The legal minimum
The Working Time Regulations give almost all workers 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. A “week” means the number of days or hours you normally work in a week, so the entitlement scales with your pattern. There is a cap of 28 days, so someone working six days a week still gets 28.
| Days a week | Holiday a year | In weeks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 days | 5.6 |
| 2 | 11.2 days | 5.6 |
| 3 | 16.8 days | 5.6 |
| 4 | 22.4 days | 5.6 |
| 5 | 28 days | 5.6 |
| 6 | 28 days (cap) | 4.7 |
Many employers give more than the minimum, such as 25 days plus bank holidays (33 days in all). Your contract sets your actual entitlement, but it can never be less than the legal minimum.
Bank holidays
There is no legal right to have bank holidays off or to be paid extra for working them. Employers can include the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales (9 in Scotland, 10 in Northern Ireland) in your 5.6 weeks. That is why 28 days is often described as “20 days plus bank holidays”.
If you work a bank holiday, whether you get extra pay or a day off in lieu depends on your contract. If your workplace closes on bank holidays, your employer can require you to use your holiday for those days.
Part-time workers
Part-time workers get the same 5.6 weeks off as full-time workers, made up of their own working days. Someone working three days a week gets 16.8 days: 5.6 weeks of three-day weeks.
Bank holidays are where part-timers are most often short-changed. If you never work Mondays you would miss out on most bank holidays, so fair employers pro-rate bank holidays into a total that you book like any other day. Part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-timers.
- Contract
- 25 days + 8 bank holidays
- Total
- 33 days
- Pro-rated total
- 33 × 3 ÷ 5 = 19.8 days
- Same weeks off
- 6.6 weeks
Irregular hours and part-year work
Since holiday years starting on or after 1 April 2024, workers with irregular hours (such as zero-hours or casual workers) and part-year workers (such as term-time staff) build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period.
- Hours worked30
- Accrual rate12.07%
The 12.07% comes from 5.6 weeks of holiday divided by the 46.4 weeks of the year you are not on holiday. For these workers, employers can also use rolled-up holiday pay: an extra 12.07% added to your pay for each hour worked, shown separately on your payslip. You then take unpaid time off.
Starting or leaving mid-year
If you start or leave part-way through the holiday year, your entitlement is pro-rated. Starting halfway through gives you half the year’s holiday.
In your first year of a job, holiday builds up at one-twelfth of your annual entitlement at the start of each month. Your employer can round up to the nearest half day. After the first year, you can take your full year’s holiday whenever it is agreed.
When you leave, your employer must pay you for any statutory holiday you have built up but not taken. If you have taken more than you have built up, they can only take the excess back from your final pay if your contract or a written agreement says so.
How holiday pay is worked out
Holiday pay should be your normal pay. For the first four weeks of statutory holiday, “normal” includes regular overtime, commission, shift premiums and other payments linked to the work you do.
If your pay varies, holiday pay is based on your average pay over the previous 52 weeks in which you were paid, ignoring weeks with no pay. If you have worked for less than 52 weeks, the average uses the weeks you have worked.
The extra 1.6 weeks
The remaining 1.6 weeks of statutory holiday, and any extra contractual holiday, can be paid at basic pay, unless your contract says otherwise.
Booking and refusing holiday
- Your requestGive notice of twice the length of the holiday
For a week off, give at least two weeks’ notice, unless your contract sets different rules.
- Employer refusalThey can say no with notice of the same length
To refuse a week off they must tell you at least a week before it was due to start.
- Set shutdownsEmployers can tell you when to take holiday
For example over Christmas, with notice of twice the length of the holiday.
Your employer can refuse a request for business reasons, but they must let you take your full entitlement over the year. They cannot replace statutory holiday with extra pay while you are still employed.
Carrying holiday over
You must normally take at least 4 of your 5.6 weeks within the holiday year. Your employer can agree to let you carry over the remaining 1.6 weeks, and any extra contractual holiday, if your contract allows it.
