Holiday Entitlement in 2026: How Much Leave Workers Get and How to Pay It

Holiday entitlement is one of the first things a new employer has to get right, and one of the most common reasons for tribunal claims. This guide is for small-business owners, payroll managers and workers in Great Britain who want the 2026 rules in one place. It covers how much leave the law requires, how to work it out for part-timers and irregular-hours staff, how much to pay for a week's holiday, carry-over, bank holidays and the new record-keeping duty under the Employment Rights Act 2025 — with worked examples in pounds.

Quick answer

Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year — 28 days for a five-day week, capped at 28 days. Part-timers get the same 5.6 weeks pro rata. Irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of the hours they work, and can be paid rolled-up holiday pay. Since 6 April 2026, employers must keep holiday records for at least 6 years.

• Bank holidays can count towards the 28 days — there's no extra legal right to them

• Pay at least 4 weeks at 'normal' pay, including regular overtime and commission, averaged over 52 weeks

• Carry-over: up to 8 days by agreement; more if sickness or family leave stopped you

• Untaken statutory leave must be paid when someone leaves

• The Fair Work Agency has enforced holiday pay since 7 April 2026

Who gets statutory holiday

The right to paid annual leave comes from the Working Time Regulations 1998. It covers workers, which includes employees, most agency workers and many people on zero-hours or casual contracts. It doesn't cover the genuinely self-employed. If you're unsure whether someone is a worker, look at how the relationship works in practice rather than the label in the contract: if they have to do the work personally and you control when and how, they're probably a worker.

Leave starts building up from the first day of work. There's no qualifying period for statutory holiday. Workers also keep building up leave while they're off sick and while on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

Employers can give more than the legal minimum, and many do. The extra (contractual) leave can come with its own rules — for example, a qualifying period, a requirement to take it by year-end, or no payment for it when someone leaves. Those rules should be in the contract or staff handbook. The statutory 5.6 weeks can't be reduced by contract.

These rules apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own working time regulations with similar entitlements, but the 2024 reforms for irregular-hours workers don't apply there. Northern Ireland employers should check nidirect.

How much holiday: 5.6 weeks and the 28-day cap

The basic entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year. For someone who works the same pattern each week, multiply their working days or hours by 5.6. Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days, so a six-day worker still gets 28 days.

You can't round entitlement down. Acas says that in a worker's first year, part days should be rounded up to the nearest half day; after that, rounding up is optional but you can't take leave away. So the three-day worker gets 16.8 days, which most employers treat as 17 days or 16 days plus 6.4 hours.

For people whose days vary in length, calculating in hours is fairer. A worker who does two 10-hour days and one 5-hour day (25 hours a week) is entitled to 140 hours. Booking a 10-hour Monday then uses 10 hours, not one "day".

Starters and leavers get a proportion. Someone who joins a business on a five-day week halfway through the holiday year is entitled to about 14 days for the rest of that year. Acas's example is a worker who starts on 1 January and leaves after 26 weeks, having built up 14 days.

Bank holidays

There's no legal right to have bank holidays off or to be paid extra for them. Employers can count bank holidays as part of the 5.6 weeks. A full-time worker with 28 days including the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales has 20 days to book. Many contracts say "20 days plus bank holidays", which is the same thing. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different bank holidays, so check GOV.UK for the dates where your staff work.

If you close on bank holidays and count them as leave, part-timers need care. Five of the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales in 2027 fall on a Monday, and one falls on a Tuesday. A worker who works Monday to Wednesday is entitled to 16.8 days. If all six of those bank holidays are deducted from their leave, they have 10.8 days left to book. A Wednesday-to-Friday worker would lose only two (Good Friday and New Year's Day) and keep 14.8 days. Both are lawful, but it can feel unfair, and part-time workers mustn't be treated less favourably than comparable full-timers. A common fix is to give every worker a pro-rata share of bank holidays as hours, then deduct the hours they would have worked on each one.

Any bank holiday a worker works doesn't have to be paid at a premium unless the contract says so — but it shouldn't be counted as leave either.

Irregular hours and part-year workers: the 12.07% rule

For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, special rules apply to two groups in Great Britain:

• Irregular-hours workers: people whose paid hours in each pay period are wholly or mostly variable under their contract — typically zero-hours and many casual workers.
• Part-year workers: people who work only part of the year and have periods of at least a week when they're neither working nor paid — for example, term-time workers.

These workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours they actually work in each pay period. The figure comes from 5.6 weeks ÷ 46.4 working weeks (52 − 5.6). GOV.UK's example rounds accrual to the nearest hour: 68 hours worked in June gives 8 hours of leave.

