Holiday entitlement calculator
How much paid holiday are you entitled to? Pick your working pattern and see your statutory annual leave in days or hours, for a full leave year or if you start or leave part way through. Irregular-hours and part-year workers can work out the holiday they build up each pay period. It follows GOV.UK's rules and rounding.
Use 0.5 for half days, e.g. 4.5 for a 9-day fortnight.
For several pay periods, separate them with commas, e.g. 30, 22.5, 41.
UK holiday entitlement at a glance
| Days worked a week | Statutory holiday a year |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 days |
| 2 | 11.2 days |
| 3 | 16.8 days |
| 4 | 22.4 days |
| 4.5 (9-day fortnight) | 25.2 days |
| 5 | 28 days |
| 6 or 7 | 28 days (capped) |
Full leave year, 5.6 × days a week, capped at 28 days. Bank holidays can be included in these figures; your contract may give you more.
How this is worked out
- Full year, days: 5.6 weeks of your working week, so 5.6 × the days you work, up to a maximum of 28 days.
- Full year, hours: the same number of days times your average working day (weekly hours ÷ days worked). Up to 5 days a week that's simply 5.6 × your weekly hours; above 5 days the 28-day cap means 28 average days. This also covers compressed hours (full-time hours over fewer, longer days).
- Starting part way through: your full-year entitlement × the months of the leave year you start ÷ 12, counting your first day and the same date each month after it. A part day rounds up to the next half day (if under half) or whole day (if over half). Hours are then that many days at your average working day.
- Leaving part way through (or starting and leaving in the same year): your full-year entitlement × the calendar days you're employed in the leave year ÷ the days in the leave year (366 if it includes 29 February). GOV.UK's calculator rounds this up to one decimal place.
- Irregular hours and part-year workers (leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024): 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, rounded to the nearest hour, up to 28 days (5.6 weeks) a year. Irregular hours means your hours in a pay period often or always change; part-year means you have periods of at least a week when you don't work and aren't paid. Employers can pay rolled-up holiday pay (an amount for holiday added to the hourly rate) to these workers but not to regular-hours workers.
- Shift patterns aren't covered here. GOV.UK's holiday entitlement calculator has a shift worker option.
Sources: Holiday entitlement (GOV.UK), including calculate leave entitlement, holiday pay and taking holiday before leaving a job; Calculating holiday entitlement for workers (guidance with worked examples); the GOV.UK Calculate holiday entitlement tool. Checked 17 October 2026. This page gives the statutory minimum only and isn't legal advice. For help with a dispute, contact Acas.
Holiday pay in brief
You're entitled to a week's pay for each week of statutory holiday you take. With regular hours and fixed pay, that's your pay for a week. If you work irregular hours or part of the year, it's your average pay over the previous 52 weeks, counting only weeks in which you were paid. Since 6 April 2026 employers must keep records of annual leave and holiday pay for at least 6 years. See holiday pay on GOV.UK for the detail.
Want to see what a payday looks like after tax? Try the take-home pay calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much holiday am I entitled to in the UK?
Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. If you work a 5-day week that's at least 28 days. The legal minimum is capped at 28 days, so someone working 6 days a week still gets 28 days. Your employer can count bank holidays as part of the 28 days, and many contracts give more than the minimum.
How do I work out holiday for a part-time job?
Multiply the days you work each week by 5.6. Working 3 days a week gives at least 16.8 days a year (3 × 5.6). If your days are different lengths, work it out in hours instead: 5.6 × your weekly hours, so 22.5 hours a week gives 126 hours. If you work more than 5 days a week, the 28-day cap applies, so the hours figure is 28 times your average working day.
I started my job part way through the leave year. How much holiday do I get?
A share of the full year, based on how many months of the leave year are left. GOV.UK counts the months you start (your first day, then the same date each month until the leave year ends), gives one-twelfth of a year's leave for each and rounds a part day up to the next half or whole day. For example, 7 months of a 28-day entitlement is 16.33 days, which rounds up to 16.5 days. Your employer can instead pro-rata the first month by the days you actually work.
How is holiday worked out for irregular hours or part-year workers?
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period, rounded to the nearest hour (0.5 of an hour or more rounds up). Working 30 hours in a weekly pay period earns 4 hours (30 × 12.07% = 3.621). You can't build up more than 28 days (5.6 weeks) in a leave year. For these workers only, an employer can choose to pay holiday as part of the hourly rate instead, which is called rolled-up holiday pay.
What happens to my holiday when I leave a job?
Your statutory holiday for that leave year is pro-rated by the calendar days you were employed, and you may be able to use what's left during your notice period. Any statutory holiday you haven't taken must be paid when you leave, even if you're dismissed for gross misconduct. If you've taken more holiday than you've built up, your employer can only take money from your final pay if you agreed to that in writing beforehand.
Can I carry holiday over to next year?
Your contract says how much you can carry over. If you get 28 days, you can carry over up to 8 days. If you couldn't take holiday because you were on maternity, paternity or other family leave you can carry it over, and if you were off sick you can carry over up to 20 days (or up to 28 days if you work irregular hours or part of the year).
How much notice do I need to give to book holiday?
Unless your contract says otherwise, give notice of at least twice the length of the holiday plus 1 day, so 3 days' notice for 1 day off. Your employer can refuse or cancel holiday with notice of at least the length of the holiday plus 1 day (11 days' notice to refuse 10 days off), and can restrict when you take it, but can't stop you taking your leave altogether.
Plan the money side of your time off
Booking a break means knowing what you can spare. The Household Bills & Budget Planner (£7, Excel and Google Sheets) puts every bill and subscription in one place, turns them into one monthly figure and shows what's left after bills, spending and savings.
Get the bills & budget planner (£7)Prefer free? Try the bills monthly cost calculator.