This article explains how UK statutory holiday entitlement works and how it accrues for full-time, part-time, irregular-hours and part-year workers, under the Working Time Regulations and the reforms applying to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. A companion article, "Holiday pay: how to calculate it," covers how to work out the amounts to pay.
What is the statutory minimum holiday entitlement?
Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year (statutory annual leave), a right under the Working Time Regulations 1998 that covers agency, irregular-hours and part-year workers as well as conventional employees. For someone on a five-day week, 5.6 weeks equals 28 days. The entitlement is the same regardless of how someone is paid, though the calculation and accrual differ by working pattern. Many workers have a contract giving more than the statutory minimum, which is governed first by the contract.
Is entitlement capped at 28 days?
Yes. Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days even where the 5.6-week multiplier would give more. A six-day-week worker would arithmetically get 33.6 days but is capped at 28. The cap only affects workers who work more than five days a week. Employers may offer more as a contractual benefit but are not obliged to.
How is entitlement calculated for part-time workers?
Part-time workers on regular hours get the same 5.6 weeks, which is fewer than 28 days because their week is shorter. The calculation is 5.6 multiplied by the days worked each week, so three days a week gives 16.8 days and four days gives 22.4 days. The GOV.UK holiday entitlement calculator confirms these figures. The principle is proportionality, so part-time staff are never worse off pro rata than full-time colleagues.
How do I calculate entitlement for fixed weekly hours spread unevenly across days?
Work it out in days first, then convert to hours using the average working day. Entitlement in days is the lower of 28 or 5.6 multiplied by the days worked per week; the average working day is total weekly hours divided by days worked per week. For example, 30 hours over four days gives 22.4 days, an average working day of 7.5 hours, and a full-year entitlement of 168 hours. When the worker takes a day off, the hours deducted depend on which day it is.
What is a leave year and how is it set?
A leave year is the 12-month period over which statutory leave is measured and must be taken. Tell staff their leave year dates when they start, for example 1 January to 31 December, usually in the contract. If the contract is silent, the law fills the gap: for anyone starting after 1 October 1998 it begins on their first day; for earlier starters it begins on 1 October. A clear contractual leave year removes ambiguity. The leave year is not affected by maternity, paternity or adoption leave, during which holiday continues to accrue.
What are irregular-hours and part-year workers?
These two categories determine who the accrual method and rolled-up holiday pay apply to. An irregular-hours worker has paid hours that are, under their contract, wholly or mostly variable, typically casual and zero-hours arrangements; a worker on a rotating but fixed shift pattern is not an irregular-hours worker. A part-year worker only works part of the year and has periods of at least a week when they are not required to work and not paid, such as a seasonal worker. Part-year status can apply even where hours are fixed during the weeks worked.
How does holiday accrue in the first year for regular-hours workers?
For workers who are not irregular-hours or part-year, leave builds up from the start, and an employer can use an accrual system in the first year under which the worker receives one-twelfth of their annual entitlement on the first day of each month. Someone entitled to 28 days who has completed three months would have accrued 7 days. After the first year, entitlement is based on the proportion of a week worked, known as pro-rating. The 2024 reforms did not change this for regular-hours staff.
What if a regular-hours worker starts part way through the leave year?
They are entitled to a proportion of the full leave depending on how much of the year remains, accruing one-twelfth from their first day, rounded up to the nearest half day. For example, a five-day worker entitled to 28 days whose leave year starts 1 January but who starts on 13 January is entitled to 2.5 days for January, because 28 divided by 12 is 2.33, rounded up. Alternatively the employer can calculate the first month strictly pro rata to days actually worked. The GOV.UK calculator can work this out.
What is the 12.07% accrual method and who does it apply to?
It calculates entitlement as a percentage of hours actually worked each pay period rather than awarding fixed days up front, and it applies to irregular-hours and part-year workers for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, in the first year and beyond. The figure comes from 5.6 weeks of leave leaving 46.4 working weeks (52 minus 5.6), and 12.07% of 46.4 is 5.6. Entitlement accrues as 12.07% of hours worked in the period, rounded to the nearest hour, with 30 minutes or more rounded up. For example, 68 hours in a month accrues 8 hours of holiday (68 multiplied by 12.07% is 8.21, rounded to 8).
Does the 12.07% figure change if a worker has more than the statutory minimum?
Yes. The 12.07% rate is built on 5.6 weeks; a worker contractually entitled to more uses a different percentage, calculated as total holiday weeks divided by the remaining working weeks, multiplied by 100. For a worker entitled to 6 weeks, 6 divided by 46.4 working weeks gives about 12.93%, so their holiday accrues at that rate of hours worked. Apply your chosen divisor consistently across calculations.
