Holiday Entitlement and Holiday Pay in the UK: An Employer's Guide

Almost every UK worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for a 5-day week and is capped at 28 days. Part-time staff get 5.6 times their working week. Irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of the hours they work, and holiday pay for variable earners is averaged over the previous 52 paid weeks.

GOV.UK’s holiday entitlement calculator works out the figures for you. This guide explains the rules behind it, so you know which method to use for each worker.

How much holiday are workers entitled to?

GOV.UK’s holiday entitlement guide sets the statutory minimum at 5.6 weeks a year. This applies to employees and workers, including agency workers, irregular-hours workers and part-year workers.

Days worked per week	Statutory entitlement
5	28 days
4	22.4 days
3	16.8 days
2	11.2 days
6	28 days (capped)

Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days, so someone working 6 days a week still gets 28. You can offer more, and you don’t have to apply all the statutory rules to the extra contractual leave.

Do bank holidays count?

Bank and public holidays don’t have to be given as paid leave. You can choose to include them within the 5.6 weeks.

How do you calculate holiday for part-time workers?

Part-time workers on regular hours who work the whole year get the same 5.6 weeks, pro rata. Multiply their days (or hours) per week by 5.6. A worker doing 3 days a week gets at least 16.8 days. Someone on 20 hours a week gets 20 × 5.6 = 112 hours.

Starting part way through the year

A new starter gets a proportion of the year’s leave. GOV.UK allows two approaches: accrue one-twelfth of the annual entitlement per month (rounding up to the nearest half day), or calculate the first month pro rata to the days worked. Under an accrual system, a full-time worker who has completed three months has 28 ÷ 12 × 3 = 7 days.

How does the 12.07% rule work for irregular-hours and part-year workers?

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours workers (whose hours change from pay period to pay period) and part-year workers (who have weeks off unpaid, such as term-time staff) must accrue holiday using a specific method: 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period.

Accrued leave is rounded up to the nearest hour when it is 0.5 of an hour or more. GOV.UK’s example: a worker paid weekly who works 30 hours accrues 30 × 12.07% = 3.621 hours, so 4 hours of leave, which they can take from the next pay period.

Why 12.07%? 5.6 weeks of holiday out of a 52-week year leaves 46.4 working weeks, and 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%. Their total statutory entitlement is still capped at 5.6 weeks.

What is rolled-up holiday pay and who can it be used for?

Rolled-up holiday pay means paying holiday pay as an uplift on each payment, instead of when the leave is taken. Regulation 16A of the Working Time Regulations 1998 allows it for irregular-hours and part-year workers, at a 12.07% uplift on their pay for work done.

The conditions:

• it is only for irregular-hours and part-year workers, and not for leave years that began on or before 31 March 2024
• it must be paid at the same time as the pay for work done
• the payslip must show the holiday pay amount separately
• it is never allowed for regular-hours workers, full- or part-time

The worker still takes the time off; they just aren’t paid again when they do.

Worked example. A casual worker earns £400 for the hours they worked in a weekly pay period. Rolled-up holiday pay is £400 × 12.07% = £48.28, paid in the same pay run and shown as a separate line on the payslip, so they receive £448.28 before deductions. In the same week they also accrue leave at 12.07% of their hours, which they can take later without further pay. Regulation 16A requires that itemisation, and a worker who doesn’t receive rolled-up holiday pay they were entitled to can carry over their whole leave entitlement, as explained below. If a worker goes on sick or family leave, the regulation sets out how holiday pay continues to be paid during that leave.

How do you calculate holiday pay?

Workers get a week’s pay for each week of statutory leave. What “a week’s pay” means depends on the working pattern:

Working pattern	A week’s holiday pay
Regular hours, fixed pay	Their normal pay for a week
Shift work with regular hours	Average weekly fixed hours over the previous 52 weeks at their average hourly rate
Irregular hours or part-year	Average weekly pay over the previous 52 weeks in which they were paid

The 52-week reference period

Count back 52 weeks in which the worker was paid. Ignore weeks with no pay and count further back, but no more than 104 weeks. If there are fewer than 52 paid weeks in that window, use the weeks you have. A week normally runs Sunday to Saturday unless the worker’s pay is calculated on a different 7-day cycle.

“Normal” and “basic” pay

For regular-hours workers, at least 4 of the 5.6 weeks must be paid at their normal rate, which includes commission, regular overtime, and payments linked to length of service or professional qualifications (but usually not bonuses). The remaining 1.6 weeks can be paid at basic rate. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, all statutory leave is paid at the normal rate.

Can workers carry over holiday?

The contract decides how much leave can carry over. Where a worker gets 28 days, they can carry over a maximum of 8 days. Specific rules apply on top:

• Family-related leave: untaken leave because of maternity or other family leave can be carried over (see our statutory maternity pay guide).
• Sickness: up to 20 days for regular-hours workers, or up to 28 days for irregular-hours and part-year workers.
• Employer failures: workers can carry over their whole entitlement if they weren’t paid rolled-up holiday pay they were owed, weren’t given a reasonable opportunity to take leave, or weren’t told they would lose it.

Holiday keeps building up during sick leave (see our statutory sick pay guide) and during maternity, paternity and adoption leave.

What about leavers and record keeping?

When someone leaves, you must pay for any untaken statutory leave, even after a gross misconduct dismissal. That is the only time payment in lieu of statutory leave is allowed. You can’t deduct for leave taken in excess unless this was agreed in writing beforehand.

From 6 April 2026, employers must keep detailed records of annual leave taken and holiday pay paid for at least 6 years from the date they were made. You may be fined if you can’t show you keep them.

Unusual patterns, such as term-time contracts or workers who switch between regular and irregular hours, are worth checking with an adviser before you settle on a method.

Taking holiday pay off your hands

Holiday accrual and pay calculations get complicated quickly with a mixed workforce of salaried, part-time and variable-hours staff. Our payroll services calculate accrual, average holiday pay over the correct reference period and keep the six-year records for you.