West Lothian Council staff get an extra day's holiday for pandemic efforts

The council’s executive unanimously agreed to the extra day as recognition leave during its last meeting of this current administration ahead of the council election in May.

In a report to the executive Lesley Henderson, the Interim Head of Corporate Services, said: “As the council begins to build back and we learn to live with Covid-19, it is considered an appropriate time to provide a tangible token of appreciation to recognise the outstanding contribution of all our employees.

“In recognition of the effort and commitment of employees during this period, Council Executive is asked to approve an additional one-off day’s annual leave to every employee.

"It is proposed to classify this additional one-off day as ‘recognition leave’ so that employees are aware of why they have been given this extra day when they book the time off.”

She added “As many employees have had to carry forward annual leave because they were unable to take it when they were responding to the pandemic, recognition leave will be available to be booked up to 31 March 2024. This will maximise the opportunity for employees to take the leave whilst minimising any additional pressure on services which continue to face resourcing challenges.”

Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “I think all members of all parties would agree that our staff have been quite outstanding during the last two years. And that we can’t perhaps give them the huge wage increase they would like, but it is recognition for the significant work they have done, well beyond the call of duty.”