Glossary
TOIL (Time Off In Lieu)
TOIL — time off in lieu — is paid time off granted instead of overtime pay for extra hours worked. It is lawful in the UK when agreed in the contract or a written policy, provided average pay never falls below National Minimum Wage and working-time limits are still respected.
TOIL creates a liability: banked hours the business owes. Good policies set an accrual rate (commonly hour-for-hour), require manager approval for the extra hours, impose a use-by window (1–3 months is typical), cap bankable balances, and pay out untaken TOIL when someone leaves.
Every TOIL dispute is really a records dispute — the balance must be visible to employee and manager alike, updated when earned and spent. That is why TOIL tracking belongs in the same system as rotas and timesheets, not in a notebook.
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