How does WhosOff help schools and colleges manage leave across teaching and non-teaching staff on different contract types?

WhosOff allows educational institutions to configure individual entitlements and policies for every contract type within the same account. Teaching staff, support staff, caretakers, kitchen staff, administrators, and pastoral workers can each have separate entitlements, leave restrictions, and carry-over rules. Managers see a real-time picture of who is available across every team and department, so that absence in one area does not create uncovered gaps, all visible in one shared calendar.

Can WhosOff handle term-time only contracts and prevent staff from requesting leave during term time?

Yes. WhosOff's leave restriction feature allows you to block requests during term time for term-time only contracts, while leaving those restrictions absent for staff who work year-round. Restriction periods can be set at department, region, tag, or institution level. Staff on term-time only contracts will be unable to submit leave requests during those restricted windows, while their year-round colleagues are unaffected. This removes the need for manual policing of term-time leave requests.

Can we restrict leave during important dates such as OFSTED inspections, results days, open days, and inset days?

Yes. WhosOff allows you to define leave restriction periods for any specific dates or ranges you choose - including OFSTED inspection windows, exam results days, school open days, enrolment periods, graduation ceremonies, and mandatory training or inset days. During restriction periods, staff in the affected team or department will be unable to submit leave requests, ensuring full attendance when your institution needs it most.

How does WhosOff manage leave for multi-academy trusts or education groups with staff across multiple sites?

WhosOff supports multi-sites including academy trusts, further education colleges with multiple campuses, and university departments spread across a single institution. Trust-level administrators can manage all leave from one account with full visibility across every site, while individual school or campus managers can be given approval rights for their own teams only. This leads to consistent leave policies across a trust while still allowing each site to manage its own day-to-day approvals.

Can WhosOff track different types of absence relevant to education, such as CPD days, exam invigilation, and OFSTED preparation?

Yes. WhosOff supports a wide range of leave types out of the box - including annual leave, sickness absence, compassionate leave, TOIL, and unpaid leave. Educational organisations frequently add custom leave types such as CPD training days, mandatory inset days, exam invigilation duty, OFSTED preparation periods, union-related absences, study leave for staff undertaking qualifications, and parental leave. All of these can be created, tracked, and reported on within WhosOff.

Why is leave management important for educational institutions?

If an educational institution is not managing annual leave properly, it can cause significant operational problems. Key support roles - such as office administrators, IT technicians, or pastoral workers - may be left uncovered during critical periods. WhosOff eliminates these risks by digitising the entire leave request and approval process, keeping records accurate, and providing real-time, and forward, visibility for managers.

How does WhosOff help education institutions comply with working time regulations and manage statutory annual leave?

WhosOff maintains accurate records of all leave, taken, approved, and remaining entitlements for every member of staff - teaching and non-teaching. This supports compliance with the Working Time Regulations 1998, which require workers to receive a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year, calculated for part-time and term-time staff. The system provides a digital trail of all requests, approvals, and amendments, which is particularly valuable during inspections or HR reviews.

Can supply teachers and temporary staff be managed in WhosOff alongside permanent staff?

Yes. WhosOff supports temporary, supply, and fixed-term staff alongside permanent employees. Each member of staff has their own profile. When supply teachers or temporary support staff are added to WhosOff, they appear in the shared team calendar immediately, giving managers full visibility of all staff, regardless of contract type, in one place. Temporary staff can be archived rather than deleted when their contract ends, preserving their leave records for payroll and compliance purposes.

Can WhosOff prevent too many staff from the same department being absent at the same time?

Yes. WhosOff's policies and restrictions feature lets you set limits on how many people from a specific department can be off simultaneously. For example, you could prevent more than one member of the science department or more than two members of the office administration team from booking the same dates. The system will automatically flag or decline requests that would breach these limits before a manager sees them, keeping critical functions covered without manual monitoring.

Can we produce reports on leave and absence for governor meetings, payroll, or inspection evidence?

Yes. WhosOff's reporting tools allow you to export detailed data on leave taken, sickness absence, TOIL balances, Bradford Factor scores, and remaining entitlements across any time period and any combination of staff or departments. These reports can be formatted and shared with governors, payroll providers, HR partners, or included in inspection evidence packs. Reports are available on demand and can be generated in minutes rather than hours.

Can WhosOff integrate with the systems already used by our school or college?

