Billing rules: Understanding night-based invoicing vs day-based invoicing
Last updated: April 14, 2026
Overview
When setting up a billing contract in Found, one of the billing rules you'll be required to select is how billing should be calculated — by days or by nights. This setting, controls how the system counts billable units within any given invoice period and how those units appear on invoice line items sent to funders.
Day-based invoicing
When a contract is set to day-based, Found counts each calendar day within the billing period as one billable unit. Invoice line items display the period and unit count in the format:
Care fees: 01/01/2025 – 31/01/2025 (31 days)
Night-based invoicing
When a contract is set to night-based, Found counts each night within the billing period as one billable unit. Invoice line items use the same period display but show nights instead of days:
Care fees: 01/01/2025 – 31/01/2025 (30 nights)
How the calculation basis affects other billing rules
Once you select days or nights, the same unit label carries through to related billing rule fields on the same contract:
Billing rule field | What it controls |
Invoice [days/nights] after death | How many days or nights to continue invoicing after a service user passes away |
Invoice [days/nights] after move out | How many days or nights to continue invoicing after a service user moves out |
Discount [days/nights] offsite | Whether a discount applies for days or nights spent offsite, and the percentage and eligible reasons |
The unit label in these fields updates dynamically on screen as soon as you choose days or nights at the start of the billing rules step.
Where the calculation basis appears on invoices
The basis label appears in the description of invoice line items generated by Found.
Care fees: 01/03/2025 – 31/03/2025 (30 nights), at £750.00 per week
On a day-based contract, the same period would read:
Care fees: 01/03/2025 – 31/03/2025 (31 days), at £750.00 per week
Credit and backdating adjustments follow the same pattern, carrying the days or nights label through to all auto-generated line item descriptions.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where do I set whether a contract uses days or nights?
A: On the billing rules step when creating or editing a billing contract. The first question — "How should billing be calculated?" — presents a two-option choice: Days or Nights. You must answer this before the remaining billing rules fields become visible.
Q: Can I change the calculation basis after a contract has been created?
A: You would need to edit the billing contract. Changing this setting affects how all subsequent invoice line items on that contract are labelled and counted, so take care to confirm the correct basis before saving.
Q: Which calculation basis should I use?
A: This depends on your organisation's contractual agreements with funders.
Q: Does the calculation basis apply to Billable Extras or Occupancy contracts? A: No. The billing rules step — including the calculation basis — only applies to contracts of the Billing module type. Occupancy and Billable Extras contracts are configured differently and do not use this setting.