Work out statutory holiday entitlement
Full year, new joiners, leavers and bank holidays, for any working pattern.
Almost every UK worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days, but that entitlement rarely lands in a single block on day one [1]. It builds up over time, and the way it builds depends on when the worker started and whether their hours are regular. A new starter accrues one twelfth of the annual figure each month, while an irregular hours worker accrues 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period [2].
Getting accrual right matters because it drives two separate figures: how much leave a worker can book at any given point, and how much must be paid out if they leave partway through the year. An employer that miscounts either exposes itself to underpayment claims and payslip disputes.
This article sets out the statutory basis for holiday accrual, the two main accrual methods, worked examples for new starters, part-time staff and irregular hours workers, and the rounding rules that decide the final number.
Key takeaways
- Statutory holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days for anyone working 5 or more days a week.
- In the first year, an employer may use an accrual system giving one twelfth of the annual entitlement each month.
- Irregular hours and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, from 1 April 2024.
- Accrued hours that include part of an hour are rounded to the nearest hour, up at 30 minutes or more.
- Part-time workers accrue a pro-rata share: days worked per week multiplied by 5.6.
The statutory basis for holiday accrual
The right to paid holiday comes from the Working Time Regulations 1998, which give workers 5.6 weeks of paid leave each year [3]. For someone working a five-day week, 5.6 weeks equals 28 days. The 28-day figure is also the statutory cap, so a worker on a six-day week is still entitled to 28 days rather than 33.6 [1].
That annual entitlement is the starting point for every accrual calculation. Accrual is simply the mechanism that spreads the 5.6 weeks across the leave year, so that at any moment an employer can say how much leave a worker has earned so far. The leave year itself is usually set in the contract, and where it is not, statutory rules fix its start date [4].
Two elements make up the 5.6 weeks: 4 weeks derived from EU law under regulation 13, and 1.6 weeks added by UK law under regulation 13A [3]. Both accrue in the same way for accrual purposes, though they can differ in what counts as holiday pay. Employers running this through UK payroll software usually track the combined 5.6 weeks and apply the pay rules separately.
Leave year, not tax year
A common error is to confuse the leave year with the tax year. Holiday accrues against the leave year set in the employment contract, which may run from any date, not from 6 April [4]. An employer whose leave year runs from 1 January calculates accrual against that calendar, even though PAYE and National Insurance run on the tax year. Keeping the two calendars distinct is the first step to an accurate accrual figure.
Method one: monthly accrual for new starters
In the first year of employment, an employer is allowed to use an accrual system under which the worker builds up one twelfth of their annual entitlement at the start of each month [5]. On the first day of employment the worker receives one twelfth of the full year's leave, and another twelfth at the start of each subsequent month.
The gov.uk guidance gives a clear worked example. A worker starting on 1 July, with a leave year running to 31 December and a full annual entitlement of 28 days, has accrued six twelfths of the entitlement by 31 December, which is 14 days [6].
| Month reached | Twelfths accrued | Days accrued (28-day entitlement) |
|---|---|---|
| Start (1 July) | 1/12 | 2.34 |
| 1 September | 3/12 | 7 |
| 1 November | 5/12 | 11.67 |
| 31 December | 6/12 | 14 |
The monthly method is a floor, not a ceiling. An employer may be more generous and let a worker take leave before it has formally accrued, provided both sides agree [5]. After the first full year, the accrual system falls away and the worker can use the full statutory entitlement from the start of each leave year.
Rounding under the monthly method
Where the monthly accrual produces part of a day, the statutory position is to round up to the next half day or whole day, never down [6]. Rounding always favours the worker, so an accrued figure of 7.1 days becomes 7.5, not 7. This small rule prevents the accrual system being used to shave entitlement, and it is one of the details most often missed when accrual is tracked by hand rather than in a payroll bureau platform.
Method two: 12.07% accrual for irregular hours and part-year workers
For irregular hours workers and part-year workers, a different method applies to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Entitlement accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period [7]. The worker banks holiday in hours as they work, rather than receiving a fixed annual figure up front.
The 12.07% is the proportion that 5.6 weeks of holiday bears to the 46.4 working weeks in a year: 5.6 divided by 46.4 gives 0.1207 [7]. Applied to hours, a worker who works 100 hours in a pay period accrues 12.07 hours of holiday for that period [8].
| Hours worked in pay period | Accrual at 12.07% | Rounded entitlement |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 4.83 hours | 5 hours |
| 80 | 9.66 hours | 10 hours |
| 100 | 12.07 hours | 12 hours |
| 120 | 14.48 hours | 14 hours |
Where the contract gives more than the statutory minimum holiday, the percentage must be increased to match the fuller entitlement [8]. The 12.07% is the figure for statutory-minimum holiday only. Businesses employing casual staff such as sole traders taking on their first worker need to check the contractual entitlement before assuming the minimum applies.
The rounding rule for hours
Accrued hours rarely come out whole, so a rounding rule applies. Where the accrued entitlement includes part of an hour, it is rounded up to the nearest whole hour if the part is 30 minutes or more, and rounded down if it is less than 30 minutes [8]. An accrual of 4.83 hours rounds to 5, while 9.4 hours rounds to 9. The rounding happens on the entitlement for the pay period, not on a running annual total, so it is applied each period.