How does the 12.07% method handle very low weekly hours?
Where a weekly-paid irregular-hours or part-year worker works four hours a week or less, standard rounding could leave them accruing nothing in some weeks. To prevent this, it may be appropriate to round up to the next half hour or hour so the worker still accrues some entitlement. This is a fairness safeguard reflecting that workers should not lose statutory leave because their hours are small. Build this into payroll for very short shifts.
How was holiday calculated before the reforms?
For leave years beginning on or before 31 March 2024, the new accrual method did not have to be used, and entitlement for irregular-hours and part-year workers did not need to be accrued on hours already worked. Employers could use a leave-year or accrual approach and estimate entitlement from average days or hours using the GOV.UK calculator. The specific accrual method only becomes compulsory once the worker's leave year renews on or after 1 April 2024, so employers transitioned at different points during 2024.
How does holiday accrue during maternity, family leave or sickness?
A worker continues to accrue statutory holiday during sick leave, maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and other statutory leave, and the leave year is unaffected. Annual leave cannot be taken during maternity leave itself, though some family-related leave can be taken in blocks with annual leave in between. For irregular-hours and part-year workers (leave years from 1 April 2024), a specific method works out accrual during such absences: take a 52-week relevant period ending the day before the absence, exclude weeks of family leave or sickness, find average weekly hours and apply 12.07%.
How do I work out accrual during absence using the 52-week relevant period?
Use the 12.07% principle on average hours. For a worker employed over 52 weeks who took full leave the previous year, average weekly hours is total hours divided by 46.4 (52 minus 5.6). The divisor is higher if they took less than 5.6 weeks, and lower if employed under a year. Divide average weekly hours by 100, multiply by 12.07 for holiday accrued per week, then multiply by weeks of absence and round. For example, a worker who worked 1,032 hours then took 40 weeks of maternity leave accrues about 107 hours. With multiple absences, the relevant period excludes earlier leave weeks and can stretch back up to 104 weeks.
Do bank holidays count towards the 5.6 weeks?
Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and there is no separate statutory right to take them off. An employer can choose to include bank holidays within the 5.6 weeks, so for a worker entitled to 28 days the eight England and Wales bank holidays could be counted within that 28 rather than on top. Whether they are included or additional is a matter for the contract, so state your position clearly. Bank holidays offered on top of 5.6 weeks are contractual and can have separate rules.
When can unused holiday be carried over?
Carry-over is generally limited. Ordinary carry-over of up to 8 of the 28 days is allowed only where the employer agrees, governed by the contract. Where a worker could not take leave because of maternity or other family-related leave, the employer must allow all untaken statutory leave, up to 28 days, to carry into the next year. A regular-hours, all-year-round worker who could not take leave due to sickness may carry over up to 20 days, used within 18 months of the end of the accrual year; an irregular-hours or part-year worker in the same situation may carry over up to 28 days within 18 months. Leave above 28 days may be carried over only as the contract allows.
What if an employer fails to allow a worker to take leave?
If a worker was prevented from taking statutory leave by the employer's failures, they can carry the whole of that leave over. This applies where the employer refused to recognise the right or to pay for it, did not give a reasonable opportunity to take leave and encourage it, or failed to warn that untaken leave would be lost. Regular-hours workers may carry over up to 20 days for these reasons, while irregular-hours and part-year workers may carry over their entire entitlement. A worker who did not receive rolled-up holiday pay they were due can also carry over their whole entitlement. Avoid these situations, because the purpose of leave is genuine rest.
How does notice for booking and refusing holiday work?
The statutory notice a worker must give is at least twice the length of the leave requested plus one day, so three days' notice for one day's leave. An employer can refuse or cancel approved leave but must give notice at least equal to the leave length plus one day, so 11 days' notice to cancel 10 days. An employer can require staff to take leave at set times, such as a Christmas shutdown, by giving notice at least twice the length of the leave before it begins. The contract applies if it sets different rules. Employers can refuse leave at a particular time but cannot refuse to let a worker take leave at all.
Where can I find calculators and further help?
GOV.UK provides a holiday entitlement calculator at https://www.gov.uk/calculate-holiday-entitlement for full-time, part-time, casual and irregular-hours workers, including those starting or leaving part way through a leave year. The detailed rules sit in the GOV.UK guidance on holiday entitlement and the reforms guidance on 12.07% accrual. For how to work out the amounts to pay, see the companion article "Holiday pay: how to calculate it." Acas offers free, impartial advice on disputes. Check the relevant contract first and seek independent legal advice where a situation is genuinely uncertain.