Your Holiday Rights at Work: What UK Employers Must Provide in 2026

5 March 2026 · Updated 17 August 2026

Holiday entitlement is one of the most commonly underpaid rights in UK employment law, usually through misunderstanding rather than intent. If you work in the UK, whether full-time, part-time, zero-hours or through an agency, the law gives you paid time off. This is what the figures actually are, and where each of them comes from.

The statutory minimum: 5.6 Weeks

Regulations 13 and 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998 give almost every UK worker a minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave a year: four weeks under regulation 13 and a further 1.6 weeks under regulation 13A. For a standard five-day week that is 28 days, and GOV.UK confirms that statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days however many days a week you work. Someone working six days a week is still entitled to 28, not 33.6.

The catch that trips everyone up: those 28 days can include bank holidays. GOV.UK puts it plainly, that "bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave" and an employer "can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker's statutory annual leave". Plenty do.

This right kicks in from day one. Not after your probation period. Not after three months. Day one. Your employer can set rules about when you take leave and require notice, but they cannot deny you the leave itself.

How pro-rata works for part-time workers

Part-time? Your entitlement is pro-rata. You get the same proportion of leave as a full-time worker, scaled to your days. Three days a week gives 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days of paid holiday a year, which is the worked example GOV.UK itself uses. Four days a week gives 22.4 days, and two days a week gives 11.2.

The same proportionality applies above the statutory floor. If full-time staff get 25 days plus bank holidays, a part-timer is entitled to the same proportional increase. Treating a part-time worker less favourably on holiday without objective justification breaches regulation 5 of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. If it is happening to you, that is the regulation to point at.

Irregular hours and zero-hours contracts

Zero-hours contracts do not mean zero holiday. For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours and part-year workers accrue leave at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period. That is not an approximation: 5.6 weeks of leave leaves 46.4 working weeks in the year, and 12.07% of 46.4 is 5.6. Every hour worked accrues 0.1207 hours of holiday. The rule is set out in the government's holiday pay and entitlement reforms guidance.

The same guidance permits "rolled-up holiday pay" for irregular hours and part-year workers, again for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Instead of paying holiday pay when leave is taken, the employer adds 12.07% to each payslip. If yours does this, the payslip must show the holiday pay element as a separate line. If you cannot see it, ask. Rolled-up pay does not remove your right to actually take the time off.

                Don't let them fob you off: Even if you're on a zero-hours contract and haven't had shifts for weeks, your accrued holiday doesn't vanish. That time off is yours. You've earned it.
            

What counts as a working day?

A working day is any day you'd normally be working. Monday to Friday worker? Simple. But if you work shifts of varying lengths, things get messier. If your normal shift is 10 hours, one day's holiday should use 10 hours of your entitlement, not the generic 7 or 8.

The cleanest approach is to convert everything into hours. Work out your total annual hours, divide by working weeks to get your average weekly hours, then multiply by 5.6. That gives your total holiday hours for the year, and it removes the argument about what a "day" is worth.

Holiday pay: what you should actually receive

You're entitled to your normal pay when you take holiday. Straightforward for salaried workers, but a minefield for anyone with variable earnings. After years of court battles, the law now says holiday pay should reflect what you normally earn, including regular overtime, commission, and other recurring payments. Not just basic pay.

For variable earners, holiday pay is based on an average of the previous 52 paid weeks, skipping any week in which no pay was earned and going back a maximum of 104 weeks to find 52 paid ones. That reference period is set by regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and explained in the government's guidance on calculating holiday pay for workers without fixed hours or pay. Four of the 5.6 weeks must be paid at your normal rate, which includes regular overtime and commission. The remaining 1.6 weeks can lawfully be paid at basic rate.

Rolled-up holiday pay used to be in a legal grey area, but since April 2024 it's officially permitted for irregular-hours and part-year workers, as long as it's clearly shown on the payslip and calculated correctly.

Your employer's obligations

The main obligations, in short:

They must let you take your full entitlement. They can't block you from using your holiday, and they can't pay you to skip it (except when you leave the company).
They must pay you properly. Holiday pay means your normal earnings, not a reduced rate.
They can direct when you take leave. Shutdown periods at Christmas? That's allowed, as long as they give proper notice.
They must give notice to refuse a request. If you ask for a week off and they say no, they need to give you at least a week's notice of the refusal.
They must pay out untaken holiday when you leave. Any accrued, unused holiday must be included in your final pay. No exceptions.

What if your employer isn't complying?

Start by raising it informally. Plenty of holiday disputes come from genuine misunderstandings rather than malice. But if talking to your manager or HR gets you nowhere, contact ACAS on 0300 123 1100. They'll give you free advice and can try to mediate.

If that does not work, you can take your employer to an employment tribunal. An unlawful deduction from wages claim for unpaid holiday must normally be brought within three months less one day of the date the payment should have been made, and you must first notify Acas for early conciliation, which pauses the clock. The deadline is strict, so do not sit on it.

Holiday during notice periods

When you resign or get dismissed, you keep accruing holiday during your notice period. Your employer can make you take remaining holiday during notice, but they have to give proper notice to do it. Any accrued holiday you haven't taken when you leave must be paid out in your final pay packet.

Flip side: if you've taken more holiday than you've earned by your leaving date, the employer can deduct the overpayment from your final salary, but only if your contract specifically allows it. Check yours.

Agency workers and Holiday rights

Agency workers get 5.6 weeks from day one of any assignment. Same as everyone else. Your agency is responsible for making sure you get it. If you're not sure your holiday pay is being calculated right, ask the agency for a breakdown. The Agency Workers Regulations say they have to give you clear information about your pay and deductions.

The bottom line

Paid holiday isn't a bonus. It isn't a perk your employer generously grants you. It's a legal right. Every worker in the UK gets 5.6 weeks, and your employer has to let you take it, pay you properly for it, and pay out what's left when you go. If any of that isn't happening, you've got legal options. Use our Holiday Entitlement Calculator to check exactly how many days you're owed.