USER/MANAGER FAQS ................................................................................................................... 2
Logging in ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Preferences...................................................................................................................................................... 2
ESS – Changing personal data, bank account etc .............................................................................................. 2
ESS – Annual Leave .......................................................................................................................................... 3
MANAGER FAQS ............................................................................................................................... 6
General ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
Annual Leave ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Sickness ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Termination ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Professional Membership ................................................................................................................................ 7
New Hires ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
User/Manager FAQs
Logging in
How do I login/access ESS, MSS, SSS or ESR?
You should be able to access ESS, MSS, SSS or ESR by clicking on the link on the intranet, clicking on
the link below or copying and pasting the link below into your web browser.
https://esr.mhapp.nhs.uk/OA_HTML/RF.jsp?function_id=30696&resp_id=-1&resp_appl_id=1&security_group_id=0&lang_code=US&params=9Zy-Gm-ktVI4mxv1oNG.0Q&oas=NJrr8ibS_PSkwLAFvSmFQQ..
You will need to have your username which you will have received from HR and your password.
However, if you have forgotten your password, there is a forgotten password option (see the item
below)
Preferences
Q. I have gone into the preferences screen in Oracle and it is saying that my territory is United
States – should I change this?
A. Please keep your Territory as United States – otherwise you might encounter some problems
booking annual leave.
Q. ESS/MSS’ calendar incorrectly shows bank holidays as Sundays – how can I get this corrected.
A. First, click on preferences on ESS/MSS’ front page:
and check that your territory is set as United States.
If it is already set as United States then please contact HR
ESS – Changing personal data, bank account etc
Q. I want to change my bank details. Do I just do this in ESS – is there anything else I need to do, eg
tell payroll.
A. No, there is nothing else you need to do as ESS will automatically tell payroll BUT don’t forget:


, you need to send the instruction before payroll cut-off to ensure that the change can be
done before the next payroll run.
You need to create a new bank account and not amend the current one
ESS – Annual Leave
Q. How can I check my annual leave?
A. Simply logon to ESS and navigate to the Absence Page. As Confirmed Annual Leave entries are
made in ESR, the total balance will reduce accordingly.
Q. My Annual Leave entitlement is incorrect.
A. Check your start date in ESR. This can be found by navigating to:
Employee Self-Service > Personal Information > Basic Details – View and Update > Correct or
complete the current details – Next > ‘NHS Entry Date’
If your start date is incorrect then please inform your Manager, who will be able to contact the HR
Team mailto:[email protected] to arrange for the system to be corrected.
Q. I started with the NHS in February four years ago and my annual leave entitlement for this year doesn’t
show that I am also due an extra 5 days pro-rata to reflect the fact that I will have over five year’s service
next February.
A. ESR will update your annual leave balance but only when you reach the first complete month
with over five years service. So, eg, if you started a full-time job any time in
Dec 2009, your annual leave would be increased by 3/12th of five days (46.88 hours) in Jan 2014
January 2009 your annual leave would be increased by 2/12th of five days (31.25 hours) in Feb 2014
Feb 2009 your annual leave would be increased by 1/12th of five days (15.63 hours) in Feb 2014
The same pattern would occur when you reach 10 years service in the NHS.
Q. What annual leave am I entitled to as I’m sure that this year (2013 – 2014) I have less annual leave than
last year.
A. In general, the annual leave entitlement is as shown in the table below
Length of NHS Service
On appointment
After 5 years service
After 10 years service


Annual Leave Public Holidays**** Total Hours
27
8
262.5
29
8
277.5
33
8
307.5
Each day, for a full time employee is 7.5 hours
Part-time employees have their leave calculated on a pro-rata basis
However, some years there can be slight differences between the number of public holidays because
of when Easter falls. Eg, for a full time person, with less than five years service would generally be
entitled to ((27 + 8) * 7.5) = 262.5 hours. However, Good Friday in 2013 was on April 1st 2013 and
therefore fell in the 2012/13 annual leave year. So, in 2012/2013, a full-time person’s leave
entitlement on ESR would have been ((27 + 9) * 7.5) = 270.0 hours and in 2013/2014 it would have
been ((27 + 7) * 7.5) = 255 hours.
