bookd. / Hospitality
Fair Work Agency — Live April 2026

Is your holiday pay
actually correct?

The FWA launched with enforcement powers. For variable-hours workers, flat-rating at 12.07% has been legally wrong since 2020. bookd. calculates the correct 52-week rolling average on every run — automatically.

52-week rolling average automated FWA compliant SHA-256 audit trail
❌ Most bureaus
✓ bookd.
Flat 12.07% for all workers
52-week rolling average
No FWA compliance record
Method documented per worker
Variable pay ignored
Variable pay included correctly
No audit trail if challenged
SHA-256 locked evidence pack
Backpay liability accumulating
Correct from day one
⚠️
Enforcement active now

The Fair Work Agency launched April 2026 — and hospitality is a primary target sector.

Variable-hours workers, zero-hours contracts, split shifts. If you run any of these, your holiday pay method is under scrutiny. The window to self-correct is now, before an enforcement visit.

The Problem

The 12.07% flat rate.
Still the industry standard. Still wrong.

For variable-hours workers — zero-hours, split shifts, weekend-only staff — the 52-week rolling average has been mandatory since 2020. Most hospitality operators are still flat-rating because it's simpler and their payroll provider never automated the alternative.

The wrong way — still common

Flat-rate 12.07%

A percentage of pay in the period. Simple to calculate. Wrong for variable-hours workers. Underpays workers who had lower earnings in some weeks. Creates backpay liability. Fails FWA scrutiny.

Example — 4-week period
Weekly pay (avg)£480
Holiday pay (12.07%)£57.94/wk
FWA compliant?No ✕
The correct method — bookd.

52-week rolling average

Average of the last 52 weeks of actual pay. Accounts for variable earnings correctly. Includes overtime, commission, and irregular pay. FWA compliant. Documented and evidenced per worker per run.

Example — Same worker, bookd. method
52-week avg weekly pay£512
Holiday pay (rolling avg)£512/wk
FWA compliant?Yes ✓
What bookd. does

Built for hospitality's payroll reality.

Variable hours, split shifts, zero-hours contracts, seasonal staff. bookd. handles all of it correctly — and documents every decision.

📋

Method documented per worker

Which calculation method was applied, the resulting entitlement, and the pay history used — all recorded in the audit pack for every worker, every run.

🔐

SHA-256 locked evidence

If the FWA visits, the evidence pack is already built. Timestamped, immutable, exportable. Your compliance record for every worker going back through every run.

⚖️

NMW compliance on every shift type

Split shifts, tronc, service charge — all checked against NMW thresholds. A kill-switch prevents submission if any worker falls below the minimum.

👥

Multi-site, multi-contract support

Different contracts at different sites, different pay rates, different shift patterns. bookd. handles the complexity so you don't have to manage it in a spreadsheet.

📊

Managed bureau — not software

You don't run the payroll. bookd. runs it. Mark and the bookd. engine handle the calculation, compliance, and submission. You get the result and the evidence.

Free Compliance Check

Find out if your holiday pay is compliant before the FWA does.

Free 20-minute call. Mark will review your current payroll method, calculate your exposure, and tell you what it would take to be fully FWA compliant from the next run.

👋 Mark from bookd.Questions about FWA compliance? Message me directly.