Calculate Holiday Entitlement

How to calculate holiday entitlement for employees - step by step

Holiday leave entitlement varies depending on how someone works. Here are the steps and formulas for working out the correct entitlement - whether you're an HR professional, a manager, or an employee checking their own allowance.


1

Know the statutory minimum

UK law sets a minimum of 28 days paid annual leave per year for full-time employees, including bank holidays (Working Time Regulations 1998). This is the baseline. Your company can offer more than this, but no employer can offer less. This applies to all workers - full-time, part-time, and zero-hours.

2

Calculate holiday entitlement for part-time staff

Part-time workers are legally entitled to the same holiday leave entitlement as full-time colleagues on a proportional basis. To calculate holiday entitlement for part-time employees, use this formula:

(Days worked per week ÷ 5) × full-time entitlement
Example: 3 days/week → (3 ÷ 5) × 28 = 16.8 days. Always round up to the nearest half-day.
3

Work out holiday entitlement for zero-hours workers

Zero-hours and irregular workers build up holiday entitlement based on the hours they actually work, at the statutory rate of 12.07% of hours worked.

Hours worked × 12.07% = holiday entitlement (hours)
Example: 80 hours worked → 80 × 12.07% = 9.66 hours holiday entitlement.
4

Apply bank holidays correctly

Most UK employers include bank holidays within the 28-day entitlement - so 8 bank holiday days count towards the total, leaving 20 days to book freely. Some employers offer bank holidays on top of the entitlement. For part-time employees, only bank holidays falling on their working days are deducted from their entitlement.


💡 Key rules for holiday leave entitlement

  • The 28-day minimum applies from day one of employment - there is no qualifying period for statutory holiday entitlement
  • Part-time workers must receive proportionally equal holiday entitlement to full-time staff
  • Always round holiday entitlement up - never down, even to the nearest half-day
  • Zero-hours workers have the same right to paid holiday as any other worker - the amount just varies by hours worked
  • Employers cannot pay workers in lieu of holiday entitlement during employment - only on termination
  • Use the WhosOff free calculator to check any specific scenario quickly

⚠️ Important disclaimer

Holiday entitlement calculations provided here and via the WhosOff calculator are guides only. Employment law is subject to change - including following the 2024 reforms to holiday pay for irregular-hours workers. Always verify entitlements against current legislation and your own contractual terms, or seek legal advice for complex cases.



By worker type

Calculate holiday entitlement for every type of employee

The correct way to work out holiday days depends on how an employee works. Here's the calculation method and a worked example for the four most common working patterns UK HR teams encounter.


🧑‍💼 Full-time employees (5 days/week)
The straightforward case - 5 days per week, year-round.

Full-time employees working 5 days per week receive the statutory minimum of 28 days paid annual leave per year, including bank holidays. No further adjustment is needed.

If your company offers an enhanced entitlement - for example, 25 days plus bank holidays, giving 33 days in total - this exceeds the statutory minimum and is perfectly valid.

5 ÷ 5 × 28 = 28 days

Worked example

Sarah works Mon–Fri, full-time, statutory entitlement
28 days per year
Includes 8 bank holidays. 20 days left for Sarah to book freely.

👩‍💻 Part-time employees - calculate holiday entitlement part time
Working fewer than 5 days per week - entitlement scales proportionally.

Annual leave entitlement for part-time workers must be proportionally the same as for full-time staff. To calculate holiday entitlement for part-time employees, divide the number of days they work per week by 5, then multiply by the full-time entitlement.

The result should always be rounded up to the nearest half-day - employment law is clear that rounding down is not permitted, even where the result is very close to a whole number.

For part-time staff, bank holidays must also be considered carefully: only bank holidays that fall on their working days are counted against their entitlement.

(Days/week ÷ 5) × 28 = entitlement

Worked example - annual leave entitlement part time

Tom works Mon–Wed (3 days/week), statutory entitlement
16.8 days per year
(3 ÷ 5) × 28 = 16.8. Rounded up to 17 if rounding required - never down to 16.

📋 Zero-hours contracts - working out holiday entitlement
Variable or unpredictable hours - entitlement is based on hours worked.

Working out holiday entitlement for a zero-hours contract employee requires a different approach. Because their hours vary, you cannot apply a standard weekly rate. Instead, holiday entitlement is calculated at 12.07% of hours worked.

This 12.07% figure represents 5.6 weeks of leave as a fraction of the 46.4 remaining working weeks in the year (52 − 5.6 = 46.4). It's the rate mandated for workers with no guaranteed hours.

