Career Break Policy

Career break policy

Contents 

• Introduction 
• Scope
• Eligibility
• Applying for a career break
• Responding to an application
• During a career break
• Returning to work
• Contractual status
• Monitoring and Review 

Introduction 

1. UCL recognises that some employees may wish to take an extended period of leave during their employment, for a variety of reasons.

2. The purpose of this policy is to set out the circumstances in which UCL permits employees to take an unpaid career break for a period of between 1 and 12 months.

3. It is the responsibility of the employee making the application to ensure they understand the potential implications of the career break on their salary, pension and other benefits. 

Scope

4. This policy applies to employees only. It does not apply to agency workers. consultants, self-employed contractors, volunteers or interns. 

Eligibility

5. All employees with two years’ continuous service may request a career break provided that they:

• have not submitted a career break request in the previous 3 months;
• have not taken a career break in the previous 5 years;
• are not being investigated or managed under UCL's Disciplinary Procedure and/or Capability Policy- Managing Poor Performance;
• are not working for UCL under a sponsored visa.

6. Employees can request a career break for many reasons, including, but not limited to:

• Care for children or other dependents (Please also see Extended Carer's Leave Policy within the UCL Special Leave Policy)
• Undertake personal study, training and development;
• Travel abroad;
• Rest and recuperate from a long-term illness after sick pay has been exhausted;
• Undertake volunteering. 

Applying for a career break

7. Employees must complete a Career Break Application Form (link to form) and send it to their Line Manager as early as possible and at least six months prior to the expected start date. Exceptionally, the Line Manager can waive some of this notice period - for example if there are urgent extenuating personal circumstances. 

Responding to an application

8. The Line Manager will discuss the application with their Head of Department. Together, they will decide whether to approve or reject the application.

9. Each application will be considered on its own merits.

The following non-exhaustive factors should be considered:

• The potential benefits of the career break which may include improved productivity, morale, wellbeing, staff retention, salary or other cost savings;
• The period of the career break requested;
• The number and length of any previous career breaks or other types of leave;
• issues of fairness and equality within the team and department;
• The ability to either recruit and induct a suitable temporary replacement, or reassign some of the workload to existing team members by reprioritising their workload;
• The costs and impact on the delivery of UCL's objectives, student experience or any other service or delivery;
• If the employee is working on a grant funded project, the impact on the project and whether the funder will allow a career break.

10. If the application is due to be rejected, the Line Manager must also discuss the application with their HR Business Partner. Line Managers can additionally seek advice from their local HR or Staffing Manager, if applicable.

11. The Line Manager is expected to either accept or reject the application within one month of receipt of the application.

12. If the request for a career break is approved, the Line Manager will create an absence in MyHR in Manager self-service, selecting “unpaid leave” from the “Absence type” drop down menu. They should then select “Career Break” from the “Absence Reason” drop down menu. The employee and the Line Manager will then receive a letter from HR Services confirming the start and return dates for the career break and set out the changes to the terms of the employee’s employment. The employee must sign and return a copy of this letter to accept the changes.  Until this is received, the career break is not agreed and the employee should not commit themselves to any plans with the expectation that the career break will be agreed.

13. If the request for a career break is rejected, the Line Manager will meet with the employee to explain the reasons why to the employee and explore whether a shorter career break, or a postponement of the career break, is possible. 

14. There is no right to appeal under this policy.

15. Notwithstanding the outcome of an application, eligible employees will remain able to request other types of leave of absence, such as under the Ordinary Parental Leave (Unpaid) Policy, Sabbatical Leave Policy and Special Leave Policy. 

During a career break

16. Employees are not normally permitted to undertake employment (including self-employment) during a career break.  However, in some circumstances, this may be permitted, for example:

• Some external public office roles
• Scholarship positions
• Existing secondary employment
• Existing Directorships
• Some startup businesses, external UCL collaborations or "spinouts" (or similar), positions or arrangements, where they are of benefit to UCL.

The line manager must always seek advice from their Head of Department and HR Business Partner in these circumstances.

If the employee has not already declared these arrangements in line with the UCL Disclosure of Conflict and Declaration of Interest Policy, they must do so before any approval is given. It may then become necessary to implement a Conflict Management Plan.

Further advice can be obtained from innovation & Enterprise via discloseconflicts@ucl.ac.uk

17. Employees are not eligible for statutory or occupational sick pay during a career break.

18. Employees will only accrue statutory holiday entitlement during a career break (currently 28 days per year for full-time employees, pro-rated for part-time employees).  Employees will not accrue contractual holiday entitlement in excess of their statutory holiday entitlement during a career break. Line Managers should ensure that the correct adjustment is made in MyHR to take this into account.

19. Employees will need to plan and agree with their line manager when they will take their accrued untaken annual leave prior to the start of their career break.  

They must also ensure that they take the statutory holiday entitlement that accrues during their career break, on their return to work, or as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards. In line with UCL’s Annual Leave policy, a maximum of 5 days (pro-rata) may be carried over to the following annual leave year.  

20. Incremental salary progression will continue during a career break, where applicable.

21. During a career break, an employee will remain bound by certain terms and conditions of their employment contract, including, in particular, those relating to confidentiality and intellectual property.  Further details will be provided in the letter sent by HR Services.  Accordingly, an employee’s continuity of service will not be broken and the period of leave will count towards their continuous service.

22. A summary of the relationship between pensions and unpaid leave, whether short term unpaid leave or a career break, can be found in the current Unpaid Leave of Absence Guidance For further information regarding pensions, please contact UCL Pensions Services.

23. The employee must be contactable by email and mobile, for example in case of an emergency or important employment update. The Line Manager will agree with the employee how often and by what means they will stay in touch during the career break, prior to its commencement. 

Returning to work

24. Employees who undertake a career break will return to the same position unless there is an organisational change in their department whilst they are absent and/or they need to be redeployed in accordance with the Redeployment Procedure. In the event of a reorganisation and/or redeployment, employees on a career break would be consulted accordingly.

25. Employees on a career break who decide not to return to work are required to give notice in accordance with the terms of their contract of employment (unless the amount of notice required has been varied by agreement).  Employees on a career break who do not return to work when expected, may be subject to disciplinary action.

26. It is not normally possible to change the return date, unless both the employee and the Line Manager agree to an alternative date.

27. If an employee is prevented from returning to work on the agreed date due to ill health, the employee must follow the Sickness Absence Policy. 

28. Line Managers should ensure employees returning from a career break are supported and integrated back into the business with a return-to-work plan. 

Contractual status

29. This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and may be withdrawn or amended at any time after consultation with the recognised trade unions. 

Monitoring and Review

30. The HR Employment Policy Team will keep the operation of this policy under review.