Irregular-hours accrual at 12.07%

8 hrs

Leave from 68 hours worked

GOV.UK example

17 hrs

Leave from 140 hours in a month

145 hrs

Leave from 1,200 hours in a year

about 5.6 weeks of that worker's average

28 days

Cap still applies

statutory leave can't exceed 28 days' worth

If you offer more than the statutory minimum, use your own percentage: total weeks of leave ÷ (52 − total weeks) × 100. For six weeks' leave that's 13.04%. During sick leave or family leave, irregular-hours workers still accrue holiday, based on their average hours in the previous 52 weeks.

Rolled-up holiday pay

For irregular-hours and part-year workers only, you can choose to pay holiday pay as it's earned instead of when leave is taken. You add 12.07% to the pay for each pay period and show it as a separate item on the payslip. The worker still takes time off, but it's unpaid at the time because they've already been paid for it.

Example: a café worker on the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour works 30 hours in a week. Their pay is 30 × £12.71 = £381.30. Rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% adds £46.02, shown on its own payslip line.

Rolled-up holiday pay is still unlawful for workers with regular hours. If a fixed-hours employee is paid "£13 an hour including holiday pay", the employer hasn't paid holiday pay at all. It must still pay them properly when they take leave.

Check an hourly rate before adding holiday pay

Target Annual Take-HomeAnnual Business ExpensesEffective Tax RateBillable Hours / WeekWorking Weeks / Year

Required Annual Revenue₹24,50,000.00

Billable Hours / Year1,150

Day Rate (8 hrs)₹17,043.48

Minimum Hourly Rate₹2,130.43

Open the full Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator (PDF, save, compare)

How much to pay for a week's holiday

For workers with regular hours, a week's holiday pay is a week's pay. The 2024 reforms split the 5.6 weeks into two pots:

• 4 weeks at "normal" pay. This includes basic pay plus commission, payments linked to length of service, seniority or qualifications, and other regular payments such as overtime the worker has regularly done.
• 1.6 weeks at basic pay. Many employers simply pay all 5.6 weeks at normal pay, which is simpler and avoids disputes.

Where pay varies, you average it over the last 52 weeks in which the worker was paid. Ignore weeks with no pay and go back further, up to a maximum of 104 weeks, to find 52 paid weeks. If someone has been with you less than 52 weeks, use the weeks they have worked.

Example: a warehouse operative earns £550 a week basic and has regularly worked overtime averaging £90 a week over the last 52 paid weeks. For the first 4 weeks of holiday taken in the year, each week's holiday pay is £640. For the remaining 1.6 weeks, the minimum is £550 a week. A one-off bonus for a big contract usually wouldn't count; a monthly sales commission would.

Holiday pay must be at least the National Minimum Wage for the hours involved. See our guide to the National Minimum Wage.

Booking holiday and refusing requests

Unless the contract says otherwise, the legal default notice rules are:

• A worker must give notice of at least twice the length of the leave plus one day. One day off needs 3 days' notice; a week off needs 11 days' notice.
• An employer can refuse or cancel leave by giving notice equal to the length of the leave plus one day. So refusing a 10-day request needs 11 days' notice.
• An employer can tell workers to take leave on certain days — for example, a Christmas shutdown or bank holidays — by giving notice of at least twice the length of the leave.

Employers can restrict leave in busy periods, but they must give workers a real chance to take their full entitlement during the year. You can't force someone who is sick to take holiday instead of sick leave. If a worker falls ill during booked holiday, they can usually take the holiday later and be paid Statutory Sick Pay for the sick days if eligible.

Carrying holiday over

Statutory leave is meant to be taken, so the default is "use it or lose it". There are exceptions:

• By agreement: you can let workers carry over up to 8 days of statutory leave (the 1.6-week part for a five-day week).
• Sickness: if a worker couldn't take leave because they were sick, they can carry over up to 20 days (or up to 28 days for irregular-hours and part-year workers). It must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it built up.
• Family leave: leave that couldn't be taken because of maternity or other family-related leave can be carried over, up to 28 days.
• Employer failures: if you refused leave, didn't give a reasonable opportunity to take it, or didn't warn that it would be lost, the worker can carry it over.

Remind staff of their remaining leave a few months before the end of the leave year, and keep a copy of the reminder. If you don't, you may not be able to cancel unused leave.

When someone leaves

When employment ends, you must pay for any statutory leave that has built up but not been taken — even if the worker was dismissed for gross misconduct. Payment in lieu of statutory holiday is only allowed on leaving.

Example: a full-time employee with a 1 January leave year leaves after 26 weeks. They've built up 14 days and taken 9. You owe 5 days' pay. If their normal pay is £550 a week, that's £110 a day, so £550.

