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Sussex staff will be awarded two additional minimum service days on Thursday 21 December 2023 and on Tuesday 2 January 2024 in recognition of their hard work during a challenging year.

As such, the last working day for staff before the start of the winter break will be Wednesday 20 December 2023.

You can see the full list of scheduled minimum service days on our term dates webpage.

Staff will receive their December pay on Wednesday 20 December.

As these are additional, non-contractual days, staff will not be required to use the MyView absence booking system and no re-adjustment of staff annual leave entitlement will be needed.

Staff who were not going to work on those days due to their normal working pattern (it being a non-working day), will need to arrange alternative days locally with their line manager. Staff who are unable to take the additional days on the 21 December and 2 January due to work requirements will need to either tack it on to the end of the winter break (preferred) or arrange a convenient time with their management team.

Further guidance on the 21 December and 2 January minimum service days

Part time staff whose normal working pattern would mean them working on either of the 2 newly announced Minimum Service Days will receive the day(s) off, without the need to use any of their annual leave allowance to ‘make up’ the hours for the day.

If you would not normally work on those days, you will have the days tacked on to the end of the winter break leave period. If this is not possible due to operational requirements, or if the next  days are days where you would not normally be working, then you should seek to agree an alternative date with your line manager, bearing in mind the corresponding working hours information below.

If you are required to work on 21 December or the 2 January, due to the operational requirements of the service or school you work in, then, again, the additional days should be tacked on to the end of the winter break and your return to work would be on 5 January. If this is not possible, either due to working patterns or operational need, please seek agreement from your line manager for an alternative date.

For part-time staff, where the working patterns for the 3 and 4 January do not match the working pattern on the 21 December and 2 January (i.e. where the normal working hours across those days are different) days off corresponding to the normal working hours for 21 December and 2 January should be granted at another time. Line managers are asked to accommodate these requests wherever possible or agree to an alternative.