Holiday Entitlement Calculator UK

Calculate annual leave entitlement for any working pattern — full-time, part-time, or part-year. Covers pro-rata, bank holidays by region, and holiday pay. Free UK calculator updated for 2026/27.

Holiday entitlement inputs

Results update as you type

Hours per Week *

Days per Week

Bank Holidays & Region

Include Bank Holidays in Entitlement

Bank holidays can be part of the statutory 5.6 weeks

Region

Part-Year Worker

Calculate for Part-Year

For employees who start mid-year or work term-time only

Statutory Minimum

Statutory entitlement: 5.6 weeks per year

For 5-day week: 28 days

For 3-day week: 16.8 days

Many employers offer more than the statutory minimum.

Holiday Entitlement

days per year

210

hours per year

Statutory Days

28 days

5.6 weeks × 5 days

Bank Holidays

8 days

Included in total (england)

Calculation Breakdown

Base entitlement28 days

(5.6 weeks × 5 days/week)

Total entitlement28 days

This includes 8 bank holidays for England & Wales. Your employer may handle bank holidays differently.

Automated Payroll & Holiday TrackingUK employers are legally required to maintain accurate records of annual leave accrual and holiday pay for every working pattern under the Working Time Regulations.

Annual Leave Entitlement in the UK: The Rules Explained

Every worker in the UK is legally entitled to paid statutory annual leave — often referred to as holiday allowance or leave entitlement. Understanding how holiday is calculated protects employee rights and ensures employers stay fully compliant with UK labor laws under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

Statutory Holiday Entitlement

Under UK law, almost all workers are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year. For employees working a standard 5-day week, this equals exactly 28 days of leave per annum.

Important: Statutory entitlement can legally include bank holidays. There is no automatic legal right to extra paid leave for bank holidays over and above the 28-day statutory limit. Always verify your written contract of employment to check how your organisation handles public holidays.

Pro-Rata Annual Leave for Part-Time Workers

Part-time staff are entitled to the exact same statutory baseline of 5.6 weeks paid leave, calculated on a pro-rata basis aligned with their specific weekly working pattern. The mathematical formula is straightforward:

5.6 weeks × days worked per week = annual holiday days

Real-World Examples:

3 days per week: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days annual leave
4 days per week: 4 × 5.6 = 22.4 days annual leave
2.5 days per week: 2.5 × 5.6 = 14.0 days annual leave

Entitlement by Working Pattern

Days per Week	Statutory Entitlement	In Hours (7.5h day)	Including Bank Hols (England)
1 day	5.6 days	42.0 hours	5.6 days (inc. ~1.6 bank hols)
2 days	11.2 days	84.0 hours	11.2 days (inc. ~3.2 bank hols)
3 days	16.8 days	126.0 hours	16.8 days (inc. ~4.8 bank hols)
4 days	22.4 days	168.0 hours	22.4 days (inc. ~6.4 bank hols)
5 days	28.0 days	210.0 hours	28.0 days (inc. 8 bank hols)
6 days	28.0 days*	210.0 hours	28.0 days (inc. 8 bank hols)

*The statutory maximum is capped at 28 days regardless of working pattern. Workers on 6+ days per week receive the same 28 days as 5-day workers.

Bank Holidays by Region

The total number of official bank and public holidays varies across the jurisdictions of the UK:

England & Wales

8 Bank Holidays

Scotland

9 Bank Holidays

Northern Ireland

10 Bank Holidays

Part-Year and Term-Time Workers

Workers who do not work full 12-month years — such as term-time staff or employees who join or leave mid-way through a leave year — have their statutory holiday pro-rated based on the proportion of the year worked.

Example: If an employee works 6 months of a leave year and is entitled to a full annual allowance of 28 days, their statutory entitlement is 14 days (28 × 6/12 = 14).

Carrying Over Holiday

Under UK regulations, the core 4 weeks of statutory leave (20 days for full-time staff) generally cannot be carried over into the next leave year — it must be taken or lost. However, the additional 1.6 weeks (8 days for full-time staff) may be carried over if agreed in the employer's contractual policy.

Key statutory exceptions allowing carry-over include:

Employees taking statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, or shared parental leave
Employees unable to take leave due to long-term sickness or illness
Situations where the employer wrongfully prevented the employee from taking statutory leave

How to Calculate Holiday Pay

Holiday pay must reflect an employee's normal remuneration — not just their baseline basic salary. This requirement is especially critical for workers who regularly work overtime, earn commission, or receive shift allowances.

Fixed-Hours Workers

For employees with fixed hours and regular pay, holiday pay equals their standard daily earnings. For example, a worker on £30,000 per year across a 5-day week has a daily rate of £115.38 (£30,000 ÷ 260 working days).

Variable-Pay & Shift Workers

Where pay varies due to overtime or commission, holiday pay is calculated using the average weekly earnings over the previous 52 paid weeks worked. Weeks without remuneration are excluded, looking back up to 104 weeks if necessary.

Rolled-Up Holiday Pay (Zero-Hours and Casual Workers)

Effective April 2024, UK employers can legally pay rolled-up holiday pay to irregular-hours or part-year workers. This involves adding an additional 12.07% top-up to hourly pay to cover holiday entitlement as hours are worked.

Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) — Holiday in Lieu Explained

Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) is an agreement between an employer and employee where overtime hours worked are banked as extra time off instead of paid overtime pay.

Key Rules for TOIL:

TOIL is entirely separate from statutory annual leave — it supplements statutory leave.
Employees must receive their mandatory 5.6 weeks statutory paid leave regardless of TOIL.
Employers are not legally obligated to offer TOIL unless specified in employment contracts.
Unused TOIL is typically paid out upon termination of employment.

Bank Holiday Entitlement for Part-Time Workers

Part-time staff are entitled to a pro-rata share of bank holidays to ensure fair treatment relative to full-time colleagues.

Pro-rata bank holiday formula = (Days worked per week ÷ 5) × Regional bank holidays

Days per Week	England (8 bank hols)	Scotland (9 bank hols)	N. Ireland (10 bank hols)
1 day	1.6 days	1.8 days	2.0 days
2 days	3.2 days	3.6 days	4.0 days
3 days	4.8 days	5.4 days	6.0 days
4 days	6.4 days	7.2 days	8.0 days
5 days	8.0 days	9.0 days	10.0 days

Holiday Accrual Calculator: How Annual Leave Builds Up

Employees begin accruing annual leave from their very first day of employment, including during probation periods.

Standard Monthly Holiday Accrual

Full-time employees accrue leave at 2.33 days per month (28 days ÷ 12 months). After 3 months, an employee accrues 7 days; after 6 months, 14 days.

Hourly Holiday Accrual for Zero-Hours and Irregular Workers

For zero-hours or shift workers, holiday accrues at 12.07% of total hours worked (derived from 5.6 weeks statutory leave ÷ 46.4 working weeks per year).

Hours Worked	Holiday Accrued (hours)	Equivalent Days (8h day)
50 hours	6.0 hours	0.75 days
100 hours	12.1 hours	1.5 days
200 hours	24.1 hours	3.0 days
400 hours	48.3 hours	6.0 days

Accrual During Leave and Absence

Statutory holiday continues to accrue normally during:

Maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave
Sickness absence (including long-term sick leave)
Notice periods (whether worked or on garden leave)