Note: following April 2024 employment law changes, the way holiday pay is calculated for irregular-hours workers has been updated. For complex cases, always check the current ACAS guidance or seek legal advice.

Hours worked × 12.07% = holiday entitlement

Worked example

Lena is on a zero-hours contract and has worked 120 hours this quarter
14.5 hours entitlement
120 × 12.07% = 14.48 hours, rounded up to 14.5.

⏱️ Hourly and shift workers
Fixed contracted hours per week but calculated in hours rather than days.

For employees who work a fixed number of hours per week - but where their daily hours vary or they work shifts - it is often clearest to calculate holiday entitlement in hours rather than days, to avoid disputes over what a "day" is worth.

Establish the full-time hourly equivalent (typically 5 days × 8 hours × 5.6 weeks = 224 hours for full-time staff), then scale by the employee's contracted weekly hours.

(Weekly hours ÷ 40) × 224 = entitlement (hours)

Worked example

Aisha works 20 hours/week across variable shifts
112 hours per year
(20 ÷ 40) × 224 = 112 hours. Equivalent to 14 standard 8-hour days.

Need to calculate holiday entitlement for a specific case?

The WhosOff free holiday entitlement calculator handles all four working patterns - in both days and hours - quickly and without needing an account.

Open Calculator 📅 Public Holiday Lookup

Zero-Hours Holiday Entitlement

Working out holiday entitlement for zero-hours contracts - explained

Zero-hours holiday entitlement is the area HR teams get wrong most often. Here's everything you need to know about calculating it correctly - including where the 12.07% rate comes from.


🗂️ Zero-hours holiday entitlement at a glance

Entitlement calculation
Hours worked × 12.07%
Result is in hours of holiday entitlement
Where 12.07% comes from
5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%
5.6 weeks leave ÷ 46.4 remaining working weeks
  • Zero-hours workers have exactly the same right to paid holiday as employees on fixed contracts. The only difference is how the amount is calculated.
  • Entitlement accrues as they work - so a zero-hours worker who works 10 hours in a week accrues 1.207 hours of holiday entitlement for that week.
  • Holiday pay for zero-hours workers should reflect average weekly pay over the previous 52 weeks - not a minimum wage flat rate. This was clarified in the 2020 Supreme Court ruling in Harpur Trust v Brazel.
⚠️ From April 2024, new rolled-up holiday pay rules apply to irregular-hours workers. Employers can now legally pay rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% of total pay each pay period. This replaces the previous approach for casual workers. Always check current ACAS guidance.
Use the WhosOff calculator to check zero-hours entitlement in hours quickly for any scenario.



About WhosOff

Once you've worked out holiday entitlements, WhosOff helps you manage them all year round



🧮

Free holiday entitlement calculator, no account needed

Use the WhosOff free holiday calculator to check entitlements for any working pattern - full-time, part-time, hourly, mid-year. It's a guide to help you get to the right number quickly.


📅

Manage leave requests once entitlements are set

WhosOff is the leave management system that handles everything after you've established entitlements - requests, approvals, shared team calendars, and leave tracking - for teams of all sizes.


🇬🇧

Built around UK leave rules

UK bank holiday calendars, Working Time Regulations statutory minimums, and carry-over policies are all built into WhosOff - so the rules you've calculated stay enforced consistently, every year.


📞

UK-based support, Monday to Friday

Our Canterbury-based team answers calls and emails Monday to Friday, 9am–5.30pm. If you have questions about entitlement calculations or how WhosOff handles specific scenarios, they'll have an answer.


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FAQs

Holiday entitlement
questions, answered

Common questions about holiday tracking software and the WhosOff team holiday tracker.


What is the UK holiday leave entitlement for full-time employees?
Full-time UK employees working 5 days per week are legally entitled to a minimum of 28 days paid holiday leave entitlement per year under the Working Time Regulations 1998 - including bank holidays. This is the statutory floor. Employers can and often do offer more than this (for example, 25 days plus 8 bank holidays = 33 days), but no employer can lawfully offer less. The 28-day entitlement applies from the first day of employment - there is no qualifying period.
How do you calculate holiday entitlement for part-time workers?

