Holiday Entitlement Calculator
Work out the statutory paid holiday your working pattern gives you, without digging through policy documents or doing the maths by hand. Choose the pattern that matches how you actually work, enter your figures, and the calculator will show both the answer and how it was reached.
Calculate your holiday entitlement
This tool estimates the statutory minimum, not any extra contractual leave. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, the 12.07% accrual calculation shown here follows the Great Britain rules for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Northern Ireland has a separate working-time framework, so the tool will flag that situation instead of applying the GB percentage automatically.
Quick answer: Almost all UK workers are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. For a regular full-year pattern, multiply normal working days per week by 5.6, subject to a 28-day statutory cap. In England, Scotland and Wales, irregular-hours and part-year workers generally accrue statutory leave at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
Written by Ruby Miller · HR & Employment Law Content Lead
Holiday entitlement at a glance
The headline rule is straightforward: most workers are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. What usually causes confusion is the unit — days for some workers, hours for others — and whether bank holidays sit inside the allowance or on top of it.
Days per week × 5.6
If you work the same number of days each week throughout the leave year, the calculation is usually simple. Three days a week gives 16.8 days; four days gives 22.4 days; five days gives 28 days.
28 days is the statutory ceiling
Working six days a week does not create 33.6 statutory days. The legal minimum is capped at 28 days, although your employer can choose to give more under the contract.
Leave can build in hours
For qualifying irregular-hours and part-year workers in England, Scotland and Wales, leave generally accrues at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
How the holiday entitlement calculation works
For someone with a regular working pattern, the statutory minimum is based on 5.6 weeks of paid leave. The easiest way to think about it is this: take the number of days you normally work each week and multiply it by 5.6.
So if you work four days a week, the calculation is 4 × 5.6 = 22.4 days. If you work five days a week, the answer is 28 days. Once the calculation reaches 28 days, the statutory minimum does not increase further, even if you normally work six or seven days each week.
Why irregular-hours workers are different
Irregular-hours and part-year workers do not always have a neat weekly pattern to multiply by 5.6. In England, Scotland and Wales, the current rules for qualifying workers use 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
The percentage comes from the same 5.6-week entitlement. Remove 5.6 weeks from a 52-week year and 46.4 working weeks remain. Dividing 5.6 by 46.4 gives about 12.07%.
Why the calculator asks for a pay period
This matters more than it first appears. A monthly-paid worker should enter the hours worked in that month; a weekly-paid worker should enter the hours worked in that week. The leave is then calculated for that period and rounded under the statutory rules.
Holiday entitlement and holiday pay are two different questions
This calculator answers “How much paid leave do I get?” It does not answer “How much should I be paid while I am on leave?” Holiday pay can depend on normal pay, regular overtime, commission and the worker’s pay pattern. For that, use the Holiday Pay Calculator.
If you joined or left part-way through the leave year, your full-year entitlement is only the starting point. Use the Annual Leave Calculator to work out the part-year figure.
What this looks like in a real workplace
Holiday policies are rarely written in the same language as the law. One employer might say “28 days including bank holidays”, another might say “20 days plus bank holidays”, and a third might give 25 days plus bank holidays as an enhanced benefit. The wording looks different, but the first two can still meet the same statutory minimum for a five-day worker.
This usually means bank holidays are counted inside the 28-day annual allowance. If you take eight bank holidays, 20 days remain to book elsewhere.
This is another common way of presenting the same minimum for a five-day worker where eight bank holidays are provided.
This is more generous than the statutory minimum. The extra days come from the employment contract, not from the statutory formula.
This is common for irregular schedules, compressed hours and unequal shift lengths because hours can represent the time off more accurately than whole days.
That is why the calculator result should be compared with your contract rather than treated as the only number that matters. The statutory figure is the floor; your employer can always give more.
Which holiday calculation should you use?
Do not choose the method just because someone is called “part-time”, “full-time” or “zero-hours”. Those labels can be misleading. What matters is how the person actually works across the leave year.
- the worker has a regular number of working days each week;
- the pattern runs through the full leave year; and
- you want the statutory full-year entitlement in days.
- the worker qualifies as irregular-hours or part-year;
- the relevant leave year began on or after 1 April 2024; and
- you are calculating leave accrued from actual hours in a pay period.
Do not choose a method only because someone is on a zero-hours contract. The legal definitions and the actual working pattern matter. Where the arrangement is unusual, check the contract and current official guidance.
