The short answer
- Irregular-hours and part-year workers build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period.
- Work 30 hours in a week and you build up 3.62 hours of paid holiday.
- Instead, your employer can pay rolled-up holiday pay: an extra 12.07% of your pay on every payslip, shown as a separate line.
- When you take holiday, you should be paid your average pay over the last 52 weeks in which you were paid.
- The rules apply in England, Scotland and Wales to leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024.
Who the rules cover
The rules came in through the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023. They cover two groups of workers, including agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts, but only where the hours are genuinely variable or the year has unpaid gaps.
Everyone else, including part-time staff on a fixed pattern, keeps the standard entitlement of 5.6 weeks. If you work the same days each week, our holiday entitlement calculator is the one to use.
Irregular-hours workers
You are an irregular-hours worker if the number of paid hours you work in each pay period is, under your contract, wholly or mostly variable. Typical examples:
- zero-hours or casual workers offered shifts as needed;
- bank staff in health and care;
- staff with a small number of fixed hours plus a large, varying amount of extra work.
You are not an irregular-hours worker if you work a fixed rota, even one where the hours change week to week in a set pattern, or if you only occasionally work overtime.
Part-year workers
You are a part-year worker if your contract runs all year but you are only required to work for part of it, and there are periods of at least a week when you do not work and are not paid. Examples are term-time staff paid only in term, and seasonal workers who stay on the books between seasons.
Term-time staff paid all year
If your term-time salary is spread evenly over 12 months, you are paid in every week, so you are usually not a part-year worker. Check how your contract describes your pay.
Where 12.07% comes from
Every worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday a year. Someone who works all year and takes all their holiday works 52 − 5.6 = 46.4 weeks. So for each week worked, they earn 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 0.1207 of a week of holiday.
That is why 12.07% of hours worked gives exactly 5.6 weeks over a full year. If your contract gives more than 5.6 weeks, your employer should use a higher percentage. For 6 weeks, it would be 6 ÷ 46 = 13.04%.
Building up holiday hours
At the end of each pay period, take the hours you actually worked and multiply by 12.07%. That is the holiday you have built up for that period. It is paid holiday you can take later.
| Hours worked | Holiday built up | Rounded | Rolled-up holiday pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 0.97 | 1 | £12.27 |
| 10 | 1.21 | 1 | £15.34 |
| 20 | 2.41 | 2 | £30.68 |
| 25 | 3.02 | 3 | £38.35 |
| 30 | 3.62 | 4 | £46.02 |
| 40 | 4.83 | 5 | £61.36 |
Hours you did not work, such as when you are on holiday, do not build up more holiday. Overtime does: every hour actually worked counts. Your employer can also let you take holiday before you have built it up.
Rounding
GOV.UK and Acas round the holiday for each pay period to the nearest hour. Part hours of under 30 minutes round down, and 30 minutes or more round up.
- Hours worked68
- Holiday built up68 × 12.07%8.21 hours
On small weekly hours, rounding can make a real difference: 4 hours worked gives 0.48 hours, which rounds down to nothing. Your employer can choose to round up or use exact figures, and many payroll systems record holiday to two decimal places.
A full year of work
- Hours worked in the year30 × 46.41,392 hours
- Holiday built up1,392 × 12.07%168.01 hours
- 5.6 weeks at 30 hoursfor comparison168 hours
The two match. Someone who works all year on irregular hours ends up with the same 5.6 weeks as a regular worker; they just build it up as they go.
A part-year example
Now take a seasonal worker who works 30 hours a week for 20 weeks and is not paid for the rest of the year.
- Hours worked
- 600
- Holiday
- 12.07% of 600
- Holiday a year
- 72.42 hours
- Weekly hours
- 30
- Holiday
- 5.6 × 30
- Holiday a year
- 168 hours
Before April 2024, the Supreme Court’s Harpur Trust v Brazel decision meant part-year workers could get the full 5.6 weeks, however few weeks they worked. The new rules end that: holiday is now in proportion to the work you do.
Rolled-up holiday pay
With rolled-up holiday pay (RHP), your employer adds 12.07% of your pay to each payslip instead of paying you when you take holiday. You still have the right to take time off; it is just unpaid when you take it, because you have already been paid for it.
- 20 hours at £11£220.00
- 20 hours at £12£240.00
- Total pay£460.00
At the £12.71 National Living Wage, 30 hours gives £381.30 of pay and £46.02 of rolled-up holiday pay. Over 46.4 weeks that is about £2,135.46. Check your hourly rate is at least the legal minimum with our minimum wage calculator.
Rules for rolled-up pay
- It is only allowed for irregular-hours and part-year workers, in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024.
- It must be 12.07% of your total pay for the period, including overtime and commission, or more.
- It must be shown as a separate item on every payslip.
