Frequently Asked questions - Canadian Forces Leave Policy Manual

The amendments to Queen’s Regulations and Orders Chapter 16, along with articles 9.09 and 9.10 of the Queen’s Regulations and Orders, will introduce several key changes:

• Earlier access to more annual leave: Regular Force members and Reserve Force members on Class “B” or “C” service will now earn 30 days of annual leave after 25 years of service instead of after 28 years. Effective April 1, 2025, members with less than 28 but more than 25 years of service will become entitled to 30 annual leave days. There is no retroactivity. 
• Increased flexibility and eligibility: Changes will provide members and their chain of command with greater flexibility when approving certain leave types, expanded eligibility and enhanced management of the leave policy.
• Optimized maternity and parental leave: The updates will align maternity and parental leave entitlements with the Employment Insurance Act and the Act Respecting Parental Insurance, which will allow eligible members to extend the amount of parental leave beyond the current 35 weeks of entitlement in Queen’s Regulations and Orders 16.27. This will remove the necessity for members to take Leave Without Pay and Allowances – Personal Reasons for Parental Purposes when taking extended parental leave.
• Harmonization of leave entitlement across the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF): Reserve Force members on Class “B” or “C” service will now earn annual leave in the same manner as Regular Force members (i.e., 20, 25, 30 days of annual leave).
• Recognition of prior service: Broader consideration of service in other armed forces or civilian experience will be given when calculating leave credits at the time of enrolment.
• Flexibility in leave delegation: There will be greater flexibility for the delegation of different types of leave, such as short leave and compassionate leave.

Both the Canadian Forces Leave Policy Manual (CFLPM) and Compensation and Benefits Instruction (CBI) 205.461 - Maternity and Parental Allowance will be updated to reflect these changes and will also come into effect on April 1, 2025.

The CFLPM has undergone a full review to align with the updated Queen’s Regulations and Orders amendments.

Additionally, CBI 205.461 has been revised to include the new maternity and parental leave rules and will use plain language for better understanding and administration. A Gender-Based Analysis (Plus) review was also completed for both policies.

People are at the core of everything the CAF does to deliver its mandate. The leave policy is one of many CAF Compensation and Benefits policies that are regularly reviewed by the CAF’s Chief of Military Personnel. This work is meant to maintain a policy basis that is up-to-date, compassionate and responsive for CAF members and their families while meeting the evolving needs of military operations. It is also a larger effort to provide fair and relevant Compensation and Benefits policies to help attract and retain the highest standard of personnel required for the challenges of service in the profession of arms. 

These regulations will come into force on April 1, 2025. The period between the release of communications products and the implementation date will allow members to prepare for the upcoming changes.

These updates will also apply to Reserve Force members. The changes aim to harmonize leave policies for both Regular Force and Reserve Force members.

Effective April 1, 2025, on enrolment, Regular Force and Reserve Force members will have their leave service date adjusted to recognize any qualifying service including:

• previous service in eligible permanent armed forces of His Majesty;
• previous active service (as defined in section 31 of the National Defence Act) in eligible armed forces of His Majesty; and
• a period as established in orders or instructions by the Chief of the Defence Staff for academic or other special qualifications considered by the Directorate of Pay and Policy Development to be of military value.

Amendments to the Queen’s Regulations and Orders Chapter 16 along with articles 9.09 and 9.10 of the Queen’s Regulations and Orders, the Canadian Forces Leave Policy Manual and Compensation and Benefits Instruction 205.461 will be effective April 1, 2025. Entitlement will not be backdated.

While the way that a Reserve Force member’s annual leave is calculated is being amended, entitlement to annual leave for Reserve Force members will remain the same. There is only an entitlement to leave during a period of service of at least 30 consecutive days. Members with any periods of service of less than 30 consecutive days will continue to be entitled to Premium in Lieu of Leave.

There have been no changes to when a Reserve Force member becomes entitled to annual leave. What has changed is how annual leave is earned. While these changes will generally have positive effects for Reserve Force members on Class “B” or “C” service, some members, particularly those with less than five years of Reserve Force service, will see their maximum annual leave entitlement decrease from 24 to 20 days in a leave year.