Entitlement by working pattern
The days-per-week method scales in a straight line until it hits the 28-day statutory cap. Here’s what that looks like across common patterns:
| Days worked per week | Calculation | Statutory minimum leave |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days | 5 × 5.6 | 28 days (cap applies) |
| 4 days | 4 × 5.6 | 22.4 days |
| 3 days | 3 × 5.6 | 16.8 days |
| 2 days | 2 × 5.6 | 11.2 days |
| 1 day | 1 × 5.6 | 5.6 days |
| 6 days | 6 × 5.6 = 33.6, capped | 28 days (cap applies) |
Anyone working more than 5 days a week doesn’t get extra statutory leave for it — the 28-day cap is a hard ceiling written into the Regulations, though a generous employer can of course still offer more as a contractual benefit.
Who normally gets statutory paid holiday?
Almost all people classed as workers are entitled to paid annual leave. That includes employees, many agency workers and workers with irregular hours. Entitlement starts building from the beginning of employment; there is no waiting period before statutory leave begins to accrue.
Before relying on the result, check these three things
- Employment status: the person must fall within the legal category that receives statutory paid holiday.
- Working pattern: regular full-year patterns and irregular/part-year patterns can use different accrual methods.
- Contractual enhancement: an employer can give more than the statutory minimum, so your contract may produce a higher figure than this calculator.
The calculator deliberately shows the statutory floor. If your employment contract gives 30 days, 33 days or “25 days plus bank holidays”, use the contractual figure where it is more generous.
Before you email HR, check these four things
A surprising number of holiday disputes come from different people using different starting figures. These four checks usually explain the gap.
Quick contract check
- What is the leave year? It might run January to December, April to March, or from your start date.
- Are bank holidays included? The contract should say whether they sit inside the allowance or are added on top.
- Is the entitlement shown in days or hours? This matters for compressed hours, shifts and irregular patterns.
- Does the employer offer enhanced leave? Long-service days, birthday leave or company shutdown days can sit above the statutory minimum.
If your own calculation still differs from the holiday system after those checks, ask HR or payroll to show the calculation they used. A good answer should explain the leave year, working pattern, entitlement unit and any rounding applied.
Cases where a simple “days × 5.6” answer can mislead
Joining or leaving mid-year
The regular-pattern result on this page is a full-leave-year figure. A starter or leaver normally needs a pro-rated calculation for the part of the leave year actually spent in employment. Use the Annual Leave Calculator for that second step.
Term-time-only and other part-year staff
In England, Scotland and Wales, a worker can be “part-year” even where their hours are fixed during the weeks they do work. For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, statutory entitlement for qualifying part-year workers is built at 12.07% of actual hours worked in each pay period.
Compressed hours and uneven working days
If someone works a fixed weekly total but their working days are not equal lengths, a simple answer in “days” can be awkward. Converting an entitlement into hours using the average working day is often clearer because taking one long day off should not be treated the same as taking one short day off.
Changing from full-time to part-time, or back again
Do not apply the new pattern retrospectively to the whole leave year. Work out the entitlement for each period using the pattern that actually applied during that period, then combine the figures.
Agency workers
Agency workers can qualify for statutory paid holiday. In practice, check who is responsible for paying the worker, the working pattern used for the assignment, and any more generous contractual entitlement before relying on a single headline figure.
Maternity, adoption and other statutory family leave
Annual leave continues to build during statutory family leave. Untaken holiday can also have special carry-over protections where family-related leave prevented the worker from using it.
Northern Ireland
The headline minimum is still 5.6 weeks and regular part-time entitlement is still pro-rated, but Northern Ireland has its own working-time legislation. This calculator therefore does not automatically apply the Great Britain post-April-2024 12.07% irregular-hours accrual rule when “Northern Ireland” is selected.
Worked examples
Why holiday is sometimes shown in hours instead of days
Two people can work the same total hours each week but still need their leave recorded differently. Someone who works five equal seven-hour days has a simple day-based pattern. Someone who works two ten-hour days and two shorter days does not.
In that second situation, an “average day” can hide the real amount of time being taken off. Recording leave in hours can be fairer because a long shift uses more of the entitlement than a short shift. This is especially common with compressed hours, rotating shifts and irregular schedules.
What your result actually means
The number in the green box is the statutory starting point. Your real entitlement at work may be higher, so the useful next step is to compare it with the wording in your contract, staff handbook or holiday system.
It might run January–December, April–March or from your employment start date. The dates matter for starters, leavers and carry-over.
“28 days including bank holidays” is different from “28 days plus bank holidays”. Both can be lawful, but the second is more generous.
Regular workers often book leave in days. Irregular-hours workers commonly accrue leave in hours. Do not convert between the two without knowing the normal day length.
Length-of-service days, birthday leave and company shutdown days can sit above the statutory minimum.
One 2026 change worth knowing about
From 6 April 2026, employers in Great Britain must keep detailed annual-leave and holiday-pay records and retain them for at least six years. For workers, that makes the paper trail more useful too: payslips, leave-system history and written approval of carried-over leave can help show how an entitlement was actually administered.
