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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.

 

Policy changes in Jul 10 now mean that days lost in transit can be added to PODL. 

The Chief of Joint Operations, Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, said:

    "The rest and recuperation (R&R) policy announced today makes operational sense. As the operational commander of deployed UK forces, these measures will bring additional flexibility to the commanders on the ground and we preserve the effectiveness of the force, especially in Afghanistan.

    "Under previous rules, compensating R&R lost through delays in transit would be at the discretion of the commanding officer of the unit. As one late return could have a domino effect for the whole unit, it has not always been possible to make up any shortfall by delaying the return journey. So adding any lost days R&R to the post operational tour leave ensures that everyday of R&R is taken, without affecting the effectiveness of the force."

To read the news article on the Federation website Click here

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