The background to this question is that the number of days of leave owed to operational staff rose significantly during 2001 as a result of the operational conversion training programme put in place to enable the London area control operation to transfer from West Drayton to Swanwick. With an intense training programme to be completed over a period of about a year, those most affected were the trainers themselves on the NERC Training Team (NTT), but all operational staff were affected to a greater or lesser extent. It has been calculated that operational staff at Swanwick are owed, on average, seven days "time off in lieu" (TOIL) of which about two thirds can be attributed directly to the training programme. In addition, staff at Swanwick are owed, on average, three and a half days of annual leave, giving a total of just over 10 days owed. There are considerable variations between individuals.
As part of the recent pay settlement, negotiations with the unions have been concluded for an agreement to "buy back" some or all of this outstanding leave entitlement on a voluntary basis. It is too soon to say what the full take up will be under the agreement, but priority will be given to those individuals with an above average number of days outstanding.