Frequently Asked Questions

The Annual Leave Purchase Scheme (ALPS) enables employees to purchase up to 74 hours (equivalent to 10 days) additional annual leave in a leave year. If you work on a part-time contract, this amount is pro ratad.

Annual leave is purchased using a salary sacrifice agreement which means that the employee agrees to reduce their salary for the duration of the period and save tax and national insurance.

If you wish to purchase annual leave, your application has to be made in the February 2025 before the 2025/2026 leave year has commenced.

Only staff employed by Loughborough University are eligible to purchase additional annual leave.

Furthermore, there are different types of contract that pay for annual leave in different ways that make them also ineligible for the scheme. 

The following contracts/types are not eligible:

• Staff employed by IMAGO, agency or subsidiary company
• Staff employed on casual contracts
• Staff employed on annualised hours contracts who receive a payment for annual leave
• Staff on term time only contracts
• Staff with less than 12 months service at 1st April 2025

No, 74 hours (equivalent to 10 days for a full time contract) is the maximum number of hours that you can take. 

Yes, you can apply to purchase any amount up to and including 74 hours. 

You can use the ALPS calculator to get an idea of how much purchasing annual leave may cost to help you decide.

Purchased annual leave will be paid for in 12 equal monthly instalments from May 2025 to April 2026.

Any payments for additional annual leave need to be made during that leave year.

Salary sacrifice agreements mean that you agree to reduce your gross salary for a period and repayments are taken from that reduction before tax and national insurance.

Staff whose reduced salary takes them below the National Living Wage (£12.21 per hour at 1st April 2025) will not be eligible for ALPS.

Staff whose reduced salary takes them below the Real Living Wage (£12.60 per hour) will still be eligible for ALPS.

When you purchase annual leave, the cost for the leave is spread across the leave year via deductions from your monthly pay.

When you take unpaid leave, the full amount of unpaid leave is deducted from your pay at the time that you take it. In addition, when you are on unpaid leave it is important to be aware that you do not build up any pension benefits as no contributions are payable during that period and you may not be eligible for Death in Service benefits.

If your contract covers the annual leave year in which you wish to purchase annual leave, then yes, you can apply for additional annual leave.

If your contract is for less than 12 months at the start of the annual leave year (May 1st each year) then you are not eligible to apply for additional annual leave.

You must also have 12 months service at 1st April 2025 to be eligible for ALPS.

No, additional annual leave purchased cannot be carried over into the next annual leave year, unless there are exceptional circumstances preventing the leave being taken. It is assumed that additional leave is used before normal contractual annual leave entitlement.

There will be no reimbursement for unused additional annual leave purchased.

There is no scheme to sell annual leave and this is not being considered.

ALPS operates via a salary sacrifice scheme. This means that you agree to exchange part of your salary for a voluntary benefit - in this case annual leave.

The total cost of the purchased annual leave will be split equally over 12 monthly instalments and taken from your salary before it is subject to tax and National Insurance. This means that your salary is temporarily reduced for the duration of the agreement.

Once your application has been authorised, you will be sent a Variation to Contract email by HR Services. This outlines the temporary reduction in your gross salary for 12 equal monthly instalments that you will make via salary sacrifice. After the 12 months, your salary returns to your pre salary sacrifice level.

All other terms and conditions of your employment will remain the same.

This depends on the pension scheme that you are a member of.

USS - There is no impact to your pension contributions in the USS pension scheme. Pension contributions are taken from the notional salary (the salary before salary sacrifice deductions).

LGPS – This pension scheme does not allow annual leave purchase schemes. This means that your pension contributions will be taken from your reduced salary for the duration of the salary sacrifice arrangement and that means your pension banding might change during this time too.

The ALPS calculator can help you to understand the impact to determine whether this is something that you wish to do.

Whilst you are in receipt of pay the deductions will continue as normal. If you enter a period of nil pay, or enough to cover the payment, the deduction will be carried over until your return to work.

Please note: Maternity, adoption and shared parental leave are valid lifestyle events which mean that staff can opt out of the scheme if needed. 

Your Variation to Contract remains in place for the duration of the agreement even if you move roles or change your hours.

If a reduction in hours means that your new hourly rate falls below the National Living Wage, this will be identified by the payroll team and passed to the Reward and Benefits team to manage.

In line with existing practice, staff on fixed term contracts are normally expected to have used all of their annual leave, including any leave purchased under this        scheme, by the end of their fixed term contract.

Staff who leave before the end of the annual leave year may be paid in lieu for any normal and purchased annual leave accrued but not taken up to and including the last date of employment, in their final pay.

Staff who leave before the end of the annual leave year, will have monies deducted for any purchased leave that has been used but not paid for, in their final pay.

The application form allows up to 3 different managers to authorise your application. Each line manager is required to authorise their proportion of the application.

For example, if you had two contracts and worked 50% in each role and you wanted 74 hours of annual leave, each manager would be authorising 37 hours.

If all managers agree, the application moves to payroll as part of the usual process.

If one manager agrees, the application moves to payroll but only with a pro rata element of the application amount.

The University recognises that staff may need to change a salary sacrifice arrangement where a lifestyle change significantly alters an employee’s financial circumstances. This may include:

• Marriage / civil partnership
• Divorce
• Redundancy
• Promotions / Re-grading
• Long term absence
• Maternity, Shared Parental and Adoption leave

If a lifestyle event does occur, staff can opt out of the scheme by notifying the Reward and Benefits team in the first instance with the details of the life event, payroll number and when the deductions should stop.

Reward and Benefits team will update payroll and the annual leave balance would be amended to reflect the amount of annual leave purchased prior to opting out.

If you hold a sponsored Skilled Worker visa, your post-sacrifice salary must not reduce below the Home Office’s relevant salary threshold and occupation code going rate. For all other visa categories, your post-sacrifice salary must not reduce below the National Minimum Wage. You can use the ALPS calculator to estimate the impact to your hourly rate.