Yes. WhosOff offers a dedicated API and webhook support, allowing education organisations to connect WhosOff to existing HR platforms, MIS systems, payroll software, or calendar tools. Single sign-on integration is available via Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, and Auth0 - all of which are commonly used across the education sector's IT infrastructure.

How quickly can a school, college, or university get set up on WhosOff?

Education institutions can be fully set up with their entire staff using WhosOff on the same day they sign up. The guided setup wizard walks you through importing staff, setting up your account and going live in a single session. For larger institutions, our import tools allows all staff members to be added in one upload. A free trial of the full service is available, and our UK-based support team is available by phone and email throughout the setup process at no extra cost.

Leave Management Software for the Education Industry

Manage educational staff leave with WhosOff

From teaching staff and administrators to caretakers, catering teams, and pastoral workers - WhosOff gives educational institutions a single, clear platform to manage leave, absence, term-time contracts, and staff availability across every department.

Used by educational organisations including: Primary & secondary schools, multi-academy trusts, further education colleges, Universities & HE insitutions, and more.

Start your instant, FREE trial today

The challenge for education organisations

Employee leave management software
for educational institutions

When it comes to educational staff planning, considerable time and effort goes into mapping out academic timetables and term structures. But managing the leave of the staff who keep an institution running - administrators, site teams, catering staff, pastoral workers, IT support, and HR - is a separate and often underserved challenge. These people rarely work to the same schedule as teaching staff, and managing their leave alongside term-time contracts and fixed academic calendars can be complex.

WhosOff's education leave management platform empowers schools, colleges, universities, and specialist training centres to coordinate staff holiday effectively across every contract type and department. Whether your staff are full-time, part-time, term-time only, or on supply contracts, WhosOff gives you one consistent view of who is available and who is off - displayed in a shared calendar, updated in real time, and accessible from any device.

And when you need to ensure full attendance for an OFSTED inspection window, exam results day, or a mandatory inset day, WhosOff lets you restrict leave across any department or the whole institution with a single setting - so you are never caught short at the moments that matter most.

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Why education organisations choose WhosOff

The perfect planning tool
for educational institutions

Managing staff leave across an educational institution is more complex than it looks.
WhosOff is built to handle that complexity without adding to it.

1 One platform, every contract type

Teaching staff, term-time only support staff, full-year administrators, and supply teachers - all managed within one WhosOff account. Different entitlements, different working schedules, and different leave policies are applied correctly per person.

2 Term-time leave restrictions

Prevent staff on term-time only contracts from requesting leave during term time, while leaving restrictions absent for full-year staff. Academic calendar restrictions can be applied at departmental level in a single setting.

3 Block critical dates

Restrict leave during OFSTED inspection windows, exam results days, open days, enrolment periods, inset days, and graduation ceremonies. You define the dates - WhosOff prevents leave requests being submitted during those periods, automatically.

4 Multi-site & multi-academy support

Multi-academy trusts, FE colleges with multiple campuses, and university departments across a single institution can all be managed from one WhosOff account. Central HR retains full visibility; each site or school manages its own day-to-day approvals.

5 Sickness & absence tracking

Record and report on sickness absence separately from annual leave. Track absence patterns over time, export reports for governor meetings or HR reviews, and maintain a complete audit trail of all absences - all within the same platform.

6 Simple from day one

WhosOff is designed to be immediately intuitive for non-technical staff. From class teachers to site managers, everyone can submit requests and check their balance without training. Free phone and email support is included for every institution, and, the WhosOff app is available to use on iOS and Android.

Everything an educational institution needs
for easy leave management

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Free first-class support

UK-based phone and email support available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm. Free webinars and a comprehensive knowledgebase are also included to help your team get the most from WhosOff from day one.

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Free iOS & Android apps

Every staff member can access WhosOff via the free mobile apps - checking their leave balance, submitting requests, and viewing the team calendar from their phone, whether they're in the classroom, on site, or working remotely.

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Limit restriction periods

Block leave requests during term time, inset days, inspection windows, open days, exam periods, and graduation ceremonies. Restrictions can be applied by department.

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Custom leave types

Track annual leave, sickness, TOIL, compassionate leave, and custom types specific to education - CPD training days, exam invigilation, inset days, study leave, union rep duties, maternity, paternity, and any other type your institution uses. Restricted view of sensitive leave is configurable in WhosOff, ensuring staff only see what you want them to see.

