UK Holiday Entitlement & Leave Calculator

About the UK Holiday Entitlement & Leave Calculator

Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year: the days you work a week × 5.6, so 28 days for a 5-day week and 16.8 days for a 3-day week — but never more than 28 days, however many days you work. Your employer can count bank holidays as part of it.

This calculator works out the statutory minimum for a full leave year, or for the part of it you work when you start or leave mid-year — in days, hours or shifts — with the leave left to book after bank holidays and leave already taken, and the pay owed for untaken leave when you go. For irregular-hours and part-year workers (zero-hours, casual and seasonal work) it adds up the 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, rounded the way GOV.UK does, and the rolled-up holiday pay.

The rules

• 5.6 weeks: almost all workers — including agency, part-time, irregular-hours and part-year workers — are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year.
• The 28-day cap: statutory paid holiday is limited to 28 days, so working 6 days a week still gives 28.
• Part-time: days worked a week × 5.6 (3 days → 16.8 days). Hours that differ from day to day: the days × your average working day (hours a week ÷ days a week).
• Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave; an employer can count them as part of the 5.6 weeks. England and Wales usually have 8 bank holidays, Scotland 9 and Northern Ireland 10.
• More leave: a contract can give more than the statutory minimum, with its own rules for the extra days.

GOV.UK: holiday entitlement · bank holidays.

Starting or leaving during the leave year

Your contract sets the leave year; if it does not, it starts on the day you started the job. Start part-way through it and you get the part of the year that is left: leave builds up at one twelfth of the year’s entitlement on the first day of each month, counting the month you start, rounded up to the nearest half day (an employer can instead pro-rate the first month by the days worked). Leave part-way through and your entitlement is the year’s entitlement × the calendar days you were employed in the leave year ÷ the days in the leave year; GOV.UK’s calculator rounds that share up to one decimal of a day (two decimals of a shift), and an employer can round holiday up but not down. Untaken statutory leave must be paid when you leave, even after a dismissal for gross misconduct; leave taken beyond what you built up can be taken back from your final pay only if you agreed to that in writing. GOV.UK: calculate leave entitlement · taking holiday before leaving a job.

Irregular-hours and part-year workers

If the hours you are paid for are wholly or mostly variable (a zero-hours or casual contract), or you work only part of the year with unpaid weeks off, your leave builds up at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, which you can take from the next pay period. 12.07% is 5.6 weeks ÷ the 46.4 weeks left for work. GOV.UK rounds each pay period to the nearest hour: under 30 minutes rounds down, 30 minutes or more rounds up. A contract with more leave uses its weeks ÷ (52 − weeks): 6 weeks gives 13.04%.

The leave of one leave year is still at most 5.6 weeks. Your employer can pay rolled-up holiday pay instead — an extra 12.07% of your pay for the period, shown separately on each payslip — or pay leave when you take it at your average pay over the last 52 weeks in which you were paid. GOV.UK: holiday entitlement for irregular-hours and part-year workers.

These are the rules in England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland the 5.6 weeks are the same, and nidirect says casual and irregular-hours workers get paid time off for every hour they work, without setting a percentage.

Holiday pay

You get a week’s pay for each week of statutory leave. For regular hours and fixed pay it is your normal pay for a week; for regular shifts, your average weekly fixed hours over the last 52 weeks at your average hourly rate; for irregular hours, your average pay over the last 52 weeks in which you were paid. With regular hours, at least 4 of the 5.6 weeks must be paid at your “normal” rate — with commission, regular overtime and payments for length of service or qualifications — and the other 1.6 weeks at least at your basic rate; irregular-hours and part-year workers get the normal rate for all of it. GOV.UK: holiday pay.

Carrying leave over

With 28 days’ leave you can normally carry over at most 8 days, with your employer’s agreement. Leave you could not take because of maternity or other family leave can be carried over (up to 28 days). Leave missed through sickness can be carried over up to 20 days if you work regular hours all year, or up to 28 days for irregular-hours and part-year workers, and used within 18 months of the end of the leave year. If your employer did not give you a reasonable chance to take your leave, did not tell you it would be lost or did not pay rolled-up holiday pay you were owed, the leave can be carried over too: up to 20 days for regular-hours workers in GOV.UK’s guidance on the holiday reforms, all of it for irregular-hours and part-year workers. GOV.UK: calculate leave entitlement · GOV.UK: holiday entitlement reforms.

Other countries

In Australia, the Australia Annual Leave & Leave Loading Calculator works out leave under the National Employment Standards. In India, the Leave Encashment Calculator works out earned leave and its encashment when you leave. Public holiday lists for India, the US and the UK are in Public Holidays.

Limitations

• Statutory minimum only. Your contract can give more leave, and may set its own rules for the extra days.
• The starter rule follows GOV.UK’s calculator (months left in the leave year, rounded up to the half day); employers may pro-rate the first month by days instead.
• Irregular hours: enter the hours actually worked in each pay period of one leave year (its statutory leave is at most 5.6 weeks; the calculator adds up what you enter). Leave built up while on maternity, family or sick leave uses a 52-week average of hours, which this calculator does not work out.
• Workers who are genuinely self-employed are not entitled to paid holiday.
• The rules are GOV.UK’s for England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own employment law: the 5.6 weeks are the same, but check nidirect for irregular hours there.
• A guide for information, not legal advice. Acas gives free, confidential advice on holiday rights.

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