Holiday Entitlement Calculator UK

Every worker in the UK, full-time, part-time, zero-hours, agency, term-time only, is legally entitled to paid holiday. The entitlement is the same 5.6 weeks for everyone; what differs is how many actual days or hours that translates into for your particular working pattern. That translation is where most confusion, and most short-changing, happens.

This calculator converts the statutory 5.6 weeks into your specific entitlement, whatever your pattern.

Where 5.6 weeks comes from

The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year. For a standard 5-day week, that's 28 days (5.6 x 5). The figure is capped at 28 days, so someone working 6 days a week still gets 28 days, not 33.6. The entitlement is expressed in weeks rather than days precisely so it scales fairly across different working patterns.

Part-time workers: pro-rata by days

Part-time workers get the same 5.6 weeks, applied to their own week:

Fractional days are real entitlement, an employer can round up but can't round down below the statutory figure. Someone on 3 days a week is owed 16.8 days, not 16.

Workers with hours, not days

If your contract is in hours, calculate in hours: multiply your weekly hours by 5.6. Someone working 30 hours a week is entitled to 168 hours of paid leave a year. This avoids arguments about what counts as a "day" for someone whose shifts vary in length.

Irregular hours and part-year workers

For zero-hours, casual and term-time workers, entitlement since 2024 accrues at 12.07% of hours actually worked in each pay period (5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 working weeks of the year). Work 100 hours in a month, accrue 12.07 hours of leave. This method means your entitlement automatically tracks how much you actually work, quiet months accrue less, busy months more.

Bank holidays: the persistent myth

There is no statutory right to take bank holidays off, and no right to extra pay for working them. Employers can count bank holidays towards your 5.6 weeks. A contract offering "20 days plus bank holidays" meets the 28-day minimum for a 5-day worker; so does "28 days including bank holidays", the difference is only whether you choose when to take those 8 days. Whether you can be required to work a bank holiday, and at what rate, is purely a contractual question.

Starting or leaving partway through the year

In your first year, entitlement builds up monthly, each month you accrue one-twelfth of your annual entitlement. When you leave a job, you're entitled to be paid for any accrued leave you haven't taken, and conversely, if you've taken more than you've accrued, your contract may allow the excess to be deducted from your final pay.

Carrying leave over

The default position is use it or lose it within the leave year, but there are exceptions: contracts can allow carry-over of the additional 1.6 weeks, and workers prevented from taking leave by sickness or family leave have carry-over rights. If your employer never gave you a real opportunity to take your leave, it may not lawfully expire either.

More than the minimum

The 5.6 weeks is a floor, not a ceiling. Plenty of employers offer 30+ days as a benefit, and some offer holiday purchase schemes on top. Nothing here stops an employer being more generous, only less.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. For disputes about your entitlement, check your contract or contact Acas.