TimeTally automatically accrues holiday leave based on hours worked or contract start date — keeping you compliant with UK Working Time Regulations without any manual calculation. From zero-hours workers to salaried staff, every balance is accurate.
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Whether your employees are on fixed salaries or variable hours, TimeTally has the right accrual method built in.
Ideal for zero-hours, casual, and variable-hours workers. TimeTally applies the 12.07% rate to every hour worked, automatically updating balances as time tracking are approved. This approach also integrates with TOIL tracking for workers who bank overtime as leave.
For fixed-hours and salaried employees, TimeTally calculates entitlement from contracted hours and start date, prorating mid-year starters and leavers automatically.
When requesting leave, employees see their current accrued balance, how many days the request will use, and what will remain. No back-and-forth with HR to find out if they can take a day off.
Live accrued balance shown during request
Employees see exactly how much they've accrued before submitting — no surprises
Remaining balance shown upfront
The request form shows balance after approval — employees can plan their year confidently
Manager sees full accrual history
Full context in the approval view — accrual rate, balance, and deduction before approving
Managers get a full team calendar view showing accrued leave, approved time off, and remaining balances for every employee — all in one place, updated in real time.
See accrued leave and upcoming time off for every employee without opening individual records
Balances update the moment a timesheet is approved or leave is taken — always current
Spot employees with large balances before year end and proactively manage carryover
Set up different accrual rules for different employee groups. Long-service bonuses, enhanced entitlement for managers, separate sick leave accrual — configure it once and let TimeTally handle it automatically. Part-time employees and absence tracking are fully integrated in the same system.
Track statutory and contractual holiday entitlement, carry-over, and pro-rata calculations.
Record self-certified and doctor-certified sick leave. Track Bradford Factor scores automatically.
Accrue, request, and track time off in lieu from overtime and on-call callouts.
Create custom leave types for compassionate, bereavement, and other special circumstances.
Track maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave alongside regular annual leave.
Any custom leave type you need — configured with its own rules, entitlement, and approval flow.
One price. Every feature. No surprises.
UK leave accrual law is more detailed than most managers realise. Here's what the rules actually say.
The 12.07% figure comes from dividing the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks' leave by the remaining 46.4 working weeks in the year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%). For every hour a variable-hours or zero-hours worker works, they accrue 12 minutes and 4 seconds of paid leave. It's the legally correct method for workers without fixed hours and is the default in TimeTally's hours-based accrual mode.
Under UK law, employees continue to accrue statutory holiday entitlement during sick leave — including long-term absence. Following the Stringer v HMRC ruling, employers cannot simply cancel leave that built up during illness. If an employee could not take their leave because of sickness, they have the right to carry it into the next leave year. Automated accrual tracking prevents disputes by keeping an accurate running total regardless of absence.
Annual leave entitlement — including any contractual leave above the statutory minimum — continues to accrue in full during maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave. Employees on long maternity leave often return with a significant accrued balance. TimeTally tracks this automatically so neither employer nor employee is caught out when the return date arrives.
Part-time employees are entitled to the same proportion of leave as full-time staff. A worker doing 3 days per week gets 60% of the full-time entitlement: 3 ÷ 5 × 28 days = 16.8 days. Rounding must always be up, never down. TimeTally calculates pro-rata entitlements automatically based on each employee's contracted hours, eliminating the risk of under-entitlement claims.
Employers can choose whether leave resets on a fixed date (e.g. 1 January or 1 April) or on each employee's individual start date anniversary. Fixed leave years are simpler to administer across a team. Anniversary years give every employee a full year regardless of when they joined but create staggered reset dates. TimeTally supports both — and handles pro-rata entitlement in the first partial leave year automatically.
UK employers can legally operate a use-it-or-lose-it policy for the 1.6 weeks of additional leave (above the 4-week EU entitlement) — but only if employees were given a genuine opportunity to take it. Carryover of the core 4 weeks is only permitted where leave could not be taken due to sickness or family leave. TimeTally lets you configure a carryover cap per leave type and sends automatic reminders before the year end.
Holiday entitlement starts accruing from day one of employment — there is no legal provision to withhold it during a probation period. An employee who leaves in month two is entitled to a payout of any accrued leave they haven't taken. Employers can restrict when leave is actually taken (with proper notice), but the entitlement itself cannot be deferred. TimeTally reflects the correct accrual from the first day regardless of probation status.
When a part-time or mid-year entitlement calculation produces a fraction of a day, rounding must always be upward — never downward. Rounding down creates an under-entitlement, which is a breach of the Working Time Regulations 1998. The statutory minimum is 28 days (including bank holidays) for a full-time employee. TimeTally always rounds up and displays balances in days or hours, whichever matches your team's working pattern.
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Whether you run a hospitality business, a construction company, or a healthcare organisation, TimeTally adapts to how your industry manages leave.
TimeTally calculates leave accrual based on hours worked (ideal for zero-hours and variable-hours contracts) or on a standard annual entitlement prorated from start date. The accrual rate updates automatically as employees log hours, ensuring the balance shown is always accurate.
Yes. TimeTally uses the 12.07% accrual method for workers without fixed hours — the standard approach under UK WTR — giving 5.6 weeks' holiday per year based on hours worked. For fixed-hours employees, entitlement is calculated from their contracted hours and start date.
Employees can see their current accrued balance, how much they've used, and what's remaining at any point in the leave year. Managers see the same data plus a team overview with all balances and upcoming leave.
You can configure a carryover limit per leave type — for example, allow up to 5 days to roll over. Unused leave above the limit is forfeited at year end, or you can set it to pay out. TimeTally handles the transition automatically at your configured leave year end date.
Yes. Each employee can have their own leave type with its own accrual rule. This lets you offer enhanced entitlement to senior staff, a different rate for part-timers, or separate accrual for long-service leave — all managed in one system.
