Custom Allowances

Custom allowances are allowances you define yourself, such as a working from home or remote area allowance, for anything your payroll pays that Astalty doesn't already work out from the award. You add them to a worker's shift, and Astalty sends each one to payroll as its own timesheet line with a number of units. Your payroll platform sets the amount paid for each unit.

Before You Start

Your payroll platform must be able to receive them. Custom allowances are sent to Employment Hero, PayCat, QuickBooks Payroll and Xero, and are included in the Raw shift data and Xero-formatted timesheet exports from a timesheet batch on any platform. An account whose payroll platform is Other can use them too, and gets them only through those two exports. The platform is the Platform setting under Payroll & Awards in Scheduling Settings.

Only Admins can create, edit, archive and map them. Managers with access to Scheduling can add them to the shifts they create or edit, but cannot create, change or map them. Team Members and Support Workers cannot see custom allowances, including on their own shifts and in the Support Worker app.

How a Custom Allowance Is Paid

Astalty sends units, not dollar amounts. Each custom allowance on a shift becomes a timesheet line for that shift's worker, dated on the shift's approved start date, with no start or end time. Payroll multiplies the units by the rate of the work type or earnings rate the allowance is mapped to. On Xero, allowances mapped to the same earnings rate share one line on the worker's timesheet, split by cost code when timesheets carry cost code tracking. The allowance never changes the shift's own hours lines.

You choose how the units are counted when you create the allowance:

Creating a Custom Allowance

1. Go to Settings > Scheduling > Custom Allowances.
2. Select Create Custom Allowance.
3. Enter a Name. Your team chooses the allowance by this name. Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll receive it as the line's comment. Each active allowance needs a different name.
4. Under Paid, choose Per shift or Per hour.
5. For a per shift allowance, enter the Units per shift. It starts at 1 and can be any amount above 0, up to 999.99 with two decimal places.
6. Under On a shift cancelled with pay, choose Pays as if worked or Does not pay - see Cancelled Shifts.
7. Select Create.

The Custom Allowances list shows each allowance's name and how it is Paid, noting Not paid on cancelled shifts for an allowance set to Does not pay. On an Employment Hero, PayCat or QuickBooks Payroll account it also shows the Payroll Work Type the allowance is mapped to, or Not Linked when it has none. On a Xero account it shows the Xero Earnings Rate instead: the earnings rate's name, Not Linked, or Not in Xero when the earnings rate has been deleted in Xero. The list shows active allowances by default; change the Status filter to Archived or All to see archived ones.

Mapping an Allowance to a Payroll Work Type

On Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll, every custom allowance on a shift in a timesheet batch needs a work type before you can send the batch to payroll or export its payroll CSV. The Raw shift data, SCHADS interpreted timesheet and Xero-formatted timesheet exports don't need the mapping.

Set up the payroll side first. In your payroll platform, create a pay category for the allowance with the rate you pay per unit, then a work type that pays that pay category, and give the work type an External ID. Then map it in Astalty:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations, select Configure on your payroll integration, and open Custom Allowances.
2. Open the allowance's actions menu and select Edit Employment Hero Work Type Mapping. The option is named after your payroll platform.
3. Choose the Employment Hero Work Type. The list comes from your payroll business, so connect the integration first. If your plan doesn't include the payroll integration, enter the work type's External ID in Employment Hero Work Type External ID instead. Both fields are named after your payroll platform.
4. Select Save.

The same mapping option is in each allowance's actions menu on Settings > Scheduling > Custom Allowances.

Mapping an Allowance to a Xero Earnings Rate

On Xero, every custom allowance on a shift in a timesheet batch needs an earnings rate before you can send the batch with Export Xero Timesheet (API). The Raw shift data and Xero-formatted timesheet exports don't need the mapping.

Set up the earnings rate in Xero first, at the rate you pay per unit. Then map it in Astalty:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations, select Configure on Xero, and open Custom Allowances.
2. Open the allowance's actions menu and select Edit Xero Earnings Rate Mapping.
3. Choose the Xero Earnings Rate. The list comes from your Xero organisation, so connect the integration first.
4. Select Save.

The same mapping option is in each allowance's actions menu on Settings > Scheduling > Custom Allowances.

Adding Custom Allowances to a Shift

Custom allowances belong to one worker's shift, not to the support, so each worker on a support can have different allowances. A shift can carry up to 20.

When Creating a Support

When you create a Direct Support, Group Support, Flexible Group Support or internal event, the table of selected workers has a Custom Allowances column. The same column appears when you use Add Attendees on an existing internal event. Choose the allowances for each worker in their Custom Allowances (optional) field. Each worker's choices go on their own shift, and on every shift in the series when the support repeats.