To calculate holiday entitlement for part-time workers, divide the number of days they work per week by 5 (the full-time equivalent), then multiply by the annual entitlement:

(Days worked per week ÷ 5) × 28 = holiday entitlement

Examples of annual leave entitlement part time: 4 days/week → (4 ÷ 5) × 28 = 22.4 days, 3 days/week → (3 ÷ 5) × 28 = 16.8 days, 2 days/week → (2 ÷ 5) × 28 = 11.2 days Always round up to the nearest half-day - never down. Annual leave entitlement for part-time workers must be proportionally equal to that of full-time colleagues. Use the WhosOff calculator to check any pattern instantly.

How do you work out holiday entitlement for a zero-hours contract?

Working out holiday entitlement for a zero-hours contract requires a different method, as the employee's hours vary. Holiday entitlement accrues at 12.07% of hours worked:

Hours worked × 12.07% = holiday entitlement (in hours)

For example: a zero-hours worker who has worked 100 hours has accrued 12.07 hours of holiday entitlement. The 12.07% rate comes from 5.6 weeks of leave as a fraction of the remaining 46.4 working weeks in the year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%). Note: the April 2024 employment law changes introduced rolled-up holiday pay as an option for irregular-hours workers. Always check current ACAS guidance for the most up-to-date approach.

What is the annual leave entitlement for part-time workers who work different hours each day?

When a part-time employee works different hours on different days - for example, 6 hours on Monday and 4 hours on Wednesday - it is usually clearest to calculate their holiday entitlement in hours rather than days, to avoid ambiguity over what a "day" is worth. Establish the full-time hourly equivalent (e.g. 5 days × 8 hours × 5.6 weeks = 224 hours), then apply the part-time fraction based on total contracted weekly hours:

(Employee's contracted weekly hours ÷ full-time weekly hours) × 224 hours

The WhosOff free calculator supports calculations in hours and handles variable daily working patterns.

Are bank holidays included in the 28-day holiday entitlement?
It depends on your employer's policy, and both approaches are lawful as long as the statutory minimum is met. The most common arrangement is to include bank holidays within the 28-day entitlement - so an employee has 20 days to book freely, plus 8 bank holiday days included in the total. Some employers offer 28 days plus bank holidays (leaving 28 days free to book), which exceeds the statutory minimum. For part-time employees, only bank holidays that fall on their working days count against their entitlement - a 3-day-a-week employee working Monday to Wednesday would not have a Friday bank holiday deducted.
How do I work out holiday days for a part-time employee who has recently changed their working pattern?
When a part-time employee changes their working pattern part-way through the leave year, you need to split the leave year into two periods and calculate the entitlement for each period separately, then add them together. For example, if an employee worked 3 days per week for 6 months (earning 8.4 days) and then moved to 4 days per week for the remaining 6 months (earning 11.2 days), their total entitlement for the year would be 8.4 + 11.2 = 19.6 days. The WhosOff calculator can be used for each period separately to check the figures.
Can an employer give fewer than 28 days holiday entitlement?
No. The 28-day annual leave entitlement for full-time employees is the statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations 1998, and no employer can lawfully offer less than this. Any contractual provision that attempts to give less than the statutory minimum is void. Employers can, however, structure how the entitlement is made up - for example, requiring employees to take bank holidays as part of their 28 days rather than in addition to them.
Can unused holiday entitlement be carried over?
There is no automatic statutory right to carry over unused holiday entitlement between leave years, with some exceptions: leave that couldn't be taken because of statutory leave (such as maternity or sick leave), or following the 2024 reforms, leave that was prevented by an employer. Beyond these exceptions, carry-over depends on what the employment contract says. Many employers allow a limited number of days to carry over as a matter of policy - typically up to 5 days - but this must be clearly set out in the contract.
Is the WhosOff holiday entitlement calculator free?
Yes - the WhosOff holiday entitlement calculator is completely free to use with no account or sign-up required. It covers full-time, part-time, and zero-hours working patterns, in both days and hours. The calculator is provided as a guide to help you reach the right figure quickly - we always recommend verifying the output against your contractual terms and current legislation.
What is the difference between annual leave entitlement and holiday pay?
Annual leave entitlement is the number of days or hours of paid holiday an employee is legally entitled to take. Holiday pay is what the employee receives during those days off - and the two are not always straightforward to calculate separately. For most salaried employees, holiday pay is simply their normal day's pay. For workers with variable pay (overtime, commission, irregular hours), holiday pay must reflect average remuneration over the previous 52 weeks. Getting holiday pay wrong - even if the entitlement itself is correct - can lead to claims for unlawful deduction of wages.

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