Enhanced Leave

What’s it for? 

To give you a chance to take a longer period of leave in recognition of your service.

What do I get?

Enhanced Leave gives Regular Service personnel who have completed 15 years of service the opportunity to apply to take an extended block of 50 days leave in one continuous period in lieu of their 30 days Annual Leave Allowance (eight days' of Annual Leave must, however, be retained for public holidays).

Any leave carried over from the previous year will still be available for you to use, as will any leave transferred from a serving spouse / civil partner or called forward from your next leave year.

Enhanced Leave is granted at the absolute discretion of the Service; it is not a right and will only be permitted if resilience margins allow and if it doesn't compromise operational capability. This means that inevitably some applications will be refused.

Other things to consider

Enhanced Leave is meant to provide long-serving personnel an opportunity to do something that they would not be able to achieve under normal annual leave arrangements. It might be the holiday of a lifetime, a long civilian expedition or external course, or an extended period with family. Taking 50 days (effectively 10 weeks' leave) in one go requires considerable advance planning.

You should consult your Chain of Command and Career Manager well in advance before you apply.

How do I claim this?

Providing the leave entitlement has been added on JPA by your Unit HR,and you have the agreement of your Chain of Command, you can book your extended leave on:

• My Leave App (part of the My Series) – accessed using a Defence Gateway account on your work or own personal device. Watch a short video showing you how to use the App.

• JPA – Follow the instructions in the ‘Absence (flexible working)’ self-service user guide, which can be found within the JPA User Guides and Forms (on defnet).

• JPA Form R001- If you don’t have access to JPA or the App, complete and send this form (which can be found at JPA forms on defnet) to your line manager.