This does not change the basic 5.6-week entitlement. It changes the record-keeping duty around how leave and holiday pay are administered.
What this calculator doesn’t cover
- Contractual holiday above the statutory minimum.
- Exact starter or leaver pro-rating for a partial leave year.
- Holiday pay in pounds, including normal-pay components such as regular overtime or commission.
- Carry-over caused by sickness, family leave or an employer failing to provide a reasonable opportunity to take leave.
- Complex shift-cycle conversions where leave is better expressed in shifts or hours.
- Northern Ireland’s separate irregular-hours rules; the calculator flags this instead of applying the Great Britain 12.07% method automatically.
Where this trips people up
Most wrong holiday calculations are not caused by difficult maths. They usually come from one wrong assumption at the start — especially around bank holidays, part-year work or the 28-day cap.
- ✕Adding bank holidays on top of the 5.6 weeks. This is the one we hear most, almost always in December. An employer can count bank holidays towards the 5.6-week minimum. Whether you receive them inside the allowance or on top depends on the contract.
- ✕Applying the days-per-week method to term-time or seasonal staff. In England, Scotland and Wales, qualifying part-year and irregular-hours workers use the 12.07%-of-hours accrual method for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Northern Ireland has a separate framework.
- ✕Forgetting the 28-day cap. Someone working 6 days a week doesn’t get 33.6 days of statutory leave — the entitlement stops at 28, though a contract can still grant more voluntarily.
- ✕Using calendar weeks instead of the actual leave year. The entitlement belongs to the employer’s defined leave year, which might not match the calendar year. Starters and leavers need the correct leave-year dates before pro-rating.
FAQs
My HR system shows a different number from this calculator. Which one is right?
Start by checking whether the HR system includes extra contractual leave, uses hours instead of days, applies starter or leaver pro-rating, or includes bank holidays differently. If the figures still do not match, ask HR or payroll to show the working behind their number rather than comparing only the final totals.
Do bank holidays count towards my statutory entitlement?
In most cases, yes — bank holidays sit inside the 5.6-week statutory minimum rather than on top of it, unless a contract specifically says otherwise.
Do zero-hours workers get holiday entitlement?
Yes. Zero-hours workers can qualify for statutory paid holiday. In England, Scotland and Wales, a worker who meets the irregular-hours definition generally accrues statutory leave at 12.07% of hours actually worked in each pay period for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Northern Ireland has separate working-time rules.
Why is the cap exactly 28 days and not something else?
28 days is what you get from 5 days a week × 5.6 weeks, the maximum a standard full-time pattern can reach. The Working Time Regulations cap statutory leave at 28 days regardless of how many days a week someone actually works, so a 6- or 7-day week doesn’t earn extra statutory leave.
Does part-time work reduce my holiday pro-rata, or do I lose out?
It’s pro-rated, not reduced unfairly — part-time workers get exactly the same proportion of leave as a full-time colleague on the same daily pattern. Working 3 days a week gives 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days, the same ratio a full-timer gets at 5 × 5.6 = 28.
What happens to my leave entitlement if I start or leave partway through the year?
You build up entitlement pro-rata to the proportion of the leave year actually worked. This calculator gives the full-year figure for a regular pattern — for a partial year, use the Annual Leave Calculator to pro-rate it against the exact weeks worked.
Can my employer round my entitlement down?
There’s no statutory requirement to round in the employer’s favour — some employers round entitlement up to the nearest half or whole day for administrative simplicity, but rounding down below the statutory calculation would fall short of the legal minimum.
Is unpaid leave, like a career break, included when calculating entitlement?
It depends on whether the time counts as a “week” worked under your contract. Genuinely unpaid periods such as an unpaid career break generally don’t accrue statutory leave in the same way paid weeks do — check the specific type of unpaid leave against current guidance, since some (like unpaid parental leave) are treated differently from others.
Does this apply the same way in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
England, Scotland and Wales share the Great Britain rules used for the 12.07% irregular-hours and part-year accrual method. Northern Ireland has separate working-time legislation. The 5.6-week headline minimum still applies in Northern Ireland, but do not assume every Great Britain accrual rule carries across unchanged.
Is 28 days always “20 days plus 8 bank holidays”?
No. That is a common way to package the minimum for a five-day worker, but it is not the only lawful arrangement. An employer can include bank holidays within the statutory allowance, and the exact split should be stated in the contract or holiday policy.
Should I enter contracted hours or hours actually worked for the 12.07% calculation?
For the Great Britain irregular-hours and part-year accrual method, use the hours actually worked in the relevant pay period. The calculator asks for a pay period for this reason.
Can my employer give me more holiday than this calculator shows?
Yes. The calculator shows the statutory minimum. Contractual annual leave can be more generous, and the contract should win where it gives you a higher entitlement.