What WRA accommodation is
Working Rule Agreement (WRA) accommodation, also referred to as lodge or lodging allowance, pays the worker a daily amount when they are away from home for an eligible assignment. It is configured at company level under the working rule agreement, and a project can override the configuration when project-level override is enabled. The displayed label is configurable; this guide uses 'WRA Accommodation' but configurations such as 'Lodging' will appear in the UI.
When an accommodation expense is created
An expense is created automatically against an eligible timesheet when WRA is enabled at the effective level, accommodation is enabled, and the assignment has the accommodation flag set. The expense is approved on creation, has the WRA Lodging - No receipt required note, and stores the daily amount and the number of days paid. The amount equals days paid multiplied by the effective daily amount.
Driving time and distance qualification
Hirers can enable lodge qualification rules in the company WRA accommodation settings or a project override, and set a minimum driving time, minimum driving distance, or both from the worker's home to site. Where both are set, both minimums must be met. A 60-minute minimum accepts a calculated time of 60 minutes or more; the estimate is rounded to the nearest whole minute.
The eligibility check requests a Google Maps driving estimate for departure at the time the check runs and uses the traffic-adjusted duration where available. There is no fixed midday, peak, off-peak or shift-start departure time, so an estimate near the threshold can qualify at one time and fail at another. If Google does not return a traffic-adjusted duration, the standard duration is used; if Google routing is unavailable, the system falls back to Mapbox routing.
Hirers and agencies opening the assignment accommodation dialog, where their permissions allow, see the configured minimums below Applicable. When a driving-time minimum is set, the dialog explains the time-of-day basis. Agencies reviewing lodge eligibility should raise any questions about the configured thresholds with the hiring team.
Assignment daily amount overrides
A company admin can edit the daily amount in the accommodation dialog on an individual assignment's Overview tab. The assignment amount takes precedence over the project or company daily amount. Clearing the override returns the assignment to the effective project or company amount.
Saving or clearing an override immediately reconciles the assignment's un-invoiced timesheets. Invoiced and AfP-linked lodge expenses remain locked and are not changed. The assignment Activity tab records the change. Agency users cannot configure the override.
Worker-week sibling reconciliation
All non-cancelled timesheets that share the same worker, company, supplier, and week ending are treated as siblings. The system distributes payable days across these siblings so a worker is not paid twice for the same calendar day. When any sibling is amended, reinstated, or marked absent, the worker-week is reconciled and each sibling's accommodation expense is created, updated, or removed accordingly. When an assignment is no longer eligible for lodge, a subsequent accommodation reconciliation removes its unbilled accommodation expense. Invoice- and AfP-linked expenses remain unchanged.
How daily allocations are decided
Each day in the week is evaluated against worked hours and absence flags across all sibling timesheets.
If minimum hourly thresholds are enabled, a day must meet its per-day threshold before it counts. Days below the threshold are reported as shortfalls and do not generate value.
If lodge days to subtract is configured, the system removes that number of payable lodge days after eligibility is calculated. The payable days floor prevents the subtraction from reducing an otherwise eligible worker-week below the configured minimum, but it does not create payable days where no lodge day was eligible.
When more than one sibling timesheet could win a day, the allocator picks a winner. A locked sibling (already invoiced or AfP) keeps its day and removes that day from the pool available to others.
Authorised absence days can still count when company config allows payment for authorised absence; unauthorised absence days can still count when payment for unauthorised absence is allowed.
Mark Absent on a timesheet can flag the WRA accommodation amount on that record to be set to zero, depending on the chosen absence type.
Lodge breakdown panel
When a timesheet has a positive payable WRA accommodation value, an extra tab appears on the timesheet detail page. The tab uses the configured label, for example 'WRA Accommodation' or 'Lodging'. It shows the daily amount, the contributing sibling timesheets, and a per-day breakdown that explains which timesheet won each day, which days were locked to a specific timesheet, and the reason any day did not count. Cross-links open the relevant sibling timesheet or assignment where permissions allow.
