Southern Councils Reveal Annual Leave Allowances

• Invercargill City Council staff may receive five weeks' leave after four years' service.
• Southland District Council offers negotiated leave agreements exceeding the four-week minimum entitlement.
• Environment Southland and Gore District Council have unique systems for managing annual leave entitlements.

Southern councils have shared their annual leave policies, with some staff receiving more than New Zealand’s standard of four weeks per year.

Invercargill City Council recently discussed an increase in leave allowances. Chief executive Michael Day confirmed that staff who have been employed for four years or more are now entitled to five weeks of annual leave. “The cost to council is an increased annual leave liability, which would be a maximum of $75,000 for the 2023/24 financial year,” Day explained. Previously, this additional week was only granted after six years of service, but the change was introduced last year as part of a wellbeing initiative.

At Southland District Council, annual leave entitlements are negotiated individually. A spokesperson confirmed that some staff have agreements in place that provide more leave than the minimum standard.

Meanwhile, Environment Southland continues to use a long-standing system, allowing staff to accrue an extra day of leave for the first five years of their employment. Once staff reach a total of five weeks’ leave, the additional days stop accumulating.

The Gore District Council, while not reviewing its entitlements recently, allows staff to use their leave before the standard 12-month period is up. In most cases, staff receive four weeks of leave unless a different arrangement has been negotiated.