Annual Leave Accrual For Zero Hours Contracts

Set up

Default Settings

Two system settings are required for the accrue leave feature.

Accrual Percentage

The percentage of hours that should be accrued can be defined by opening Configuration > Default Settings > Defaults.

Pay Period End

In the same Default Settings > Defaults screen, you can define your organisations pay period end.

This date defines the pay period for all leave to be accrued. Setting this date in the default settings screen will apply this to all staff members.

You can change the pay period end for individual members of staff if required, both individually and in bulk. 

To change this for one individual...

1. Edit their personnel record
2. Open Absences > Leave Settings
3. Change their pay period end and save their record.

To change this for several people...

1. Open Personnel > Personnel Manager
2. Click Bulk Update Settings
3. Select the Rota Group and/or team you want to amend
4. Check Pay Period End, amend the date and click Save.

Recalculating all previous accrued leave

Once the relevant default settings have been enabled, there is the option for all leave entitlement from 01 April 2024 to be recalculated based on the GOV.UK Holiday Pay & Entitlement Reforms.

Contracted Hours

Leave+

If you are a Leave+ customer, you can find and configure contracted hours for your staff by editing their personnel record and opening Rota > Rota Settings.

People+

If you are a People+ customer, you can find and configure contracted hours for your staff by editing their personnel record and opening Posts > Contracts.

How is accrued leave calculated?

There are three criteria for leave to be accrued automatically...

1. The person working the shift must be configured with 0 contracted hours.
   1. For customers with People+, the post associated with the shift must be configured with 0 contracted hours.
2. The shift must be approved. Learn more about payroll approval.
3. The current pay period must have ended.

Once all three criteria are met, your accrued % for all hours within that pay period will automatically be assigned to each individual's leave allowance.

Example

• My pay period end is set to 25th. This means that my pay period is 26th to 25th.
• In a month, I have worked 248 hours of shifts. 216 of which have been approved.
• On 26th, my leave allowance will automatically update. Because 216 hours have been approved, I will accrue (216 /100) x 12.07% = 26.07 hours
• Aligned with the GOV.UK guidelines, any accrual of less than 30 minutes is rounded down, and anything above 30 minutes, rounded up.
• My final total accrual for that pay period is 26 hours.
• Once a shift in a previous pay period is approved, the amount accrued for that period is instantly recalculated & allowance updated to reflect this.

Changes, handling of a negative balance & audits

Any changes to the shift duration or approval status will cause a recalculation of the leave being accrued.

💡 Changes: Example 1 - Something is amended, causing the shift to unapprove

• Changes to an approved, unlocked shift will result in it being unapproved. This could be adding or changing the confirmed person, start/finish times, shift group, zone or other shift details.
• This will remove the shift from the accrual calculation for that pay period.
• To ensure this is included again, with the changes made, the shift must be re-approved.

💡 Negative Balances: Example 2 - Shift is unapproved, resulting in a negative balance

• A staff member has accrued 16 hours of leave so far and has taken 15 hours of booked/approved leave.
• Some shifts that were previously approved are amended, causing them to become unapproved.
• If the amount of leave accrued from the total duration of the shifts that have changed to unapproved would push someone into a negative allowance, a warning message will display.
• This will correct for the individual's allowance, once the shifts are re-approved, or they continue to work more approved shifts to increase their balance.

Audits

When a shift change would reduce the amount of leave accrued, alongside the above warning message, this is also recorded in the shift audit.