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Calculate Annual Leave and Pro-Rata Holiday Entitlement
Use the Activ People HR annual leave calculator to quickly work out holiday entitlement for full-time and part-time employees.
Enter your details below and switch between standard and pro-rata calculations to accurately calculate annual leave, including part-time and flexible working patterns.
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What is pro-rata holiday entitlement?
Everyone working in the UK has a legal right to paid annual leave, with full-time employees working five days a week entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks or 28 days.
For part-time employees, holiday entitlement is worked out on a pro-rata basis so that leave is fairly adjusted according to the number of days or hours they work.
Understanding how entitlement is calculated helps employers stay compliant, avoid disputes, and give employees confidence that their time off is being managed fairly.
The UK legal minimum
Full-time employees who work a standard five-day week are entitled to 28 days of paid annual leave each year, which is equal to 5.6 weeks.
Employers can choose whether bank holidays are included within this entitlement or offered in addition, but this should always be made clear in contracts and policies.
How pro-rata entitlement works
Pro-rata holiday entitlement means leave is calculated in proportion to the time someone works during the year.
For example, someone working three days a week would receive 16.8 days of annual leave, calculated by multiplying 3 by 5.6.
The basic formula
For regular working patterns, holiday entitlement is usually calculated using this simple formula:
For irregular-hours or zero-hours workers, entitlement is usually tracked in hours and often built up using the 12.07% accrual method.
What should employers consider?
Calculating holiday entitlement accurately means looking beyond standard full-time patterns and taking into account how, when, and how often employees work.
Start and leave dates
Employees who join or leave part-way through the holiday year should receive entitlement based on the proportion of the year they have worked.
Irregular hours
Zero-hours and irregular-hours workers still receive 5.6 weeks’ entitlement, but this is usually calculated in hours rather than days.
Bank holidays
Bank holidays are not an automatic statutory right, so employers need to decide whether they are included in annual leave or provided on top.
Accruing leave
Holiday entitlement starts building up from the first day of employment. A common approach is to calculate accrual monthly, with employees building up one twelfth of their annual leave allowance each month.
Employees continue to accrue holiday while on maternity, paternity, adoption, or sick leave.
Carrying leave over
The additional 1.6 weeks of UK statutory leave can usually be carried into the next holiday year if your policy allows it.
In some cases, employees may also be allowed to carry over core statutory leave, particularly where they were not properly given the opportunity or encouragement to take it, or where sickness or family leave prevented them from doing so.
Make holiday calculations easier
Use a clear leave policy and a reliable holiday calculator to manage pro-rata entitlement, bank holidays, and accrual accurately across your workforce.
Explore holiday management