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Post Operational Leave
Post Operational Leave (POL) was introduced in recognition of the stresses and strains that Operational Deployments bring to Service personnel, their families and friends. It is awarded solely as a result of time spent on qualifying Operations or deployments and does not apply to exercises and maritime deployments.
The allowance, additional to the Annual Leave Allowance, is one working day of POL for every 9 calendar days deployed. There is no qualifying period before POL can be received and entitlement commences on the day that Service personnel leave their permanent duty station. The POL Allowance already takes into consideration Public Holidays that may have been missed when on deployed operations. Missed Public Holidays are not awarded in addition to the POL allowance.
There will, however, be circumstances where POL may need to be postponed, for instance when the career interests of a Service person require them to attend a course. Such postponements must be exceptional. POL may also need to be postponed at times for Operational reasons, there can be no negotiation and operational commitments must take primacy. The overriding principle to be applied, however, should be one of fairness and POL is not to be sacrificed for management reasons.
POL is granted to Reserve Forces personnel under the same terms as the Regular Forces.
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As a Service person living in SFA, have you ever had to take leave to wait at home for a contractor? If so, please answer 'yes' and click on the brown ‘Have your Say’ block and let us know how much leave you have lost this way in the last 12 months.