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Contract-type leave entitlements

Set different annual leave entitlements, carry-over rules, and accrual policies to match your team's needs, term-time only support, full-year administrators, and senior leaders - all configured within the same account.

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Leave & absence reporting

Export detailed reports on leave taken, sickness patterns, Bradford Factor scores, TOIL balances, and remaining entitlements for any date range and any combination of staff or departments - ready for governor reports, OFSTED evidence files, or payroll.

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Minimum department staffing rules

Set the minimum number of staff required per department at any one time. WhosOff automatically declines requests that would breach your thresholds - preventing critical functions from being left uncovered without any manual oversight.

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Central documents & policy hub

Store staff contracts, HR policies, safeguarding documents, and compliance paperwork securely within WhosOff - with optional read-and-agree receipts confirming every staff member has acknowledged them. Invaluable for inspection readiness.

security

Enhanced security & SSO

Optional multi-factor authentication and single sign-on integration with Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, and Auth0 - all commonly used across the education sector's IT infrastructure. Cyber Essentials certified and Crown Commercial Service approved.

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Digital request & approval trail

Every leave request, approval, amendment, and denial is time-stamped and stored digitally - providing a complete and auditable record for HR processes, employment matters, or inspection evidence. No lost paper forms, no disputed approvals.

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Bulk staff import & rapid onboarding

Add your entire staff in one CSV upload, or onboard new starters individually in under two minutes each. The setup wizard means most institutions are live on the same day they sign up - no IT project required, no extended implementation period.

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API, webhooks & MIS integrations

Connect WhosOff to existing HR platforms, management information systems, payroll software, or calendar tools via a dedicated API and webhook support - ensuring your leave data flows seamlessly into the wider tools your institution already uses.

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CONTRACT & TERM-TIME MANAGEMENT

Built for the complexity of education employment

Educational institutions employ staff on a wider variety of contract types than almost any other sector. Teaching staff, term-time only support workers, full-year administrators, caretakers, catering employees, and supply staff all coexist within a single institution - but they do not all share the same entitlements, or restrictions.

WhosOff is built to handle this complexity within a single account. Each staff member's leave entitlement, working week, and restrictions is configured individually - but all absences are displayed in one shared calendar, restricted where necessary, giving managers and HR teams the complete picture at a glance.

When the academic calendar demands full attendance, WhosOff helps enforce it - automatically, without anyone needing to manually police leave requests.

school

Teaching staff

Full-year entitlement with term-time restrictions and CPD leave tracking built in.

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Term-time only

Pro-rated entitlement with automatic leave blocking during all term weeks.

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Full-year admin & support

Standard entitlement with departmental minimum staffing and restriction rules.

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Supply & temporary staff

Fast onboarding, archiving at contract end, and records retained for compliance.

See how your insitution can benefit, start your FREE trial today!

Manage leave on the move with the WhosOff mobile app

Education professionals are rarely sitting at a desk. Whether a teacher is between lessons, a caretaker is on site, or an administrator is working from home on a training day, the WhosOff mobile app means leave management is always available - no need to find a computer or contact the school office.

Staff can check their remaining annual leave entitlement, view who else in their team or department has already booked time off, and submit requests from their phone at any time of day. Approval notifications are sent automatically to the relevant line manager or HR team, and staff receive instant confirmation when their request is approved or declined.

For department heads and senior leaders, the app also makes it easy to review and approve requests during breaks or planning periods - keeping the process moving without disrupting the working day.

WhosOff is available on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones

Take control of your leave management with an instant, free trial

Discover how WhosOff's absence management software works completely free of charge. Start your no-obligation trial today - no credit card required.

Each account has access to:

Access to all WhosOff's key features
Free telephone and email support from our team of experts
Term-time restrictions, CPD leave types, and contract-type entitlements
Minimum staffing rules and inspection-period restrictions ready to configure
No long-term contracts or commitments

Fancy a demo? Call +44 (0)1227 812932, or email our support team.

Complete the form to start your FREE trial

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Main image: "Bright library space featuring bookshelves, colorful chairs, and desks, ideal for studying and reading.", by Vladimir Srajber [Pexels.com]

Manage educational staff leave with WhosOff

Employee leave management software
for educational institutions

The perfect planning tool
for educational institutions

Everything an educational institution needs
for easy leave management