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How to transition to the UK 2024 accrual method
How to transition to the UK 2024 accrual method

Follow this detailed process for changing over leave policies to the UK 2024 accrual method.

Maud avatar
Written by Maud
Updated over a month ago

🟡 This feature is limited to the UK. It is to be used for part-year or irregular-hours employees.

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⏱️ Set up time: 10 min. Reading time: 10 min.


  • If you haven’t been using any accrual method yet and wish to set up your holiday accounts based on the new accruing method, go to How to set up the UK 2024 accrual method.

  • For holiday years that began before April 1, 2024, you may continue with your current accrual method, as the new rules apply only to holiday years starting on or after April 1, 2024.

  • If you are unsure of what leave employment terms are correct for your business or your employees, we encourage you to visit gov.uk or seek legal advice.


You may be here because you're facing one of the following situations: ⬇️

Situation 1

  • You’re using the old 12.07% accrual method.

  • Your holiday year started on or after 1 April, 2024.

  • You wish to transition to the new 12.07% accrual method. Find the steps here.

Situation 2

  • You’re using the Calendar Week method.

  • Your holiday year started on or after 1 April, 2024.

  • You wish to transition to the new 12.07% accrual method. Find the steps here.

Situation 3


Situation 1 - Transition from the old 12.07% accrual method to the new accrual method

To transition from an old percentage method (like 12.07% with the 12-weeks reference period) to the new accrual method, follow these steps:

  • Go to Settings > Leave & Overtime > Policies and edit the old leave policy.

  • Rename it and change its Accruing rate to “Percentage (UK 2024 reform)”.

  • Accrual with this method is only in hours.

  • Select a monetary payout option and choose the shift types that are used to calculate the accrued balance and leave pay. Annual leave and statutory leave (sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, etc.) are not to be selected.

  • Update the employees’ Pay periods in the Employment tab in their profiles.

  • Go to Settings > Leave & Overtime > Accrual calculation setup and follow these steps:

  • Define a start date for your organisation’s recurring Pay periods. (1.)

  • Select the leave-related Shift types that should count towards the accrual of hours. (2.)

  • Adjust the monetary payroll costs of the leave requests booked from the changeover date. To do this, follow these steps:

    • Go to Schedule > Leave requests (or Absence requests).

    • Search for the leave requests you need to edit.

    • Open them and deselect the day(s) of the requests and select them again.

    • Click Save.

Learn more about the new accrual method and how the calculations work in How to set up the UK 2024 accrual method.


Situation 2 - Transition from the Calendar Week method to the new holiday accrual method

Note: We recommend you transition to this new method at the start of the new holiday year, when the first account is about to expire. That way, you'll only need to transfer the requests already made for the coming year and you'll keep consistent holiday data.

To transition from the Calendar Week method to the new accrual method, follow these steps:

  1. Retire your old Policies

  2. Create the new leave policy

  3. Create new leave accounts based on the new leave policy

  4. Transfer the approved or pending leave requests for the period after the changeover date to the new accounts

  5. Set an expiration date for the old leave accounts

  6. Delete the accounts that were auto-created with the old policy


Step 1: Retire your old holiday policies

Go to Settings > Leave & Overtime > Policies, edit the relevant policies and do the following:

  • Turn off automatic renewal if it’s enabled.

  • Turn off automatic account creation if it’s enabled.

  • Optionally, rename the policy to indicate that it’s retired.


Step 2: Create the new leave policy

After you’ve created the new leave policy, there’s a couple of things you’ll need to do:

  • Assign the correct Pay periods to the employees who will have the new accounts.

  • Select the statutory leave (family-related leave and time off sick) shift types that should count towards the accrual of hours.

Learn more about how to create UK reform 12.07% leave policy, Pay periods and shift types for accrual related to statutory leave, go to Create a leave policy with the new accrual method [anchor link to this part].


Step 3: Create new leave accounts based on the new leave policy

Note: If the account is limited to specific employee types, please remember to update the employee’s employee type in their Employment tab.

Go to Schedule > Leave accounts (or Absence accounts) > Click on Manage leave > Create leave accounts. See How to apply leave accounts to your employees for further details.


Step 4: Transfer the approved and pending leave requests for the period after the changeover date to the new accounts

⬆️ Edit the employee’s profile and follow these steps:

  • Go to the Leave overview (or Absence) tab.

  • Change the start date of the period to the changeover date.

  • Open each pending holiday request and approved holiday requests that is linked to the account you want to transition from

  • Click on the holiday days requested to change the cost to 0

  • Click on the holiday days you wish to request from the new account and enter the daily cost

  • Click on “Approve” (for the pending requests) or “Save” (for the approved requests).

Alternatively, you can navigate to Schedule > Leave (or Absence) requests > Change the start date of the period to the changeover date > Change the filter to “Approved” or “Pending” and follow the steps above to transfer the cost.


Step 5: Set an expiration date for the old leave accounts

To maintain the data associated with the old holiday account, it is necessary to set an expiration date, typically set as the day before the changeover date. To set an expiration date, follow these steps:

  • Go to Schedule > Leave accounts.

  • Adjust the period to match the validity dates of the old accounts, choose the account status “Active” and in the Filters, choose the name of the accounts you wish to expire.

  • Edit each holiday account by adjusting the end date for both the accruing and spending periods to be the day before the changeover date.


Step 6 (optional): Delete the accounts that were auto-created with the old policy

You'll need to delete the leave accounts that were auto-created for the upcoming year if you had the option "Renew automatically" enabled. To delete the old auto-created account, follow the steps below:

  • Go to Schedule > Leave accounts.

  • Adjust the Period filter to the first day of your next leave year (e.g. 1 April 2024).

  • In the account row, select the delete icon on the far right.

Note: You must first deny all pending and approved requests before deleting the accounts.


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