Work out statutory holiday entitlement
Full year, new joiners, leavers and bank holidays, for any working pattern.
Almost every worker in the UK is legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which works out at 28 days for someone on a five-day week ([1]). That 28-day figure is also a statutory cap: even an employee working six days a week is only entitled to 28 days of paid statutory leave, not 33.6 ([2]).
Holiday entitlement is one of the most misunderstood corners of UK employment law. Employers routinely confuse the 5.6-week entitlement with the 28-day cap, miscalculate part-time leave, and get caught out by the accrual rules for new starters and irregular-hours staff. Each mistake carries tribunal risk, because paid annual leave is a legal right rather than a discretionary benefit ([3]).
This guide sets out the statutory minimum in full: who qualifies, how the 5.6 weeks converts into days, how part-time and irregular-hours entitlement is worked out, how leave accrues in the first year, and the rules on bank holidays, carry-over and leaving a job.
Key takeaways
- The UK statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year, equal to 28 days for a five-day-week worker.
- Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days, so working more than five days a week does not increase it.
- Part-time workers get 5.6 weeks pro-rata: a three-day-week worker is entitled to 16.8 days.
- Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, but an employer can count them towards the 5.6 weeks.
- In the first year, regular-hours staff accrue leave at one-twelfth of the annual total each month.
- Irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period.
Who is entitled to statutory holiday
The 5.6-week entitlement applies to almost all people classed as workers, a category that is broader than employees ([4]). It includes agency workers, workers on irregular hours (where the hours worked in a pay period often or always change), and part-year workers (who have periods of at least a week in the leave year when they do not work and are not paid) ([5]).
Worker status is the trigger, not employee status. Someone can be a worker for holiday purposes even if they are not an employee with full unfair-dismissal rights, and the definition turns on whether the individual personally performs work under a contract rather than running a business for a client ([6]). Genuinely self-employed contractors fall outside the entitlement, but misclassifying a worker as self-employed does not remove their right to paid leave.
There is no minimum length of service before the entitlement begins. Statutory holiday starts to accrue from the first day of employment, so an employer cannot impose a qualifying period, such as three or six months, before a worker becomes entitled to any statutory leave at all ([7]). An employer can attach a service requirement only to any contractual leave it offers above the 5.6-week statutory minimum, never to the minimum itself ([8]).
The right cannot be bought out (except on leaving)
Statutory annual leave must actually be taken; an employer cannot pay a worker in lieu of the 5.6 weeks while they remain employed ([7]). The only point at which untaken statutory leave is paid out in cash is when the worker leaves the job, and any leave accrued but not taken must be paid in the final settlement ([8]). Handling that final-pay calculation correctly is part of any competent payroll process for SMEs.
How 5.6 weeks converts into days
For a worker on a fixed weekly pattern, the entitlement is 5.6 multiplied by the number of days worked each week, subject to the 28-day cap ([9]). A five-day-week worker reaches the cap exactly at 28 days. Anyone working more days a week still stops at 28, because statutory paid holiday is limited to 28 days regardless of the working pattern ([10]).
Part-time workers who work regular hours across the whole year get the same 5.6 weeks, which produces fewer than 28 days ([11]). The official example is a three-day-week worker, who is entitled to at least 16.8 days' leave a year, calculated as 3 multiplied by 5.6 ([12]). The table below shows how the entitlement scales by days worked each week.
| Days worked per week | Statutory leave (5.6 x days) |
|---|---|
| 5 days | 28 days |
| 4 days | 22.4 days |
| 3 days | 16.8 days |
| 2 days | 11.2 days |
| 1 day | 5.6 days |
| 6 days | 28 days (capped) |
The fractional days are real entitlement, not rounding artefacts, and an employer should either allow them to be taken or convert them to hours. The official holiday entitlement calculator can confirm the figure for any working pattern ([13]).
The two tiers behind the 5.6 weeks
The 5.6 weeks is not a single block in law. It is made up of two separate portions with different origins: 4 weeks derived from retained EU law under regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations, and an additional 1.6 weeks created purely by UK law under regulation 13A ([14]). For a five-day-week worker that splits the 28 days into 20 days and 8 days.
The distinction matters most for holiday pay rather than entitlement. The 4-week portion must be paid at the worker's "normal" rate of remuneration, which can include regular overtime, commission and certain allowances, while the additional 1.6 weeks can, strictly, be paid at basic pay only ([15]). In practice many employers pay all 5.6 weeks at the same normal rate to avoid the administrative burden and the risk of underpaying the enhanced portion ([16]).
For the purposes of the statutory minimum, though, the two tiers add up to the same 5.6 weeks every worker is owed. The split becomes relevant when calculating what to pay for each day of leave, not how many days are due. Getting the normal-rate element right on the 4-week portion is a frequent source of tribunal claims, and it is one reason payroll systems separate the two tiers internally even when the same rate is applied across both.
Irregular-hours and part-year workers
Workers whose hours change from one pay period to the next, and those who work only part of the year, are handled differently. They are still entitled to up to 5.6 weeks, but they build it up based on the hours they have actually worked rather than receiving a fixed number of days at the start of the year ([14]).
Since the reforms that took effect for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, entitlement for these workers accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, rounded up to the nearest hour where the figure is 0.5 or more ([15]). The official example is a worker who does 30 hours in a week and so accrues 4 hours of leave, from 30 multiplied by 12.07% ([16]).
Where the 12.07% comes from
The 12.07% figure is not arbitrary. It is 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 working weeks that remain in a 52-week year once the 5.6 weeks of leave are removed, which expresses holiday as a proportion of time actually worked ([17]). It is an accrual method, used to build entitlement, and it is distinct from the separate question of how much holiday pay is due when the leave is taken ([18]).