On an Existing Shift

1. Open the support, select the three-dot menu next to the worker's shift and select Edit Shift.
2. Add or remove allowances in Custom Allowances.
3. For a shift in a recurring series, tick Apply to this and all following shifts in the series to give the following shifts the same allowances. Leave it unticked to change only this shift.
4. Select Update Shift.

Each allowance then shows as a badge on the worker's shift card.

Duplicating, Extending and Reassigning

• Duplicating a support or cloning an internal event copies each worker's custom allowances to the copy, except archived allowances.
• Extending a recurring series gives the new shifts the worker's active custom allowances.
• Reassigning a shift to another worker keeps its custom allowances, so the new worker is paid them. After a reassignment, check any allowance that depends on the person, such as working from home.

When an Allowance Can't Be Added

The Custom Allowances field lets you remove allowances but not add them when:

• the allowance is archived
• custom allowances have been switched off for your account
• the shift is an unpaid break, which is never paid

Once a shift is in a timesheet batch, its custom allowances are locked and cannot be added or removed.

How Per Hour Units Are Worked Out

A per hour allowance counts the shift's paid hours from its approved times, so approve the shift's hours in Shift Approvals before the batch is created.

For example, a sleepover support from 3:00 PM to 9:00 AM with a 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM sleepover window and a 30-minute unpaid break gets 9.5 units: 7 hours before the window and 3 hours after it, less half an hour.

Units are rounded to two decimal places. A per shift allowance always sends its fixed units, whatever these rules give.

Approving and Exporting Shifts With Allowances

When you expand a shift in Shift Approvals, its Custom Allowances are listed with the shift hours. They cannot be changed from there.

Custom allowances are sent with the rest of the shift when you send or export a timesheet batch:

• On Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll, Send to your payroll platform, or Export Employment Hero Timesheet (CSV), includes one line per allowance per shift. Both actions are named after your payroll platform. Validation stops the export when an allowance on a shift in the batch has no work type mapped, and its Fix issue button opens the integration's Custom Allowances page. See Employment Hero validation errors.
• On Xero, Export Xero Timesheet (API) adds the units to each worker's Xero timesheet on the mapped earnings rate. Validation stops the export when an allowance on a shift in the batch has no earnings rate mapped, or its earnings rate can't be used, and its Fix issue button opens the Xero integration's Custom Allowances page. See Xero validation errors.
• Raw shift data adds a row for each allowance, with its units and the allowance name in Comments.
• Xero-formatted timesheet adds a row for each allowance, under the allowance's name, with its units on each day.
• SCHADS interpreted timesheet does not include custom allowances.

On Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll, sending a batch again adds a second copy of every line, including allowance lines. To correct a batch you have already sent, use Replace instead.

Cancelled Shifts

A shift cancelled with pay keeps its custom allowances. Each allowance's On a shift cancelled with pay setting decides whether it is still paid:

A shift cancelled with No pay is left out of timesheet batches, so its allowances are never sent. See Support Cancellations.

Changing or Archiving a Custom Allowance

To rename an allowance, select Edit from its actions menu. You can rename it at any time.

Once an allowance is on any shift in a timesheet batch, its Paid, Units per shift and On a shift cancelled with pay can no longer change, because a batch works out the units from them each time it is exported. To pay it differently, archive it and create a new allowance. The new allowance can reuse the archived one's name.

To stop an allowance being used, select Archive from its actions menu and confirm. An archived allowance cannot be added to shifts, but shifts that already have it keep it and still export it. Remove it from those shifts if it should not be paid. To bring it back, filter the list to Archived and select Unarchive. Unarchiving is refused while an active allowance has the same name.

Where Else Custom Allowances Appear

• Shifts Export and Completed Shifts Export add a Custom Allowances column listing each shift's allowances, once your account has shifts with allowances.
• The shift's audit trail records each time allowances are added or removed, and who made the change.
• Sleepover Migration does not merge supports whose shifts have custom allowances.

Astalty doesn't hold a rate for custom allowances, so they are not included in Scheduling Costs, the Award Interpretation tab of a timesheet batch, or Staff Payments.

If Custom Allowances Are Switched Off

If custom allowances are switched off for your account after they have been used, nothing already on a shift is lost:

• Shifts that already have custom allowances keep them and still export them. You can remove allowances from a shift, but not add them.
• The Custom Allowances settings page becomes read-only, and payroll work type and earnings rate mappings can still be changed.
• Creating a timesheet batch warns you when shifts in the period still have custom allowances, so you can remove any that should not be paid.