Calculate statutory holiday entitlement and pay for your employees. Covers full-time, part-time and irregular hours workers including the 12.07% method.
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All workers in the UK are legally entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year under the Working Time Regulations 1998. For a full-time worker on a 5-day week this equals 28 days per year including bank holidays.
A full-time worker working 5 days a week is entitled to 28 days paid holiday per year (5.6 × 5). Employers can include the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales within this 28-day entitlement.
Part-time workers are entitled to the same proportion of 5.6 weeks holiday as full-time workers. A worker on 3 days a week is entitled to 5.6 × 3 = 16.8 days per year. Part-time workers cannot be treated less favourably than full-time workers.
For workers with irregular hours, holiday entitlement is calculated as 12.07% of hours worked. This is derived from the fact that 5.6 weeks holiday represents 12.07% of a full working year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 weeks = 12.07%).
Note: Following a Supreme Court ruling, this method should only be used for workers with genuinely irregular hours and should not be used for part-year workers.
Holiday pay must be paid at the worker's normal rate of pay. This includes regular overtime, commission and other regular payments — not just basic pay. HMRC has taken enforcement action against employers who paid only basic pay during holidays.
Workers accrue holiday from their first day of employment. In the first year, workers accrue approximately 2.33 days per month (28 ÷ 12). Employers can require workers to take holiday at specific times, including shutdowns, provided they give adequate notice.
Workers can carry over up to 4 weeks of unused holiday if they were unable to take it due to illness. Since 2024, workers can also carry over holiday accrued during family leave.