Calculate statutory holiday entitlement for workers in the UK based on their working pattern.
Gov.uk Rules
Days worked per week5 days
0 days7 days
Statutory Holiday Entitlement
28
Days
How is this calculated? (Formula X-ray)
The statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks per year, capped at 28 days.
Entitlement = Days worked per week × 5.6
With your numbers:
5 × 5.6 = 28
Official Gov.UK RulesBased on current UK statutory guidance for holiday entitlement.Verify at GOV.UK
Assumptions
Statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks per year (capped at 28 days for 5+ day weeks).
Irregular hours workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period.
Share this result
About the UK Holiday Entitlement Calculator
Need to calculate your annual leave in the UK? This comprehensive holiday entitlement calculator determines your statutory days or hours off based on the latest official GOV.UK rules and the Working Time Regulations 1998. Whether you work full-time, part-time, irregular hours, or part of the year, this tool quickly and accurately estimates exactly what you are legally owed by your employer. Calculating holiday pay and entitlement can be an incredibly complex and frustrating process, especially if you work irregular shifts, have zero-hours contracts, work term-time only, or have recently changed your working pattern. This tool demystifies the rules by taking your exact employment type, your typical working hours, and your specific pay structure, then applying the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks to find your total entitlement. It automatically handles pro-rata calculations for part-time workers, applies the brand new 12.07% accrual method for irregular hours workers introduced in recent legislation for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, and ensures the strict statutory cap of 28 days is never exceeded for full-time staff working more than five days a week. By using this calculator, both employees and employers can ensure they are fully compliant with UK employment law, preventing costly disputes, avoiding tribunals, and ensuring fair and equitable compensation for time off.
Mathematical Formula & Logic
The calculator employs several different formulas depending on your specific working pattern, all strictly aligned with the UK Working Time Regulations. For standard full-time and part-time workers who work a fixed number of days per week, the core formula is relatively straightforward: Your working days per week multiplied by the UK statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks equals your total annual leave entitlement in days. This calculation is subject to a strict statutory cap of 28 days, which was put in place to ensure a maximum limit on statutory leave. For example, if you work a standard 5 days a week: 5 multiplied by 5.6 equals exactly 28 days. If you work 6 days a week: 6 multiplied by 5.6 equals 33.6 days, but this is legally capped at 28 days. For part-time workers, the calculation is pro-rated to reflect their reduced working hours. If you work exactly 3 days a week: 3 multiplied by 5.6 equals 16.8 days of statutory leave. For workers with irregular hours or those who work part of the year (commonly referred to as part-year workers), the calculation uses a completely different accrual method, which was officially formalized and mandated for all leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. Under this new legal system, holiday entitlement is calculated as exactly 12.07% of the actual hours worked in a specific pay period. The figure of 12.07% is not arbitrary; it represents the statutory 5.6 weeks of holiday divided by the 46.4 weeks of the year that an employee is actually working and productive (52 weeks in a year minus 5.6 weeks of holiday equals 46.4 weeks, and 5.6 divided by 46.4 equals precisely 12.07%). This accrual method ensures that irregular hours workers receive holiday pay that is genuinely proportionate to the time they actually spend working, resolving years of legal ambiguity and court cases.
