How the 5.6 weeks is worked out, what holiday pay is worth, and what to do if you are short-changed
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, almost all workers in the UK are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year. For someone working a standard five-day week, this equates to 28 days of paid annual leave. This is the statutory minimum; your employer may offer more generous terms in your contract of employment, but they cannot offer less.
The 5.6 weeks figure is calculated by multiplying the number of days you work per week by 5.6. So if you work five days per week, your entitlement is 5 x 5.6 = 28 days. The statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days, so even if you work six or seven days per week, your minimum entitlement remains 28 days.
England and Wales have eight bank holidays per year, whilst Scotland has nine and Northern Ireland has ten. There is a common misconception that employees have an automatic right to take bank holidays off with pay. In fact, there is no statutory right to time off on bank holidays specifically.
Many employers include the eight bank holidays within the 28-day statutory entitlement, leaving you with 20 days to take at other times. Other employers offer bank holidays on top of the statutory minimum, giving you 28 days plus bank holidays (36 days in total). The arrangement depends entirely on your contract.
If your employer requires you to work on a bank holiday, they must still ensure you receive your full 5.6 weeks of annual leave. You can take the equivalent time off on another day. Some employers offer enhanced pay (such as double time) for working on bank holidays, but this is not a legal requirement unless specified in your contract.
| Arrangement | Bank Holidays | Additional Leave | Total Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory minimum (including BH) | 8 days | 20 days | 28 days |
| Statutory minimum plus BH | 8 days | 28 days | 36 days |
| Enhanced (common in public sector) | 8 days | 30+ days | 38+ days |
Part-time workers are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks of holiday as full-time workers, but calculated on a pro-rata basis. This means the number of days is proportional to the number of days they work per week.
The calculation is straightforward: multiply the number of days worked per week by 5.6.
| Days Worked Per Week | Statutory Entitlement | Including Bank Holidays |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days | 28 days | 20 + 8 BH |
| 4 days | 22.4 days | Pro-rata BH + remaining |
| 3 days | 16.8 days | Pro-rata BH + remaining |
| 2 days | 11.2 days | Pro-rata BH + remaining |
If a part-time worker's entitlement results in a fraction of a day, the employer must round up to the nearest half day. Part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than full-time colleagues under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.
Workers with irregular hours, including those on zero-hours contracts, shift workers, and casual workers, are entitled to paid holiday but calculating their entitlement requires a different approach.
For workers with no fixed hours, holiday entitlement accrues at 12.07% of hours worked. The percentage comes from dividing 5.6 weeks of leave by the 46.4 working weeks that remain in the year, so each hour worked accrues 0.1207 hours of holiday. It applies to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
Rolled-up holiday pay was reintroduced by the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023, which took effect on 1 January 2024, with the irregular hours provisions applying to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Under the arrangement an additional 12.07% is added to the worker's pay, with each payslip showing the holiday pay element as a separate line. Workers receive holiday pay as they earn it rather than when they take time off. The government's guidance on the reforms sets out the detail. This is a separate piece of law from the Employment Rights Bill.
When you hand in your notice or are given notice by your employer, your holiday entitlement continues to accrue during the notice period. You can request to take holiday during your notice period, and your employer can also require you to take any remaining holiday during this time.
If your employer requires you to take holiday during your notice period, they must give you notice first. Under regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 that notice must be at least as many days in advance as the number of days of leave. So five days of imposed holiday needs at least five days' notice. The twice-the-length rule works the other way round: it is the notice you must give when requesting leave, so ten days' notice to book five days off. Either figure can be varied by a contractual holiday policy.
Any accrued but untaken holiday at the end of your employment must be paid in lieu. This payment should be included in your final pay packet and should be calculated using your normal rate of pay, including any regular overtime or commission.
The rules around carrying over unused holiday have evolved significantly in recent years. The basic position under the Working Time Regulations is that the first four weeks of leave (the EU-derived entitlement) cannot normally be carried over into the next leave year. However, there are important exceptions.
Holiday pay must reflect what a worker would normally earn if they were at work. For workers with a fixed salary, this is straightforward. However, for workers whose pay varies, the calculation must take account of additional elements.
Holiday pay for workers with variable pay is calculated using a 52-week reference period. The employer looks at the previous 52 weeks in which the worker was paid (ignoring any weeks with no pay) and calculates an average. If the worker has been employed for fewer than 52 weeks, the reference period is the number of complete weeks they have worked.
Your statutory holiday entitlement continues to build up (accrue) during periods when you are off work on maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, shared parental leave, or sick leave. This means you may return from a long absence with a significant amount of accrued holiday.
During both ordinary maternity leave (the first 26 weeks) and additional maternity leave (the remaining 26 weeks), your holiday continues to accrue at the normal rate. You cannot take annual leave at the same time as maternity leave, but many employers allow you to add your accrued holiday to the beginning or end of your maternity leave.
Holiday continues to accrue during sick leave. If you fall ill during a period of booked annual leave, you can request to convert the sick days to sick leave and keep your holiday entitlement for another time. Your employer may require you to provide medical evidence (such as a fit note) to support this request.
Your employer can refuse a holiday request, but they must follow certain rules. They must give you notice equal to the length of leave you requested. For example, if you asked for one week off and your employer wants to refuse, they must tell you at least one week before the leave was due to start.
However, your employer cannot prevent you from taking your statutory holiday altogether. They must ensure you have a reasonable opportunity to take all your leave during the holiday year. If your employer consistently refuses leave requests without good reason, this could be a breach of the Working Time Regulations.