- It must be paid at the same time as the pay for the work it relates to.
- Your employer should tell you it is using RHP and may need your agreement to change your contract.
- Your basic pay must still be at least the National Minimum Wage, without counting the holiday pay.
Put some aside
Because your holiday is paid in advance, a week off means a week without pay. Many people move the holiday line into a separate savings account each payday.
Accrual or rolled-up?
- Paid
- When you take holiday
- Rate
- 52-week average pay
- On leaving
- Untaken hours paid out
- Good for
- Steady income on holiday
- Paid
- Every payslip, +12.07%
- Rate
- Current pay
- On leaving
- Nothing more to pay
- Good for
- Flexible, short-term work
Over a full year the two come to about the same if your pay is steady. If your pay is rising, rolled-up pay tracks it straight away; if it is falling, the 52-week average can work in your favour.
What an hour of holiday pays
If your employer uses accrual, each hour of holiday you take should be paid at your average rate. The calculator works this out as your pay over the reference period divided by the hours you worked in it.
- Average week’s pay£20,000 ÷ 52£384.62
- Average pay per hour worked£20,000 ÷ 1,500£13.33
- 3.62 hours of holiday from a 30-hour week× £13.33£48.28
The 52-week reference period
Holiday pay for workers with variable pay uses an average over a reference period:
- Use the last 52 weeks in which you were paid, ending with the last complete week before the holiday.
- Skip weeks with no pay, and go further back to replace them.
- Never look back more than 104 weeks. If there are fewer than 52 paid weeks in that time, use the paid weeks there are.
- Weeks off sick or on maternity or other family leave are left out.
So a worker with 45 paid weeks in the last 104, earning £9,000 for 700 hours, has an average week’s pay of £200 and an average hourly rate of about £12.86. If you have worked for less than a week, there is no reference period and your employer should pay a fair amount.
Overtime and commission
Of the 5.6 weeks, 4 weeks must be paid at your normal pay. That includes regular overtime, commission linked to the work you do, and other payments made regularly. The other 1.6 weeks can be paid at basic pay, which leaves out bonuses and commission but includes premium shift rates you normally work.
Many employers simply pay all 5.6 weeks at normal pay. For rolled-up pay, 12.07% of your total pay already includes overtime and commission. See our overtime calculator to check how overtime is taxed.
Compared with regular workers
Regular workers get 5.6 times their working week, up to 28 days. Someone working 30 hours over 4 days gets 22.4 days, or 168 hours. An irregular-hours worker averaging the same 30 hours a week all year builds up the same 168 hours, at 12.07% of each period.
The difference is timing. A regular worker has the whole year’s entitlement from the start of the holiday year (built up monthly in the first year). An irregular-hours worker only has what they have already built up, unless the employer lets them take it early.
Sickness and family leave
Hours not worked do not build up holiday under the 12.07% method, so special rules protect people who are off sick or on family leave. Holiday for those periods is worked out from the average hours you worked in the previous 52 weeks.
GOV.UK’s example: a worker on 40 weeks of maternity leave who had worked 1,032 hours in the reference period builds up about 107 hours of holiday during the leave. If you could not take holiday because of sickness or family leave, you can carry up to 28 days into the next year; for sickness, it must be used within 18 months.
Leaving a job
When you leave, holiday you have built up and not taken must be paid. If you were on rolled-up pay, it has already been paid. Our notice period and final pay calculator shows how holiday fits into a final payslip.
- Each pay periodHoliday builds up
12.07% of hours worked is added, usually shown on your payslip or in an app.
- Taking holidayPaid at your average
Average pay over the last 52 paid weeks, for each hour of holiday.
- End of leave yearCarry over
Usually up to 8 days with your employer’s agreement.
- LeavingUntaken holiday paid
Paid in your final pay. Nothing extra if you had rolled-up pay.
Northern Ireland
The 2024 changes were made for Great Britain only. In Northern Ireland, the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 still apply: 5.6 weeks of holiday, capped at 28 days, which can include bank holidays. Irregular-hours workers there usually work out holiday as a proportion of a full-time year, and rolled-up holiday pay is not provided for. Check nidirect or the Labour Relations Agency for the current position.
Checking your payslip
- Does your payslip or app show the holiday hours built up each period, at 12.07% of hours worked or more?
- If you get rolled-up pay, is it a separate line, and is it 12.07% of all your pay, including overtime?
- Is your basic hourly rate at least the minimum wage, without counting the holiday line?
- When you take holiday, are you paid your average rate, not just basic pay, for at least 4 weeks a year?
- When you leave, is untaken holiday in your final pay?
If something looks wrong, ask your employer or agency for the calculation. Acas offers free advice, and unpaid holiday pay can be claimed through an employment tribunal, usually within three months less one day.