Work hours & pay
Time off in lieu calculator
Enter the extra hours you have worked and any lieu time taken to see your remaining TOIL balance in hours and days.
TOIL is given at plain time (hour for hour) unless your policy says otherwise; a day equals your standard shift length.
How a TOIL balance is built
Time off in lieu, or TOIL, is paid time off you earn by working beyond your normal hours instead of being paid overtime. The balance is the plain sum: TOIL balance = extra hours worked − lieu time already taken. To turn hours into days, divide the balance by the length of your standard working day. Rounding down gives the number of full days you can book off.
Suppose you have worked 10 extra hours, your standard day is 8 hours, and you have taken none of it back yet. Your balance is 10 hours, which is 1.25 days, or one full day off with 2 hours left over. If your working day were 7.5 hours instead, the same 10 hours would be 1.33 days. The day length you enter changes how many days the hours are worth, so use your real contracted shift, not a round number.
| Extra hours | Standard day | Days earned | Full days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 8 h | 0.50 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 h | 1.00 | 1 |
| 12 | 8 h | 1.50 | 1 |
| 15 | 7.5 h | 2.00 | 2 |
Using TOIL well
Most employers grant TOIL at plain time, meaning one extra hour worked earns one hour off. Some enhance it, matching an overtime multiplier, but that is a policy choice rather than a legal rule in most places, so check your contract before assuming time and a half. The main risk with TOIL is that it never gets taken: balances that drift upward are a sign of chronic overwork, not a perk.
Agree an expiry window with your manager, often one to three months, so lieu time is booked while the reason for it is fresh and the staffing gap it filled has passed. Record the date each block of extra time was worked, because many policies void TOIL that is not used within the window. If your balance here is negative, you have booked more lieu time than you have banked, which usually means an entry is missing or a day was taken against hours not yet worked.
Frequently asked questions
What is time off in lieu (TOIL)?
TOIL is paid time off granted in exchange for extra hours worked, instead of overtime pay. An hour of extra work usually earns an hour of time off, which you book like annual leave.
How do I convert TOIL hours into days off?
Divide your TOIL hours by the length of your standard working day. With an 8-hour day, 8 hours of TOIL is one day off and 12 hours is one day plus half a day.
Does TOIL expire?
Often yes. Many policies require lieu time to be used within one to three months of being earned, after which it is lost, so check your contract and book it promptly.