For these workers, holiday pay itself is generally worked out using a 52-week average of pay, or paid as rolled-up holiday pay where an employer adds a 12.07% uplift to each pay packet ([19]). The interaction between accrual and pay is where errors cluster, and it is one reason variable-hours employers lean on payroll software that tracks accrued hours automatically.
How leave accrues in the first year
New starters do not receive the full year's entitlement on day one. For regular-hours workers, leave builds up over the first year of employment, and an employer can operate an accrual system under which the worker earns one-twelfth of their annual leave at the start of each month ([20]). After three months, a worker entitled to 28 days would have accrued 7 days, calculated as 28 divided by 12 multiplied by 3 ([21]).
Someone who starts part way through an established leave year is entitled to a proportion of the annual total based on how much of the year remains ([22]). The official example is a five-day-week worker on 28 days whose leave year starts on 1 January but who joins on 13 January: they accrue 2.5 days for January, from 28 divided by 12, rounded up to the nearest half day ([23]).
Leave continues to build during family and sick leave
Holiday entitlement does not pause during certain absences. A worker continues to accrue statutory holiday while on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and while off work sick ([24]). The leave year and the entitlement are unaffected by family-related leave, so an employee returning from maternity leave has built up their full holiday over the period away ([25]). Payroll and HR teams managing these overlaps across multiple clients often rely on a payroll bureau platform to keep the accruals accurate.
Bank holidays, carry-over and disputes
There is no automatic right to paid time off on bank holidays. Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and an employer is free to count them towards the 5.6-week entitlement rather than adding them on top ([26]). Whether bank holidays are included or additional is a matter for the contract, and the record of hours and pay on the payslip should reflect how leave has been treated.
Carry-over of unused leave is limited. A worker on 28 days can carry over a maximum of 8 days into the next leave year, and any entitlement above 28 days is carried over only if the contract allows ([27]). Different rules apply where leave could not be taken because of absence. The table below summarises the carry-over positions.
| Situation | Carry-over allowed |
|---|---|
| Standard unused leave (28-day worker) | Up to 8 days |
| Could not take leave due to sickness (regular hours) | Up to 20 of the 28 days |
| Could not take leave due to sickness (irregular or part-year) | Up to 28 days |
| Could not take leave due to family leave | Whole entitlement |
Where a worker was not given a reasonable opportunity to take leave, was not warned they would lose it, or did not receive rolled-up holiday pay they were entitled to, they can carry over their whole entitlement ([28]). Paid annual leave is a legal right, and a worker who believes their entitlement is not being honoured can pursue the matter through the workplace dispute routes ([29]).
Leaving a job part way through the year
The one moment statutory leave is settled in cash is when employment ends. A worker who leaves is entitled to be paid for any statutory leave they have accrued but not taken, calculated up to their last day ([30]). The reverse can also apply: where a worker has taken more leave than they had accrued by the leaving date, an employer can only recover the excess if the contract expressly allows a deduction from final pay ([31]).
The accrued figure is worked out from the proportion of the leave year completed. A five-day-week worker on 28 days who leaves exactly halfway through the leave year has accrued 14 days; if they have taken 10, the employer pays 4 days in the final settlement ([32]). This final-pay calculation sits alongside the other statutory adjustments on a leaver's last payslip, which is why it is handled as a standard step in HMRC-recognised payroll software rather than worked out by hand each time.
Work out an employee's statutory leave
Before setting a leave figure for a new starter or a part-time hire, an employer can size the entitlement with the Moonworkers holiday entitlement calculator, which applies the 5.6-week rule and the 28-day cap to any working pattern.
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Annual entitlement: 5.6 weeks · change
Statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks. Enter more if the contract gives extra leave.
Holiday entitlement
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Fill in the working pattern, then press Calculate.
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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
The UK minimum holiday entitlement is deceptively simple at its headline (5.6 weeks) and surprisingly detailed underneath. The 28-day cap, the pro-rata treatment of part-time work, the 12.07% accrual for irregular hours, the first-year build-up and the carry-over rules each turn a single statutory figure into a set of calculations that have to be right for every worker and every contract type.
The unifying principle is that the entitlement follows the work: a full-time five-day worker reaches the 28-day cap, a part-timer gets the same 5.6 weeks scaled down, and an irregular-hours worker accrues in proportion to the hours they put in. An employer that keeps that principle in view, and calculates accrual and carry-over correctly, will meet the statutory minimum without exposing itself to a tribunal claim.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum holiday entitlement in the UK?
The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which equals 28 days for a worker on a five-day week ([30]). Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days, so working more than five days a week does not increase the entitlement.
Do part-time workers get the same holiday entitlement?
Part-time workers who work regular hours across the whole year are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks, calculated pro-rata to the days they work ([31]). A worker on three days a week is entitled to 16.8 days a year, from 3 multiplied by 5.6, rather than the full 28 days.
Are bank holidays included in the 5.6 weeks?
There is no legal right to paid leave on bank holidays. An employer can choose to count bank holidays towards the 5.6-week statutory entitlement, or grant them on top, and the position should be set out in the contract ([32]). If they are counted towards the 5.6 weeks, the worker's remaining bookable leave is reduced accordingly.
How much holiday does a worker accrue in their first year?
A regular-hours worker builds up leave at one-twelfth of their annual entitlement each month during the first year, so after three months a worker entitled to 28 days would have accrued 7 days ([33]). Irregular-hours and part-year workers instead accrue 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period.