If someone has taken more leave than they've built up, you can only deduct the excess from their final pay if there's a written agreement allowing it — usually a clause in the contract. You can also require a leaver to take some of their remaining holiday during their notice period, using the normal notice rules.

Record-keeping and enforcement after the Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 brought two changes that matter for holiday.

Holiday records. Since 6 April 2026, employers must keep records of workers' annual leave and holiday pay, and keep them for at least 6 years. In practice that means, for each worker: their leave year, entitlement and how it was calculated, leave taken and when, carry-over, and how holiday pay was worked out — including the reference period and any rolled-up payments.

Enforcement. The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April 2026 and has taken over enforcement of holiday pay alongside the National Minimum Wage and Statutory Sick Pay. Workers can also bring tribunal claims. From 1 October 2026, the time limit for most employment tribunal claims is 6 months, up from 3 months, so old holiday disputes can stay live for longer.

Holiday records to keep for each worker

0/7

• Leave year dates and contractual entitlement
• How statutory entitlement was calculated (days, hours or 12.07%)
• Every period of leave taken, with dates
• Holiday pay for each period and how 'normal pay' was averaged
• Rolled-up holiday pay shown on payslips (irregular-hours and part-year only)
• Carry-over agreed, and reminders sent before year-end
• Payment for untaken leave on leaving

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Common mistakes

• Giving part-timers fewer bank holidays without adjusting. Work in hours and pro-rate.
• Paying basic pay only for every week of holiday. At least 4 weeks must include regular overtime and commission.
• Rolling up holiday pay for regular-hours staff. Only irregular-hours and part-year workers can be paid this way.
• Using the old 12.07% shortcut for regular-hours staff. It's only for irregular-hours and part-year workers; others get 5.6 times their week.
• Not keeping records. Since April 2026 it's a legal duty, and without records it's hard to defend a claim.
• Letting leave lapse without warning. If you didn't warn workers and give them the chance, they may be able to carry it over.

Official GOV.UK and Acas links

• Holiday entitlement5.6 weeks, part-time and bank holidays
• Calculate holiday entitlementGOV.UK calculator
• Holiday payNormal pay and 52-week average
• Holiday pay reforms from 202412.07%, rolled-up pay, carry-over
• UK bank holidaysEngland and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
• Acas: Employment Rights Act 2025Record-keeping and Fair Work Agency

What to do next

Check each worker's contract against the rules above: their pattern, their entitlement in days or hours, and how bank holidays are treated. Set up a simple leave record that covers everything in the checklist, and make sure your payroll averages overtime and commission into holiday pay. If you're taking on your first staff, read how to register as an employer, and use the salary slip generator to show rolled-up holiday pay as its own line.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How many days holiday am I entitled to in the UK?

Almost all workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For someone working five days a week that's 28 days, and the statutory amount is capped at 28 days even if you work six days. Employers can include the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales within the 28 days, so many full-time staff have 20 days to book plus bank holidays.

How do I work out part-time holiday entitlement?

Multiply the number of days (or hours) worked each week by 5.6. Someone working three days a week gets 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days. Someone working 22.5 hours a week gets 126 hours. Employers can't round entitlement down, and if bank holidays are included, part-timers should get a fair share rather than losing leave because they don't work Mondays.

What is the 12.07% holiday rule?

For irregular-hours and part-year workers, in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period. Someone who works 140 hours in a month accrues about 17 hours of leave. The figure comes from 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 weeks a year left after holiday.

Is rolled-up holiday pay legal?

Yes, but only for irregular-hours and part-year workers, in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. The employer adds 12.07% to the pay for each pay period and shows it as a separate line on the payslip. It's still unlawful to roll holiday pay into the hourly rate for workers with regular hours.

Can I carry over unused holiday?

Usually up to 8 days of statutory leave can be carried over if your employer agrees. If you couldn't take holiday because you were off sick, you can carry over up to 20 days (28 for irregular-hours workers) and use it within 18 months. Leave missed because of maternity or other family leave can be carried over, and so can leave your employer stopped you taking.

Do employers have to keep holiday records?

Yes. Since 6 April 2026, employers in Great Britain must keep records of workers' annual leave and holiday pay for at least 6 years, under the Employment Rights Act 2025. The Fair Work Agency, set up on 7 April 2026, can enforce holiday pay. Good records protect you if a worker claims underpaid holiday.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Holiday entitlement: entitlement — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.Holiday entitlement: holiday pay — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.Holiday entitlement: booking time off — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Holiday entitlement: taking holiday before leaving a job — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024 — Department for Business and Trade (GOV.UK) · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.Checking holiday entitlement — Acas · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.Employment Rights Act 2025 — Acas · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update — Department for Business and Trade (GOV.UK) · accessed 9 October 2026
9. 9.UK bank holidays — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026