Time off in lieu: the rules for UK employers.

Time off in lieu, or TOIL, is time off given instead of pay for extra hours worked. Someone stays two hours late to finish a stocktake, and takes two hours off another day rather than being paid overtime.

It suits work that comes in peaks: the hours even out over a few weeks, and nobody’s pay changes.

• There’s no legal right to TOIL, or to overtime pay. Employers don’t have to pay for overtime at all.
• The terms are agreed. GOV.UK says the employer and worker agree the terms, such as when the time can be taken. So it’s your contract or policy that decides how TOIL works.
• Staff only have to work overtime if their contract says so.

• The minimum wage. Someone’s average pay for all the hours they work must not fall below the National Minimum Wage. Extra hours taken back as time off rather than pay can bring a low earner’s average under it, so check the hours of anyone near the rate.
• The 48-hour week. Overtime counts as working time, so staff can’t usually be made to work more than 48 hours a week on average, however it is repaid, unless they have opted out in writing. Our working time guide covers rest and the average.
• Treat people alike. Offering overtime, or TOIL, to some staff and not others must not discriminate.

• Who it is for, and whether extra hours are repaid as time off, as pay, or as the person chooses.
• Approval: whether extra hours must be agreed in advance to count.
• The rate: an hour for an hour, or more, such as an hour and a half for a Sunday.
• When it must be used, such as within three months, and what happens to hours not used in time.
• Booking it: how it is asked for, the smallest amount that can be taken, and whether anyone can take TOIL before they have earned it.
• Leaving: whether TOIL not taken is paid when someone leaves.

Most disputes about TOIL are about the balance: hours someone remembers working that nobody recorded, or hours that lapsed without anyone saying. Record each claim with the day worked and who approved it, show people their balance, and tell them before hours expire.