You can carry over more, up to 4 weeks, if you could not take holiday because of sickness or family leave, and you have 18 months to use it. If your employer stopped you from taking holiday, or did not tell you about your right to take it and that you might lose it, you can also carry it over.
Sickness and family leave
- Holiday continues to build up while you are off sick, and while on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
- If you are ill during booked holiday, you can take it as sick leave instead and rebook the holiday later.
- You can choose to take holiday while off sick, so you receive holiday pay instead of sick pay.
Holiday in hours
Many employers record holiday in hours, which is fairer when your days are different lengths. The statutory minimum is 5.6 times your weekly hours.
| Hours a week | Holiday hours a year |
|---|---|
| 16 | 89.6 |
| 20 | 112 |
| 30 | 168 |
| 37.5 | 210 |
| 40 | 224 |
Working out a day’s holiday pay
- Average weekly pay over the last 52 paid weeksIncluding regular overtime and commission£520.00
- Days worked a week5
If your employer only pays basic pay of £450 a week for the first four weeks of statutory holiday, they are underpaying you by £14 for every day of holiday.
Holiday pay when you leave
- Full-year entitlement28 days
- Built up by the halfway point28 × 6 ÷ 1214 days
- Already taken8 days
- Untaken6 days
- Daily pay£110
Your employer can ask you to take untaken holiday during your notice period instead of paying it, if they give you enough notice.
Common employer mistakes
- Not pro-rating bank holidays fairly for part-time workers.
- Paying holiday at basic pay when regular overtime or commission should be included.
- Telling irregular-hours workers they have no holiday, or not showing rolled-up pay on payslips.
- Refusing all holiday requests so the year’s entitlement cannot be used.
- Not paying untaken holiday in a leaver’s final pay.
If you think you have been underpaid, raise it with your employer first, then contact Acas. Claims for unpaid holiday pay usually go to an employment tribunal within three months less one day.
Your holiday year
Your holiday year is the 12 months over which your entitlement runs. Your contract should say when it starts: common choices are 1 January, 1 April or the anniversary of your start date. If your contract does not say, the holiday year starts on the anniversary of the day you started.
Plan holiday early in the year so you can use it all. Many employers have busy periods when holiday is restricted, and requests often cluster around school holidays and Christmas. If you are close to the end of the year with holiday left, ask your employer in writing whether you can carry it over, and keep their reply.
When you change jobs, your new employer’s holiday year applies, and your entitlement for the first part year is pro-rated from your start date.
Agency workers and term-time staff
Agency workers are entitled to paid holiday from the agency that pays them, from their first day. After 12 weeks in the same role, they are also entitled to the same holiday as directly recruited staff doing the same job, under the Agency Workers Regulations.
Term-time and other part-year workers build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work, so they get holiday proportionate to the time they actually work rather than a full 5.6 weeks. Many school staff take their holiday during the school holidays, and their pay is often spread across 12 months.
If your hours change part-way through the year, for example from five days to three, holiday should be recalculated for each part of the year based on the hours in it.
Compressed hours and four-day weeks
If you work your full-time hours over fewer days, such as 37.5 hours over four days, your holiday entitlement is the same in hours as a five-day worker’s, but fewer days. 5.6 weeks of a four-day week is 22.4 days, and each day off uses 9.375 hours.
This is why holiday in hours is fairer for compressed patterns. A bank holiday that falls on one of your long days uses more of your entitlement than one that falls on a shorter day, so employers often convert everything to hours. If your employer uses days, check that your total still equals 5.6 times your weekly hours.
On a true four-day week, where pay stays the same but hours fall, for example to 32 a week, your statutory entitlement is 5.6 × 32 = 179.2 hours, or 22.4 days of 8 hours. Contracts for these schemes usually set out the holiday rules in detail.
To scale a full-time salary to your hours or days, use the pro rata salary calculator. To add up the hours you have worked, the timesheet calculator turns hours and minutes into decimal hours.