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Introduction to this document

Time off for reserve forces training letter

If an employee requests to take time off work to undertake training relating to their membership of the reserve forces, you can use our letter to reply to their request for additional special leave.

Training obligation

When an employee joins the armed forces reserves, they’ll need to undergo training with their unit. Training is usually made up of one evening a week, several weekends throughout the year and a two-week training course each year. However, whilst you have certain legal responsibilities regarding an employee’s mobilisation, i.e. when they’re called up for active service) and their reinstatement at work afterwards, you don’t have to allow them time off for reserve forces training (unless you’ve granted this as a contractual right. There’s no statutory right to either paid or unpaid time off work for such training. In many cases, the evening and weekend training will be out of normal working hours anyway, but in some cases the employee may make a request for additional time off work. You should know whether any of your employees are in the reserve forces because you should receive a letter from the Ministry of Defence within five weeks of their signing up. Plus, if the employee is contractually obliged to advise you if they take on any other work, they should have informed you themselves.

Paid annual leave

Whilst it’s good employment relations practice to create a supportive environment for reservist employees, you can nevertheless require them to use their paid annual leave entitlement in the first instance to take time off for reserve forces training. You might want to do this, in particular, when it comes to the annual two-week training course, as that’s a significant chunk of absence. Our Leaves of Absence Policy provides that you expect employees to use their paid annual leave entitlement first for such training before applying for further time off. It then goes on to provide that any further time off will only be granted at your absolute discretion.

Letter contents

Our Time Off for Reserve Forces Training Letter acknowledges the employee’s request for additional time off work to undertake reserve forces training, refers to the provisions of the above policy and then has three optional paragraphs for you to choose from as follows: (1) the employee’s time off request is declined because they still have annual leave remaining in the current holiday year that they could use for this purpose; (2) the employee’s time off request is declined on this occasion for another reason; or (3) as the employee has no remaining annual leave in the current holiday year, you’ve exercised your discretion in their favour on this occasion and so their time off request is authorised. In the case of the latter option, we’ve then gone on to provide three choices on pay, i.e. the special leave will be unpaid, the special leave will be paid or any payment of salary will be at your absolute discretion. Check what your policy says here and be consistent when exercising your discretion.