How to set up leave allowances

A worker's leave allowance is what everything else in the Leaves module measures against. Set it correctly at the start of the leave year and balances look after themselves; leave it at zero and the worker cannot request paid leave, as any request would exceed their balance.

Allowances are set per worker, per leave year, for each paid leave type. The platform then works out how much has been used and how much remains as leave is approved or cancelled.

Before you begin

Leave Management is available on Agency Accelerator Pro.
You will need a user access level that allows you to manage leave allowances.
Know the entitlement for each worker before you start, and whether you record it in days or in hours.
Only paid leave types can have an allowance. Unpaid leave types have no balance to draw from.

Finding the screen

Select Leaves in the left hand menu.
Choose Leave Allowance.

The leave plan you are viewing is shown at the top, for example 2026 Leave Plan. Use the arrows either side to move to the previous or following year.

To find workers, use Search by Employee ID/Name, or the status dropdown, which starts on All. You can tick more than one status at a time, including Active, Approved, Profile Complete, Submitted For Review, Resubmitted For Review, Suspended, Profile Denied, Deactivated and Off-boarded.

Use the page numbers at the bottom to move through your workforce, and the dropdown beside Showing 10 of 52 results to change how many workers show on each page.

Reading the table

Each row is one worker, showing their name, reference number and profile status, such as Approved, Active or Draft.

The Unit column sets whether that worker's allowance is measured in Days or Hours. Everything to the right is grouped by leave type, General (Paid), Sick Leave (Paid) and Suspension (Paid), and each group has three columns:

Total Allowance: the entitlement for the year, which you set
Utilised: how much has been taken, calculated for you
Current Balance: what remains, calculated for you

Select the information icon beside a leave type heading for an explanation of that type. The ⋮ menu at the end of each row opens the worker's balance history.

Choosing days or hours

The unit is set for each worker, so you can match it to how their contract is written.

Days: best for workers on fixed days or salaried contracts. The maximum allowance is 365.
Hours: best for part time or shift based workers whose days vary in length. The maximum allowance is 3285.

The unit applies to all of the worker's paid leave types.

Tip: Decide on days or hours as an agency and stick to it where you can. Mixing the two across your workforce makes reporting harder to read and comparisons meaningless.

Setting an allowance

Find the worker in the table.
Choose their Unit: Days or Hours.
Enter the Total Allowance for each paid leave type that applies. Leave a type at zero if the worker has no entitlement to it.
Repeat for each worker you need to update. You can work through several rows before saving.
Select SAVE CHANGES. The button stays greyed out until you have changed something.

Utilised and Current Balance update themselves. Approved paid leave reduces the balance, and cancelled leave adds it back, so there is nothing to maintain there.

You can change a worker's Total Allowance at any time, for example when their contract changes. Update the figure and select SAVE CHANGES.

When the unit cannot be changed

Once a worker's balance has been set and some of it used, the Unit dropdown is locked and greyed out. Hover over the information icon beside it to see why: Leave balance has already been set and utilised, therefore the unit cannot be edited.

This protects the worker's figures. Switching from days to hours part way through the year would make everything already recorded against them meaningless.

Please note: If a worker's unit genuinely needs changing after leave has been used, contact our Support Team rather than working around it.

Unpaid leave types are not listed here. As the message at the bottom of the screen confirms, you cannot set up a leave balance for unpaid leave types.

Checking a worker's balance history

When a balance does not look right, the first question is what changed and who changed it. Every change is recorded.

Select the ⋮ menu at the end of the worker's row.
Choose View Audit log.

The Audit log opens on the right, newest first and grouped by date. Each entry shows the time, the leave type, the remaining balance before and after, and who made the change. For example: Updated General remaining balance for the worker from 7.5 to 10 by the person who made the change.

The balance changes when leave is approved or cancelled, and when someone edits the allowance. A balance going down usually matches approved leave, and a balance going back up usually matches cancelled leave, so reading the log alongside the worker's leave requests usually explains a figure straight away.

Good habits worth adopting

Set allowances at the start of the leave year, before the first request comes in.
Update them when contracts change. A worker moving from part time to full time will usually need their entitlement revising.
Check new starters. A worker with a zero allowance cannot request paid leave until their allowance is set.
Save as you go. Select SAVE CHANGES before moving to the next page of workers.
Check the audit log before correcting a balance. A figure that looks wrong is often explained by leave approved or cancelled by a colleague.

If something looks wrong

Utilised does not match the leave you know a worker has taken. Check the balance history with View Audit log, then check their requests in Leave Requests.
Leave is waiting in Leave Requests. Pending leave is not counted until it is approved.
A worker cannot request paid leave. Check their Total Allowance is not still zero, and that they have enough Current Balance left.

If an allowance will not save, a figure is rejected, or a unit needs changing after leave has been used, contact our Support Team with the worker's reference number and the leave year concerned.