Part-time workers: pro-rata accrual
A part-time worker on regular hours accrues holiday in proportion to the days worked. The calculation multiplies the number of days worked each week by 5.6 [9]. A worker on three days a week is entitled to 16.8 days of leave a year, which is 3 multiplied by 5.6 [9].
| Days worked per week | Annual entitlement (days) |
|---|---|
| 5 | 28 |
| 4 | 22.4 |
| 3 | 16.8 |
| 2 | 11.2 |
Part-time accrual then follows the same monthly logic as full-time accrual during the first year, applied to the pro-rata annual figure rather than the full 28 days [6]. A part-time worker on three days a week, starting halfway through the leave year, accrues six twelfths of 16.8 days, which is 8.4 days before rounding. The pro-rata principle keeps part-time staff on the same footing as full-time colleagues for each day they work.
Accrual on leaving: payment in lieu
Accrual also decides what an employer owes when a worker leaves. A worker who leaves partway through the leave year is entitled to be paid for holiday they have accrued but not taken [4]. The accrued entitlement is worked out to the leaving date, the leave already taken is subtracted, and any balance is paid in lieu.
The calculation runs on the days employed in the leave year as a proportion of the full year, multiplied by the annual entitlement [6]. Where the figure includes part of a day it is rounded up, never down, so the departing worker is never short-changed [6]. This is the only situation in which statutory holiday can be converted to cash during employment; leave cannot otherwise be bought out while the worker remains employed [10].
Accrual continues during many absences
Accrual does not stop the moment a worker is away. Holiday continues to build during maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave, and during sickness absence, because these are periods of protected leave rather than gaps in employment [10]. An irregular hours or part-year worker must not lose holiday accrual while off sick or on statutory family leave, which the pay-period method handles by continuing to credit entitlement [8]. Employers processing family or sickness pay through their payslip system should confirm the accrual keeps running alongside the statutory payment.
Accrued holiday that is not taken
Accrual answers how much leave a worker has earned, but not every accrued day can simply be carried into the next leave year. The default position is that statutory holiday should be taken in the leave year it accrues, and it is lost if not taken, unless a specific rule allows it to carry over [10]. Employers therefore need to distinguish between what a worker has accrued and what they can still use.
Certain circumstances do allow accrued leave to carry over. Where a worker could not take their holiday because they were on sick leave or family-related statutory leave, the untaken entitlement can be carried into the following leave year rather than lost [8]. This protects a worker who accrued holiday during a long absence and had no realistic chance to take it. The carried-over leave sits on top of the fresh accrual in the new leave year.
Why accrual tracking has to be continuous
Because accrual, usage and carry-over interact, a single end-of-year snapshot is not enough to manage holiday correctly. An employer needs to know the running accrued balance, the leave already taken against it, and any protected carry-over from the previous year. Reconstructing all three at once, often when a worker asks for a large block of leave or hands in their notice, is where errors creep in. Tracking the accrued balance every pay period, alongside the pay owed under the 52-week holiday pay average, keeps the figure accurate and removes the year-end scramble.
Work out accrued holiday entitlement
Rather than build the accrual arithmetic by hand each time, an employer can size a worker's entitlement with the Moonworkers holiday entitlement calculator, which applies the statutory 5.6-week rules to full-time, part-time and mid-year start scenarios.
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Annual entitlement: 5.6 weeks · change
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Holiday entitlement
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Moonworkers tracks entitlement, accrual and holiday pay automatically for every worker, with the 6-year record-keeping required since April 2026 built in.
Conclusion
Holiday accrual is not one calculation but several, chosen by the worker's start date, contract type and hours. A new starter on regular hours builds one twelfth a month, an irregular hours worker banks 12.07% of hours each pay period, and a part-timer accrues a pro-rata share of the 5.6 weeks. The rounding rules, always in the worker's favour, decide the final figure in each case.
The practical lesson is that accrual has to be tracked continuously, not reconstructed at year end or when someone hands in their notice. As holiday accounting moves further inside the software that runs the payrun, the accrued balance becomes a live figure the employer can read at any point rather than a calculation to be assembled under pressure. Payroll built as an HMRC-recognised payroll engine treats accrual as a running total, updated every period, so the number is ready whenever a worker asks to book leave or leaves the business.
Frequently asked questions
How much holiday does a worker accrue each month in their first year?
In the first year of employment, an employer may use an accrual system under which the worker builds up one twelfth of their annual entitlement at the start of each month. For a worker on the full 28-day entitlement, that is roughly 2.33 days a month. Employers can choose to be more generous and allow leave before it has accrued, but one twelfth a month is the statutory minimum.
How is holiday accrual calculated for irregular hours workers?
For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period. A worker who works 100 hours in a period accrues 12.07 hours of holiday. The result is rounded to the nearest whole hour, up if the part is 30 minutes or more.
Does holiday keep accruing during sick leave or maternity leave?
Yes. Holiday continues to accrue during sickness absence and during maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave. These are periods of protected leave, so the worker keeps building entitlement as if they were at work. Irregular hours and part-year workers must not lose accrual during these absences.
How is accrued holiday paid out when someone leaves?
When a worker leaves partway through the leave year, the employer works out the holiday accrued to the leaving date, subtracts any leave already taken, and pays the balance in lieu. The accrued figure is based on the proportion of the leave year worked, and any part of a day is rounded up. This is the only time statutory holiday can be converted to cash during employment.
Image prompt for Imagen (also in frontmatter)
Documentary still life, a printed holiday tracker spreadsheet and a wall calendar on a wooden office desk next to a calculator and a mug of tea, a pen resting on the paper, natural light from a north-facing window, weekday morning, palette of warm white, paper cream, oak, brushed steel, the calendar occupying the upper-left third and the paper the lower two-thirds, shot on a Hasselblad X2D at 55mm f/4, photojournalism, soft film grain, no AI artefacts, no warped text, landscape orientation 16:9.
