UK Holiday Pay Calculator

How UK Holiday Pay Works

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For a typical full-time five-day worker that means 28 days — which is also the statutory cap. Part-time workers get a pro-rata share (days per week × 5.6).

• 5.6 weeks — the statutory minimum, capped at 28 days
• Bank holidays — may sit inside or on top of the 5.6 weeks depending on your contract
• 52-week reference period — how a "week's pay" is averaged for variable earners
• 12.07% accrual — how irregular and part-year workers earn leave from 1 April 2024
• Rolled-up holiday pay — legal again for irregular workers, must be itemised on the payslip

Irregular & Zero-Hours Workers — the 12.07% Rule

Under the Employment Rights (Amendment) Regulations 2023, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue paid holiday at 12.07% of the hours they actually work in each pay period. The 12.07% figure comes from dividing the 5.6 weeks of statutory leave by the 46.4 weeks of the year actually worked.

Employers have two ways to pay this leave:

1. Pay when leave is taken — calculated as the average of the previous 52 paid weeks of pay
2. Rolled-up holiday pay — add 12.07% of the period's earnings as a clearly itemised separate line on every payslip, paid as you go

Rolled-up holiday pay was found unlawful in Robinson-Steele back in 2006 but is once again legal for irregular and part-year workers from April 2024. The uplift must be shown as a separate line on the payslip — it cannot be silently rolled into the hourly rate.

A Week's Pay — the 52-Week Reference Period

Since April 2020, a "week's pay" for holiday purposes is averaged over the previous 52 paid weeks. Weeks in which the worker received no pay are excluded, and the employer can look back up to 104 weeks to find 52 paid weeks. This was previously a 12-week reference period, which made it too easy to time leave around quiet weeks and reduce the holiday-pay value.

The average must include "normal remuneration": regular commission, contractual overtime, shift premia and performance bonuses. The leading cases — Bear Scotland v Fulton, Lock v British Gas, and the 2023 Agnew Supreme Court decision — confirm that holiday pay cannot be limited to basic pay where the worker normally earns more.

Strictly, the requirement applies to the first 4 weeks of EU-derived leave; the additional 1.6 weeks of UK-only leave may be paid at basic rate. Most reputable employers pay all 5.6 weeks at the enhanced rate to keep payroll simple and to stay clear of further tribunal claims. This calculator uses that safer "all 5.6 weeks" default with a toggle for the legal minimum.

Part-Year Workers (Term-Time, Seasonal)

In 2022, the Supreme Court decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel held that part-year workers like term-time school staff were entitled to the full 5.6 weeks of paid leave regardless of how few weeks they actually worked. From leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, the rules changed: part-year workers now accrue holiday at 12.07% of actual hours worked — the same method as irregular-hours workers. The earlier Brazel approach still applies to leave years that began before 1 April 2024.

Bank Holidays

There is no automatic right to bank holidays in the UK. Your contract decides whether the eight statutory bank holidays count inside your 5.6 weeks or are granted on top of it.

• Inside the 5.6 weeks: a 5-day full-time worker has 28 days total, including bank holidays
• On top of the 5.6 weeks: that worker has 36 days total (28 + 8)
• Part-time pro-rata: a 3-day worker should receive 4.8 bank-holiday days pro-rata, even if their working days do not normally fall on bank holidays

Carry-Over Rules

Workers can normally only carry over up to 8 days (the additional 1.6 weeks portion) of unused leave into the next holiday year, and only if their contract allows it. Special rules let workers carry over leave they could not take because of:

• Sickness absence — up to 4 weeks of EU leave for up to 18 months
• Family leave (maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement) — full 5.6 weeks
• Employer refusal of a leave request — full statutory amount

Worked Examples

Frequently asked questions