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Annual leave

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Here you can find information about annual leave and how to apply for it.

Apply for annual leave well in advance

Applications for annual leave and other leave must be registered in Primula and granted/approved by your manager before the leave is taken. 

  • Apply for annual leave well in advance of the holiday, according to the routine that is in place at your workplace. 
  • Register your application for annual leave in Primula well in advance. Ask your manager or nearest HR function when you need to register the application in Primula at the latest. 
  • Get in the habit of always checking your payslip, so that everything is correct. 

For teachers, a special procedure applies, according to the working hours agreement for teachers.

Content on this page:

The aim of annual leave

The aim of annual leave is for employees to have leisure time for rest and recreation. The Annual Leave Act states three benefits: annual leave, holiday pay and compensation in lieu of annual leave.

Number of days of annual leave

Pursuant to the Annual Leave Act, employees are entitled to at least 25 days of annual leave per year, but as a public sector employee, through collective agreements, you have more than 25 days of annual leave as well as being entitled to paid annual leave as of your first year of employment, as the annual leave year coincides with the calendar year. In order to take out full paid annual leave, you must have been employed for the whole year. Remember that you can only take leave for whole days.

The number of days of annual leave you have is determined by your age:

  • 28 days up to and including the year you turn 29.
  • 31 days from the year you turn 30.
  • 35 days from the year you turn 40.

The year’s entire annual leave is primarily to be used during the year in question, but if you are entitled to more than 20 days of paid leave, you may choose to save one or several of the additional days for a subsequent calendar year. You must always use at least 20 days out of the year’s quota of leave during the year in question. 

The aim of allowing employees to save days of annual leave is to enable them to take a longer period of leave in a subsequent year. At most, you can save 30 days of leave. If you wish to take saved days of annual leave in connection with your main holiday, you are to apply for this when planning annual leave for the year. If you have more than 30 saved days of annual leave on 31 December, the excess days will be paid with the April salary of the following year.

During your annual leave you will receive a leave allowance in addition to your ordinary salary. If you take out a whole month of annual leave you will receive an annual leave allowance of approximately 10 per cent of your monthly salary.

Bear in mind that if you leave your employment (before the end of the year) you will not have accrued the total number of days of annual leave for that year. Therefore, if you have taken more paid leave than what you have accrued, there will be a commensurate salary deduction. In order to calculate how many days you will have accrued, divide the number of days of employment by 365 (366 in a leap year) and multiply the result by the number of days of annual leave you would be entitled to for a full calendar year’s work. Also remember that absence may limit the number of paid days of annual leave to which you are entitled.

Apply for annual leave

The basis of the Holiday Act is that holiday leave (main holiday) must, unless there are special reasons, be arranged so that the employee has a leave period of at least four weeks from June to August.

Apply for annual leave in good time, following the procedures in place at your workplace. Also, remember to apply for any parental leave well in advance of main annual leave.  

Even when you wish to take saved days of annual leave in connection with your main holiday, it is important to discuss this with your manager and apply for the leave well in advance. An extended period of leave may need to be planned differently to only a few days and the earlier you talk to your manager the greater the chance of having your request approved.

Your annual leave for the year must be taken before you can request to use your saved days.

Apply for annual leave in Primula

Application for annual leave for employees with multiple positions at LU 

If you have multiple positions at LU, with different terms for annual leave or quotas, you cannot register your application for annual leave in Primula yourself. This is because the annual leave balance in Primula is currently linked to you as an employee and not per position.

When you apply for annual leave:
1.    Inform your managers of your annual leave request, according to the routine at each workplace.
2.    Subsequently, a reporter of information/källrapportör in one of your departments will register your annual leave application in Primula, based on the current terms for annual leave and after dialogue with your managers.

Annual leave for teaching staff

Annual leave for teaching staff is ordinarily scheduled during student holidays or other non-teaching periods. At Lund University, the scheduling of annual leave is regulated by a local agreement on working hours for teaching staff (available to download in the right-hand column). The main rule in the agreement is that all annual leave is to be scheduled automatically from the Monday after Midsummer unless the head of department and the individual member of teaching staff have agreed on a special arrangement for all or part of the annual leave, which you can read more about below. 

You can find the definition of teaching staff in the Lund University Appointment Rules (soon available to download in the right-hand column).

Annual leave in accordance with the main rule in the agreement on working hours for teaching staff

According to the main rule, all annual leave is scheduled automatically from the Monday after Midsummer. As a member of teaching staff, this means you take all your annual leave at once and you do not need to apply for annual leave. Your leave is registered in Primula by the National Government Service Centre (SSC).

Annual leave according to an agreement with the head of department/equivalent

If you wish to take annual leave at another time, you must inform your head of department/equivalent no later than ten working days before your intended annual leave period, and by 30 April at the latest. At this time, you and your head of department/equivalent must plan your annual leave for the whole year.  

A written agreement is then created in the form of your application for annual leave for the whole year in Primula and your head of department’s/equivalent’s approval of your application for leave. Applications must include all your accumulated annual leave for the year and must be approved in Primula by 31 May at the latest.  

Apply for annual leave in Primula 

Special agreements on annual leave before Midsummer 

If you have reached an agreement with your head of department/equivalent and applied for annual leave according to the above, and the agreement only concerns days of annual leave to be taken before Midsummer, the remaining annual leave will automatically be scheduled in accordance with the main rule in the agreement on working hours, i.e., any remaining annual leave will automatically be scheduled from the Monday after Midsummer.

You do not have to apply for annual leave for the remaining days, as this will be registered by SSC in Primula.