Adding or amending the expense manually
When a sibling timesheet already holds the worker-week accommodation expense, the system blocks adding a duplicate WRA expense on another sibling and tells the user which timesheet the allocation lives on. Amend the existing lodge expense on that timesheet instead. The standard expense add and amend dialog handles the WRA expense fields when WRA is enabled for the timesheet and accommodation applies to the assignment. Hirers and agencies cannot add a WRA lodge expense when accommodation does not apply to the assignment. They also cannot add one from any of the assignment's timesheets when travel and fare applies and travel alongside lodge is not allowed in the effective company or project configuration.
Locking by invoice or AfP
Once a WRA accommodation expense is linked to an invoice or AfP, it is locked. Locked expenses are preserved as-is during reconciliation; their days are subtracted from the worker-week pool so the remaining unlocked siblings cannot be paid for those same days. Locked expenses cannot be deleted, rejected, or unapproved through the normal expense actions.
Worker-level breakdown
From an assignment or worker view, a wider lodge allowance subtab is available. It lists every worker-week with a payable accommodation value, week ending, assignment, contributing timesheets, days paid, and value. Selecting a row opens a dialog with the same per-day allocator detail as the timesheet detail tab.
For hirer users subject to Specific timesheet approvers, lodge breakdowns include only assignments they can access under those visibility rules. Current hiring managers on the linked requisition can view the linked assignment breakdowns within their project access. Agency access remains subject to its existing scope.
Interaction with the travel and fare allowance
Accommodation and the WRA travel and fare allowance are mutually exclusive by default: an assignment cannot have both flags applied, and a timesheet that holds a positive accommodation expense receives no travel expenses. A travel configuration option allows the overlap for companies whose agreement permits both. See the WRA Travel and Fare Allowance guide for how that allowance is configured and calculated.
Common reasons no accommodation value appears
WRA or accommodation is not enabled at the effective company or project level.
The assignment does not have the accommodation flag set.
Minimum hourly thresholds are enabled and the worked hours did not meet the threshold for any day.
A configured lodge day subtraction has reduced the payable eligible days.
All days in the week are absence days and the absence type is not configured to be paid.
Another sibling timesheet in the same worker-week holds the allocation, often because it was invoiced or AfP-linked first.
For agencies: lodge allowance on your workers
WRA accommodation is configured by the hiring company, but it forms part of what your workers are paid and what you may bill, so it is worth understanding.
The daily amount, including any assignment override, eligibility window, thresholds, and absence rules are all set by the hiring company; agencies do not configure them.
Accommodation expenses are created and reconciled automatically across a worker-week, so you cannot add, delete, or reject them manually.
You can view the lodge breakdown for your own workers' timesheets to see which days were paid and why, where your access allows.
Where your agency is allowed to invoice, the accommodation value is included in the worker's billable expenses; once invoiced or AfP-linked it is locked and cannot change.
If a worker's lodge allowance looks wrong, check absences and worked hours first, then raise it with the hiring team since the configuration sits with them.
Lodge address for journey travel
Lodge-to-project journey travel uses the existing company or project overlap setting. Hirers must enable travel alongside lodge to pay both allowances. Agencies review the resulting eligibility and expenses for their workers. Travel may qualify using the lodge address even when no accommodation allowance is payable. Accommodation qualification and payment rules remain separate.
In journey mode, agencies can use the Lodge Address edit control on assignments they can access, including when the worker’s trade is excluded from accommodation. Hirers with assignment allowance amendment permission can also maintain it. Editing this address does not change accommodation eligibility. Journey mileage uses the configured home or lodge origin and the project postcode; the assignment travel flag is required and fixed-depot workers do not qualify. Changing or clearing the lodge address recalculates existing unbilled journey expenses. Project postcode changes recalculate eligible unbilled journey expenses after the project saves; a recalculation failure does not undo that save. Billed history remains unchanged. Journey payments use their own shared weekly cap and optional Pay regardless of days worked setting; accommodation’s daily rules do not determine those quantities. See WRA Travel and Fare Allowance on Timesheets for setup, automatic weekly reconciliation and correction rules.