At 20 to 50 people you need departments, per-team capacity rules, reporting and integrations, with admin tools to run it all. A dedicated tracker handles this well without HR-suite cost, and our pick is Book Time Off at a flat £1 per user / month: departments with their own manager and maximum-absent limit, per-person approvers, admin reports with charts and CSV export, Microsoft 365 sign-on, Slack and Teams, and bulk admin edits. A team of 50 is £50 a month, with a 30-day free trial and no card.
What changes approaching 50
The difference from a smaller team is structure. Three things become central:
- Departments and multiple approvers. Leave is no longer one manager's job; each team needs its own approver and its own view.
- Cover has to be protected per team. A single company-wide limit is too blunt; you need a maximum-absent limit per department so one team is not left short.
- Reporting matters. At this size you are asked who has taken what, by team and by month, often for payroll or planning, and you need to pull that quickly.
The must-haves at this size
- Departments, each with a manager, a per-person approver and a maximum-absent limit.
- Reporting and CSV export, filterable by department and period, ideally with insight charts.
- Integrations so leave appears where people work: Outlook sync, Slack and Teams, and calendar feeds.
- Single sign-on so staff use their existing work login rather than another password.
- Admin tools like bulk edits to set allowance, department or approver across many people at once.
One blanket limit cannot protect several teams at once. A maximum-absent limit set per department keeps each team covered without blocking the whole company.
Why Book Time Off fits
Book Time Off includes the admin and reporting a team of this size needs, in the same flat plan:
- Departments with a manager, a per-department maximum-absent limit and per-person approvers.
- Admin reports summarising leave per person, per department and per month, by leave type, with month, type and department insight charts and CSV export.
- Bulk admin edits to set allowance, department or approver across many people at once, plus archive and restore.
- Microsoft 365 single sign-on and Outlook sync, a full Slack and Teams integration, and iCal feeds.
- The Timetastic import, so if you are moving from Timetastic, your departments, people and this year's leave come across in one upload.
Compared with stepping up to a full HR suite, this keeps the cost low: see annual leave tracker vs HR software for when a suite is worth it instead.
Set per-team capacity limits, give each manager their own approvals, and pull a report in seconds. 30 days free, no card required.
What it costs
A flat £1 per user / month, no minimum, no contract, with departments, reporting, sign-on and integrations all included:
| Team size | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 25 people | £25 | £300 |
| 35 people | £35 | £420 |
| 50 people | £50 | £600 |
Best for and not best for
✓ Best for
- UK teams of roughly 20 to 50 people
- Multiple departments and approvers
- Teams that need per-team capacity rules and reporting
- Anyone who wants sign-on and integrations without HR-suite cost
Look elsewhere if you need
- Contracts, documents, onboarding or performance (a full HR suite)
- A separate counted-down balance for every leave type
- Per-person working-day patterns (the week is company-wide)
- A public API for two-way integration
Frequently asked questions
At 20 to 50 people you need departments, per-team capacity rules, reporting and integrations, with admin tools to manage it all. A dedicated tracker handles this well, and our pick is Book Time Off at a flat £1 per user per month: departments with their own manager and maximum-absent limit, per-person approvers, admin reports with charts and CSV export, Microsoft 365 sign-on, Slack and Teams, and bulk admin edits. Timetastic Pro is the main established alternative.
Departments with their own manager and approver, a maximum-absent limit per department to protect cover, reporting you can filter and export, integrations so leave shows up where people work (Outlook, Slack, Teams, calendar feeds), and admin tools like bulk edits and clear permissions. Single sign-on becomes useful at this size too, so staff use their existing work login.
Yes. You can create departments, each with a manager and its own maximum-absent limit, and set a specific approver per person. Admins can bulk-select people to change allowance, department or approver in one go. Approvals can happen by email or from a Slack or Teams message, so different managers handle their own team's requests.
Yes. Book Time Off has an admin reports view that summarises approved leave taken per person, per department and per month, broken down by leave type, over this leave year, last year, this calendar year or a custom range. You can filter by department, see month, type and department insight charts, and export the per-person view to CSV for payroll or records.
Book Time Off is a flat £1 per user per month with no minimum, so a team of 50 is £50 a month, or £600 a year, with a 30-day free trial and no card. That single price includes departments, reporting, single sign-on, Slack and Teams and the Timetastic import, features some rivals reserve for a more expensive plan.
Only if you need more than leave. If your problem is holiday and absence at 50 people, a dedicated tracker is cheaper and simpler. If you also need contracts, documents, onboarding and performance in one place, a full HR suite may be worth it. Our annual leave tracker vs HR software guide covers where the line falls.