Work hours & pay
Flextime balance calculator
Enter your contracted hours and the hours you actually worked to see your flexitime balance and whether you are ahead or behind.
Use the same period for both figures — a week, a month or a settlement window — and count only working hours, not breaks.
How a flexitime balance works
A flexitime (or flexi) scheme lets you vary your hours day to day as long as you hit a contracted total over a settlement period. The balance is the difference between the two: flex balance = hours actually worked − contracted hours. A positive number means credit you can take as flexi leave; a negative number is a shortfall to make up before the period closes. Dividing by your standard day length turns the balance into half-days and full days.
Say your week is contracted at 37.5 hours and you actually worked 40. Your balance is +2.5 hours. With a 7.5-hour standard day, that is +0.33 of a day, or two-thirds of a half-day session. Work 35 hours against the same 37.5 and the balance is −2.5 hours, which you would need to recover later in the period. Only working time counts, so unpaid lunch breaks should already be excluded from both numbers.
| Contracted | Worked | Balance | Half-days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37.5 h | 42.5 h | +5.0 h | +1.3 |
| 37.5 h | 40.0 h | +2.5 h | +0.7 |
| 37.5 h | 37.5 h | 0.0 h | 0.0 |
| 37.5 h | 33.0 h | −4.5 h | −1.2 |
Reading your balance
Flexitime is different from overtime: the hours are not paid extra, they are banked and taken back as time off, usually up to a cap on how much credit or debit you can carry into the next period. A common limit is one or two days of credit, so a balance well above that may be lost if you do not book flexi leave. A persistent debit, on the other hand, means you are regularly falling short and should adjust your daily hours rather than scramble at the end of the window.
Treat the half-day figure as the practical unit, because most schemes let you take flexi leave in half-day or full-day blocks rather than loose minutes. Reset the calculation at the start of each settlement period and keep a running log of daily hours; a short daily note is far more accurate than reconstructing a month from memory, and it protects you if the recorded total is ever queried.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between flexitime and overtime?
Flexitime hours are banked and taken back as time off within a settlement period, with no extra pay. Overtime is paid, often at a premium, and is not usually recovered as leave.
How many flexi hours can I carry over?
Most schemes cap the credit or debit you can carry into the next period, commonly one to two days. Anything above the cap is often forfeited, so book flexi leave before the window closes.
Do breaks count towards my flexitime?
No. Only actual working time counts, so unpaid lunch and rest breaks should be excluded from the hours-worked figure before you compare it with your contracted total.