Saving annual leave

If you would like to save annual leave, the same procedure applies as for annual leave in accordance with an agreement with the head of department/equivalent as above, i.e., you must inform the head of department/equivalent at least ten working days before your intended annual leave period, and by 30 April at the latest. Planning of annual leave for the whole year is to be carried out at this time and a written agreement is created in the form of an approved annual leave application.

You apply for this annual leave yourself in Primula. Your application is to specify the days you would like to take as annual leave in the current year and must be approved in Primula by 31 May at the latest.

You must meet the following criteria to be able to save annual leave:

  • there is an approved annual leave application for a minimum of 20 days of annual leave in Primula by 31 May at the latest. Only days in addition to these may be saved.
  • the total number of saved days after the annual leave application for the year does not exceed 30 days. In total, a maximum of 30 annual leave days may be saved.
  • the annual working hours in your duties plan for the current year increase by the number of hours corresponding to the saved days. For each day of annual leave not taken, the annual working hours increase by eight hours and, correspondingly, the annual working hours decrease in the year the saved annual leave is taken.

To document that the criteria for saved annual leave have been met and how many days you intend to save for a subsequent year, you and your head of department/equivalent must complete and sign the form below.

Template for documenting saved annual leave (fillable PDF 206 kB, new tab) 

Annual leave for doctoral students

As for other employees, the basic principle is that the entire annual leave must be taken unless there are special reasons not to do so, or you choose to save part of it. You must take out at least 20 days of annual leave during the year. Both from a work environment perspective and from an operational perspective, doctoral students should take their annual leave preferably after Midsummer, when annual leave is ordinarily scheduled for teaching staff.

As a doctoral student, you apply for annual leave in accordance with the procedures in place at your workplace.

Apply for annual leave in Primula

Individual agreement to waive annual leave allowance in favour of three days of leave

Under certain conditions, it is possible for you as an employee and your employer (Lund University) to enter into an agreement to waive the supplement for annual leave in exchange for additional days off.

Under certain conditions, it is possible to sign an agreement with your employer (Lund University) to waive annual leave allowance payments in return for extra days of leave. 

Based on the central collective bargaining agreement (Villkorsavtal/Villkorsavtal-T, the general agreement on pay and benefits for government employees), it is possible for employees and employers to sign individual agreements to waive the annual leave allowance in exchange for three days of leave under certain conditions. 

An agreement is valid for one year and must be signed in the year preceding the annual leave year to which the annual leave exchange relates. 

Before an agreement can be signed, certain conditions must be met. See below for further details and conditions of the agreement. 

If you wish to sign an agreement, contact your line manager for more information and an explanation of the process within your faculty. If an agreement is to be signed, your trade union will be informed (this does not apply to non-unionised employees). 

The following is required for an individual agreement on annual leave exchange to be signed

  • The employer agrees that it is possible, taking into account operational reasons/requirements, to schedule such leave during the annual leave year to which the exchange relates.
  • The employee has no more than five days of accumulated annual leave at the beginning of the annual leave year to which the exchange relates.
  • The employee has no planned extended absence during the annual leave year.
  • The employee does not have an existing individual agreement on annual leave exchange.
  • Employees with fixed-term contracts are only eligible if their employment extends over the whole of the annual leave year to which the exchange relates. 

Organisation and use of the three leave days

  • The three leave days must be taken in the annual leave year to which the exchange relates and cannot be carried over to the following year.
  • The days can be taken only after all the annual leave for the current year has been taken.
  • The employee’s wishes regarding the timing of the leave are accommodated if compatible with the requirements of the organisation. 

If conditions change during the annual leave year

  • If, for special reasons, it is not possible for the employee to take one or more of the annual leave days, payment corresponding to 4.6 per cent of the fixed monthly salary will be made for each day not taken as leave.
  • The agreement also applies if the employee has a continuous absence of up to one month during the year.
  • In the event of a continuous absence of more than one month, the agreement does not apply, and settlement must be made by exchanging the days back in return for annual leave allowance. Otherwise, a salary debt may arise.
  • If an employee leaves their employment before the end of the annual leave year, the agreement does not apply. Leave taken is to be adjusted in proportion to the period of employment qualifying for annual leave. In cases where the employee has taken too many days off relative to the annual leave entitlement, a refund must be made to the employer.
  • If the employee has not taken the days off in relation to the period of employment on which the annual leave is based, the accrued annual leave allowance is paid.

Register the leave in Primula

For those who have signed an agreement to exchange the annual leave allowance for three extra leave days, the leave (after the agreement has been registered by SSC) can be applied for in Primula via Leave - extra days vacation exchange 3 extra days per individ agreem.

The balance is updated only after the payroll run for that month is complete. 

Remember that all annual leave must be taken before these days are taken. 

If circumstances change during the year and the agreement is cancelled, contact your manager for information on how to proceed. 

Contact

Contact your line manager or the HR function at your organisational unit if you have any questions concerning employment or your organisational unit’s procedures for HR matters.

Primula support

In Primula Web you can carry out many tasks relating to your employment, including applying for annual leave, viewing your salary statements, reporting secondary employment and submitting a declaration of illness.

Log in to Primula

SSC Portal

In the SSC Portal you can find information about operational disruptions and planned interruptions to services for upgrades, in Primula. 

Log in to SSC Client Portal

Call ext. 29 000, press 3. You need to identify yourself with BankID to receive answers to personal information that, for example, concerns your payslip. If you do not identify yourself, you will receive the answers to your questions in a case in the SSC Portal.

External call, from a personal telephone +46 (0)46 222 90 00, press 3)

If you become ill during your annual leave

Last updated: 30 Oct 2025 | webbansvarig [at] hr [dot] lu [dot] se