
• caring for dependants
• medical purposes such as doctor and hospital appointments 
• when observing religious holidays