UK Holiday Entitlement Calculator
Work out your statutory annual leave entitlement, whether you work a regular fixed pattern or irregular hours. Free, instant, and calculated entirely in your browser; no email or phone number required.
Annual Holiday Entitlement
28.0 days/year
estimate only
Workers with a regular fixed pattern build up 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday per year (their days worked per week × 5.6), capped at 28 days for anyone working 5 or more days a week. Workers with irregular hours or part-year contracts instead accrue holiday as they work, at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period. That rate comes directly from the 5.6-week statutory entitlement divided by the 46.4 weeks left in a year after taking it (52 − 5.6 = 46.4, and 5.6 / 46.4 ≈ 12.07%). This is an estimate of the statutory minimum; your contract may provide more, and your employer makes the binding calculation.
How Holiday Entitlement Works
Workers with a regular, fixed working pattern build up statutory holiday at 5.6 weeks per year: their number of working days per week multiplied by 5.6, capped at 28 days for anyone working 5 or more days a week. A worker on a standard 5-day week gets the full 28 days; someone working 3 days a week gets a proportionally smaller entitlement.
Workers with irregular hours or part-year contracts, such as casual or zero-hours workers, instead accrue holiday as they actually work, at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period. See gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights for the official rules, and the full holiday entitlement guide for holiday pay calculations, carrying leave over, and what happens on termination.
Where the 12.07% Accrual Rate Comes From
The 12.07% figure is not an arbitrary round number; it is derived directly from the statutory 5.6-week annual leave entitlement. A working year has 52 weeks. Take away the 5.6 weeks a worker is entitled to as paid leave, and 46.4 weeks are left as working weeks. Dividing the leave entitlement by the working weeks (5.6 ÷ 46.4) gives approximately 12.07%, which is then applied to hours actually worked so that holiday builds up fairly even when hours vary week to week.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days of statutory holiday am I entitled to?
A worker on a standard 5-day week is entitled to 28 days of statutory annual leave a year (5 days x 5.6 weeks, capped at 28). Someone working fewer days per week gets a proportionally smaller entitlement.
What is the 12.07% method and who is it for?
The 12.07% method is for irregular-hours or part-year workers whose hours vary and who cannot easily be given a fixed annual number of days. It applies 12.07% to the hours actually worked in each pay period, derived from the 5.6-week statutory entitlement divided by the 46.4 remaining working weeks in a year.
Does holiday entitlement include bank holidays?
It can. The statutory 5.6-week entitlement can be used to cover bank/public holidays, and many employers do build them in; there is no separate additional statutory right to bank holidays off on top of the 5.6 weeks. Check the specific employment contract.
Can my employer offer more holiday than the statutory minimum?
Yes. Many employers offer more than the statutory minimum as part of their benefits package. This calculator estimates the statutory floor only.
Does part-time work reduce my holiday entitlement?
It reduces it proportionally, not disproportionately. A part-time worker on 3 days a week is entitled to 3 x 5.6 = 16.8 days a year, the same pro-rata share as a full-time worker gets.
Does this tool store or send my information anywhere?
No. All of the math runs in your browser. Nothing you type into this calculator is saved, transmitted, or used to contact you.
This calculator estimates statutory holiday entitlement using the published formulas for regular and irregular-hours workers. It is general information, not legal advice, and RecordingLaw.com is not affiliated with any UK government body. Your employer makes the binding calculation for your actual entitlement, based on the contract of employment.
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