When to use it
This letter can be used when an employee has requested a period of annual leave but the request has to be declined for justifiable reasons. This justifiable reason may be, for instance, that the employee has insufficient leave remaining or other employees have already had annual leave approved at that time and the Company cannot allow any other employees to be off at the same time.
Employers are allowed to turn down a request for annual leave provided that the notice given by the Company is at least equivalent to the length of holiday requested.
[Company name]
[Sender address]
[date]
[Recipient name]
[Recipient address]
Dear [Recipient first name],
REQUEST FOR ANNUAL LEAVE DECLINED
I refer to your request to take annual leave from [date] to [date].
Unfortunately, on this occasion, we must decline your request because (specify reason from list below):
- [annual leave has already been approved for other members of staff at this time and we cannot permit anyone else to be off because of the need to maintain adequate staffing levels] OR
- [this will be a particularly busy time for the Company so annual leave cannot be taken on those dates] OR
- [you have insufficient annual leave remaining in the Company's current holiday year] OR
- [you are in your first year of employment and you have not yet accrued sufficient annual leave to cove
The full Annual leave request declined letter template will be available once purchased.
Reviewed 1 May 2022
Free downloadable guides (.pdf format)
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Absence explained
Absence can come in many forms, some unavoidable (emergencies), some vital (family, holidays - for wellbeing), some manageable (education, long term absences), and some unwanted (such as absenteeism - short term sickness). It refers to any time taken off work by an employee and is usually categorised into authorised and unauthorised absence.
Authorised absence refers to absence approved by someone with permission to do so, and includes annual leave, time off in lieu (TOIL), reasonable sick leave, and parental leave.
Unauthorised absence occurs when the employee is not given permission for absence, or is not given permission after it has occurred, and can include long-term sick leave without reasonable supporting evidence, persistent lateness, or holiday not being agreed in line with the Company's policies.