The CAF acknowledges that members in this category who commenced a period of service prior to April 1, 2025 will have done so with the understanding that they were entitled to two days per month of annual leave (rather than the 20 days maximum per year which is the new regulation). To honour the agreed allotment of annual leave, Commanding Officers will grant members in this category up to four days of special leave in each leave year for the duration of their current period of service so that the member receives the same amount of leave they were entitled to before April 1, 2025. Reserve Force members with less than five years of service who commence a new period of service after March 31, 2025, will be subject to the new regulations.

The Leave Service Date Calculator Form will be updated so that members clearly understand their leave entitlements. Additionally, the Canadian Forces’ Form CF 899 (Reserve Force – Route Letter and Attendance Report – Class "B") will be updated to include the member’s leave entitlement.

Regular Force members and Reserve Force members will earn annual leave as follows:

• Members with less than five years of service will earn 1.67 days of leave per month;
• Members with more than five years but less than 25 years of service will earn 2.08 days of leave per month; and
• Members with 25 or more years of service will earn 2.5 days of leave per month.

These amounts will be rounded to the nearest whole number (table below provided as an example):

The maximum amount of leave that a member can accumulate in any given year corresponds to the maximum amount of leave they earn in a year. The accumulation of leave can be approved by any officer designated by the Chief of the Defence Staff when reasonable circumstances, such as imperative military requirements, prevent a member from expending their annual leave during the year. There is no change as to who can approve the accumulation of leave, and this is set out in the Canadian Forces Leave Policy Manual.

The maximum amount of leave that a member can accumulate during their career corresponds to the maximum amount of annual leave they are granted in a year. This means that the maximum amount of annual leave that a member with 25 years of service or more can accumulate is 30 days.

Effective April 1, 2025, Commanding Officers will have the option to delegate their authority for the granting of short leave. Additionally, the authority to approve certain types of compassionate leave has been extended for additional flexibility.

Aligning the regulations with the Employment Insurance Act and the Act Respecting Parental Insurance will allow CAF members to access maternity and/or parental leave under the appropriate leave codes, removing the existing implications on their pension and Canadian Forces’ Decoration calculations. This will permit members to extend parental leave beyond the current 37 weeks of entitlement and eliminate the need for members to take Leave without Pay and Allowances – Personal Reasons for Parental Purposes when electing to take the extended parental leave option.

Previously, the deeming period (or grace period or extension) was granted in weeks (up to two weeks) and will now be granted in days (up to 14 days). This will allow members to use their deemed days to cover any waiting period under Employment Insurance or if they start their maternity or parental leave period earlier (i.e., mid-week), prior to their Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance Plan benefit period starting on the Sunday.

The deeming period will be applied in the following manner:

1. up to 14 days per member; or
2. up to 14 days per service couple.

Queen’s Regulations and Orders Chapter 16 has also been updated to allow the approving authority to grant maternity or parental leave to account for the deeming period.

Effective April 1, 2025, the rate of “other allowances” that are included in the maternity and parental allowance calculation may be adjusted to reflect rate adjustments or entitlement. Previously, the rate of these allowances was set at the rate the member was receiving the day before starting maternity and parental allowance.

The Queen’s Regulations and Orders 16.25 – Leave Without Pay and Allowances – Personal Reasons for Parental Purposes will no longer be listed under Compensation and Benefits Instruction 205.461. Members eligible to take extended parental leave will now be able to take the extended period under Queen’s Regulations and Orders 16.27 (Parental Leave).

The policy formerly stated that members had to serve 26 weeks before starting their applicable leave period. Effective April 1, 2025, members will be entitled to maternity and parental allowance if they have accumulated sufficient insurable hours based solely on their CAF service under their applicable Employment Insurance benefit prior to starting leave.

A service couple may only share two weeks (old rules) or 14 days (new rules). In this scenario, one week, or seven days have already been used by your service spouse and you are only entitled to the remaining seven days.

This scenario falls under the old rules. The extension of maternity or parental allowance is an extension of the originally approved benefit period and the rules which were in effect on the start date must be used until the end of the benefit period.