I understand the 38 day thing. The problem is that flt cdrs/line managers have effectively been removed from the JPA process (or have I missed something?). I do wonder how much leave is being taken without authority because people don't get round to filling in JPA (or don't have access).
The thing I saw the other day was about losing a proportion of the 15-day carry-over if you had failed to take enough of it at the point of posting. Theory goes that if posted after 6 months, you should have taken 7-8 days of the carry-over from the previous year, or you lose it on posting, but I don't see how it's measured (as distinct from ILA) and my HR people can't tell me.
What is certain is that you will never get leave back, and there is absolutely no possibility of it being 'bought back' from you, so take it whenever you can or expect to lose it.
I do wonder, for shift workers and those who work irregular patterns in particular, whether the whole thing isn't the wrong way round. The RAF could tell you which days it wants you to work up to a maximum of 223, and everything else is yours! Just how much stuff wouldn't get done?
STH