Time off in lieu (TOIL) explained

What TOIL is, and what it is not

Someone stays late, or covers a shift that was not on their week. Instead of extra money, you agree they will take those hours as paid time off on a quieter day. That agreement is TOIL. The letters stand for time off in lieu, meaning in place of the payment you might otherwise have made.

Holiday is different. Statutory holiday is 5.6 weeks, and it is the worker’s entitlement whether or not they worked extra hours. TOIL does not come out of that 5.6 weeks, and booking a holiday day does not cancel an overtime agreement unless you have said, in writing, that the same hour is doing both jobs. Keep the two balances apart.

There is no general right in UK law to be given TOIL, and no general right to be paid a higher rate for overtime. Both depend on the contract, a workforce agreement, or the custom you have already set. If you have always given the time back, stopping without a conversation is a contract problem, not a rota tidy-up.

Minimum wage still applies

The hours that count as work still have to meet the National Minimum Wage for the pay reference period. Giving the hours back next month does not repair a week that was paid below the rate. If the extra hours are unpaid and the time off never arrives, you have not paid for the work.

A clear rule helps. Say when TOIL can be earned, who agrees it, how long it can sit unused, and what happens if the person leaves with a balance. “We’ll see” is how a balance becomes an argument. Write the number of hours, the day they were worked, and the day they will be taken.

How to track it next to the rota

Shiftbrook has a leave type for TOIL. A person requests the time, a manager approves or declines, and the hours sit on the same week as the rota so you do not also publish them as working. The product does not calculate a wage for those hours, and it does not convert overtime into a rate. You keep the agreement. The grid shows the day off.

If the extra work was a shift, put that shift on the rota when it was worked, and put the TOIL on the day they are away. The timesheet then has the hours that were worked. Approved hours download as a CSV. Sending them to Xero Payroll UK is not available until that connection works end to end.