Step-by-Step Example
Let us look at a few highly detailed examples to illustrate exactly how these calculations work in practical, real-world scenarios. \n\nScenario 1: The Standard Full-Time Worker.\nAlice works a standard 5 days a week, Monday to Friday, in an office environment. To calculate her statutory entitlement, we take her 5 working days and multiply by the statutory 5.6 weeks. 5 multiplied by 5.6 equals exactly 28 days. This hits the absolute statutory maximum of 28 days. It is important to note that her employer has the legal discretion to include the 8 standard UK bank and public holidays within these 28 days. If they choose to do so, Alice will have 20 days of floating leave to take when she chooses, plus the 8 bank holidays. \n\nScenario 2: The Part-Time Worker.\nBob is a part-time retail assistant who works exactly 2.5 days a week on a fixed schedule. We take his 2.5 working days and multiply by 5.6 weeks. 2.5 multiplied by 5.6 equals 14 days. Bob is therefore entitled to exactly 14 days of paid annual leave. If his normal working days happen to fall on a bank holiday and his employer includes bank holidays in the standard holiday entitlement, Bob must use some of his 14 days to cover those specific bank holidays. \n\nScenario 3: The Irregular Hours Worker.\nCharlie works a zero-hours contract in a busy cafe, meaning his hours fluctuate wildly from week to week. In the month of May, he works exactly 85 hours. His holiday entitlement for May is calculated using the mandatory 12.07% accrual method. 85 hours multiplied by 12.07% equals 10.26 hours. Therefore, Charlie accrues just over 10 hours of paid holiday for his hard work in May. He can either take this time off in the future during a quieter period, or, in some specific circumstances and depending on his contract type, be paid for it (rolled-up holiday pay) or receive a payment in lieu when he eventually leaves the job.
Reference Data & Values
label
value
5 days a week (Full-time)
28 days (Statutory Maximum Cap)
4.5 days a week
25.2 days
4 days a week
22.4 days
3.5 days a week
19.6 days
3 days a week
16.8 days
2.5 days a week
14.0 days
2 days a week
11.2 days
1 day a week
5.6 days
Irregular hours / Zero-hours
12.07% of total hours actually worked
Frequently Asked Questions
Almost all workers in the United Kingdom are legally entitled to exactly 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. This is commonly known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave. This baseline applies universally across various employment types, including agency workers, workers with irregular hours, and workers on zero-hours contracts. It ensures a minimum standard of rest and recuperation for the entire workforce, promoting better mental health and work-life balance.
Yes, in fundamental principle, part-time workers are entitled to the exact same 5.6 weeks of holiday as full-time workers. However, because they work fewer actual days in a week, their actual entitlement expressed in days or hours is calculated on a strict pro-rata basis. This ensures fairness and absolute compliance with the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. For instance, a 3-day-a-week worker gets 16.8 days, which is exactly 5.6 weeks of their specific, shortened working week.
There is no absolute statutory or automatic legal right to have bank holidays or public holidays off as paid leave. Employers have the complete discretion to include bank holidays as part of your 5.6 weeks (which is 28 days for a full-time worker) statutory annual leave. Alternatively, more generous employers can offer them in addition to your statutory leave. You must carefully check your employment contract or staff handbook to see exactly how your employer handles public holidays.
The statutory holiday entitlement is strictly and legally capped at 28 days per year. This means that even if you work 6 or 7 days a week, your statutory entitlement remains firmly at 28 days (for example, 6 days multiplied by 5.6 weeks equals 33.6 days, which is capped back down to the legal limit of 28). Employers can, of course, offer significantly more than this cap as a contractual benefit to attract top talent.
Following major legislative updates for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday for irregular hours or part-year workers is typically calculated using the 12.07% accrual method. You simply multiply the total hours actually worked in a given pay period by 12.07% to find the accrued holiday hours. This replaces previous highly complex calculations and the widely debated "Calendar Week Method" that caused confusion for these specific worker categories.
Yes, absolutely. The 28 days (or 5.6 weeks) is merely the statutory legal minimum required by the government. Employers are completely free, and often encouraged, to offer more generous holiday allowances to attract and retain high-quality staff in a competitive job market. This additional leave is known as contractual holiday entitlement, and its specific rules—such as whether you can carry it over to the next calendar year—are governed entirely by your employment contract rather than statutory law.
Yes. UK employment law strictly dictates that you continue to build up (or accrue) your statutory holiday entitlement as normal while you are on statutory maternity, paternity, adoption leave, or even long-term sick leave. If you simply cannot take your accrued holiday because you are absent on such leave, you are generally permitted and legally allowed to carry it over into the following leave year.
If you leave your job for any reason—whether you formally resign, are unfortunately made redundant, or are even dismissed for gross misconduct—you have a strict legal right to be paid for any statutory holiday you have legitimately accrued but have not yet taken during that specific leave year. This is legally known as payment in lieu of untaken holiday. Your employer must include this payment in your final wage packet.