Q. What is the difference between Planned and Confirmed?
A. Planned allows you to “pencil-in” annual leave until you are sure that you want to request it and
nobody else will see it. Although this can be useful, most people generally only record annual leave
when they are requesting it and so we advise that you should always mark leave as Confirmed unless
you definitely want to mark it as Planned.
Q. Should I record unpaid Leave on ESR?
A. We advise not recording unpaid leave as, in certain circumstances, this can disrupt other data.
Q. My Leave is booked and is showing as “Confirmed” but I now need to change this. I can’t see
where/how to do this?
A. On your Absence Summary page you are able to Delete or Amend your booked leave via the
Update or Delete button.
Q. My absence summary is showing as “Pending Approval” why is this when I’ve booked my leave?
A. Your request still needs to be authorised by your Line Manager. Once approved, this will change
to Confirmed.
Q. I’ve booked leave and had it approved by my Manager. How do I amend this now I’ve changed
my mind?
A. On your Absence Summary page you are able to Delete or Amend your booked leave by the
Update or Delete button. If the leave date is in the past, you will need to email the HR Team.
mailto:[email protected] to remove from your records.
Q. My Annual Leave entitlement is more than I expected it to be, why is this?
A. Bank Holidays are included in your Annual Leave entitlement so each Bank Holiday will need to
be booked separately the same way as you would book Annual Leave.
Q. My Annual Leave balance shows the same balance even though I’ve booked leave. Will this be
deducted once I’ve taken the leave?
A. Please check to see if you have booked the leave as ‘Confirmed’ rather than ‘Planned’. If you have
booked the leave as ‘Planned’ then you will need to update your Annual Leave record to ‘Confirmed’
once the leave has been taken.
Q. The dates showing in my Absence calendar are wrong?
A. First, click on preferences at the top right of the ESS/MSS’ front/home page:
and check that your territory is set as United States.
If it is already set as United States then please contact HR
Q. ESR is incorrectly showing Sunday as being a Bank Holiday
A. You will need to check your preferences, please see the answer above.
Q. My Manager has not approved my leave. How will this now be approved?
A. The notification to approve will ‘time-out’ and will then be forwarded onto the next Manager in
the hierarchy to approve.
Q. On my Absence Summary I have leave showing as ‘Work in Progress’. What does this mean?
A. First check if you have booked leave but have ‘Saved for Later’. If this is the case, you will need to
go back and submit for your Line Manager to approve. If you have not ‘Saved for Later’ then your
Line Manager has yet to approve the Leave.
Q. I have two balances showing on my entitlement why is this?
A. You should only see Annual Leave Hours 1 NHS. If you have anything other than this, please
contact the HR Team. [email protected] is
Q. I’ve booked two weeks leave but my entitlement is now wrong, why is this?
A. You are required to book each week separately or else the system will include the weekends as
part of your Annual Leave request. Likewise, you should not book any other non-working day with
the exception of bank holidays.
Q. How do I book a part day Annual Leave?
A. If you are recording a part day annual leave, or you work part time, do not input the start and end
time just put the hours as a decimal in the hours box, eg ½ day is 3.75 hours. To convert minutes to
decimals you need to divide by 60 to get the decimal equivalent, eg 12 minutes is 0.2 hours (12/60 =
1/5 = 0.2).
You will also need to record all Bank Holidays not worked (when they fall on an employee’s normal
working day). They should be entered as a day’s Annual Leave for all AfC staff and your Annual Leave
allocation will reflect this.
Q. I/my team member works part time hours and the hours that are to be taken as leave cannot
be changed.
A. The leave type needs to be update from “Planned” to “Confirmed”
Q. My Manager/department in ESR is showing incorrectly, who can I ask to amend this?
A. The HR Team, [email protected], will be able to correct this, and your manager to
confirm the changes that need to be made.
Q. Is there any particular order for entering annual leave and how far in advance can I enter it?
A. Annual Leave can be entered in any order so entering dates in advance will not prevent you from
entering further dates if required.
Please not that it is recommended that you do not enter annual leave periods too far in advance
because if your circumstances change and you no longer wish to take the leave, it can only be
deleted by the Workforce Team.
Q. I have two jobs how do I book leave?
A. For the Primary Job select Annual Leave Hours 1. For the 2nd Job select Annual Leave Hours 2.
Q. Can I record TOIL on MSS?
A. Unfortunately, it is not possible to record TOIL on MSS
Q. My/my team member’s Annual Leave balance does not reduce when annual leave has been
taken
A. The leave type needs to be updated from “Planned” to “Confirmed”
Manager FAQs
General
Q. I have heard that MSS is not being used for everything. So, what documents will HR/Payroll
accept now and what do I have to do via MSS?
A. Basically, employees will have the ability to access and amend:
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Information
Bank Details
Online Payslips
Employment, Religious Belief and Sexual Orientation Information
Absence calendar
Managers (for employees connected to them in the hierarchy) can view/update:
• a list of all employees
• Absence Management and information
• Contractual Changes – hours, position, grade
• Approve requests and changes made by employees
• Update Competency Profile, qualification and training records
• Conduct online Development Reviews
There is another option called Supervisor Self Service but please contact HR for more details.
Sickness
Q. I have just started entering my team’s sickness and absence via MSS – when can I stop
recording this on pay cards?
A. As the previous paper process introduced a delay of at least six weeks before sickness was
entered onto ESR, we advise that you continue sending in this data on PayCards as well for around at
least 2 months. You don’t need to record the reasons, only the dates
Annual Leave
Q. When annual leave has been recorded, there is an option to share it to outlook but this
doesn’t appear to work.
A. IT confirmed that this will only work with Windows 7 or higher
Q. What is the difference between Planned and Confirmed?
A. Planned allows one to “pencil-in” annual leave until you are sure that you want to request it and
nobody else will see it. Although this can be useful, most people generally only record annual leave
which they want to request and so we advise that you should always mark leave as Confirmed unless
you definitely want to mark it as Planned.
Q. A team member is due to leave and they will leave before their annual leave finishes – what
should I do?
A. You will need to close their sickness episode or their annual leave before you terminate them
because these changes cannot be made afterwards.
Sickness
Q. How should one record sickness which extends over a week?
A. Sickness must be recorded in terms of calendar days, ie non-working days and calendar days
should be recorded and the date that the person is available to return to work is recorded as the day
when the sickness ends.
Q. It has gone past payroll cut-off and I need to check the details of a sickness absence.
A. Please contact payroll to get their advice. Otherwise, if you make the change and they are in the
middle of a draft payroll run then the sickness absence could be incorrectly processed.
Annual leave recorded on ESR and then needs to be updated after it has been taken
HR takes out old absence and makes correction.
Q. A team member is due to leave and they are off sick – what should I do?
A. You will need to close their sickness episode or their annual leave before you terminate them
because these changes cannot be made afterwards.
Termination
Q. When I am terminating somebody, only the date of termination is mandatory – do I need to fill
in anything else?
A. Yes please, if payroll receives a fully completed form then they will be able to ensure that the
employee is correctly paid when they leave.
Professional Membership
Q. What warnings do managers and employees get about end of professional registration?
A. 4 months, 1 month and short notice
New Hires
Q. I have a new team member who is being promoted and should not go to the bottom of the
new band – how do I ensure this does not happen
A. You need to email payroll explaining that the person should not move onto the bottom of the
payband and also (for audit requirements) why this needs to be done.
Q. Somebody has just joined my team and although they were promoted, they are now getting
paid less than they were in their previous band.
A. You need to email payroll explaining that the person should not move onto the bottom of the
payband and also (for audit requirements) why this needs to be done.