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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.
Starters and Leavers
Staff who join or leave part-way through the holiday year get entitlement in proportion to the part of the year they are employed.
Starter example: your holiday year runs January to December. A full-time employee joins on 1 July, so they get 28 × 6 ÷ 12 = 14 days for that year. In their first year, leave builds up at one-twelfth of the annual amount per month.
Leaver example: a full-time employee leaves on 30 September, so they are entitled to 28 × 9 ÷ 12 = 21 days.
• If they have taken 15 days, pay them for the 6 untaken days in their final pay.
• If they have taken more than they accrued, you can only deduct the overpaid leave from final pay if their contract or a written agreement allows it.
Irregular-hours and zero-hours workers
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours workers in Great Britain accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period.
The 12.07% figure comes from 5.6 weeks of holiday divided by the 46.4 weeks left to work (52 − 5.6).
Example: an employee works 40 hours in a pay period. They accrue 40 × 12.07% = 4.83 hours of holiday.
For these workers only, employers may also pay rolled-up holiday pay: an extra 12.07% added to each payslip instead of paying when leave is taken. It must be shown as a separate line on the payslip.
UK bank holidays 2026 and 2027
There is no statutory right to paid bank holidays. Employers decide whether they come out of the 5.6 weeks or are given on top, and the contract should say which. England and Wales have 8 bank holidays in 2026; Scotland and Northern Ireland have more.
| Bank holiday (England and Wales) | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | ||
| Good Friday | ||
| Easter Monday | ||
| Early May bank holiday | ||
| Spring bank holiday | ||
| Summer bank holiday | ||
| Christmas Day | (substitute) | |
| Boxing Day | (substitute) | (substitute) |
How many working days are in a year?
The UK has 261 weekdays in 2026. After the 8 England and Wales bank holidays, that leaves 253 working days. 2027 also has 261 weekdays and 253 working days.
Take off a full-time employee's 20 days of non-bank-holiday leave, and they are available to work for about 233 days.
This matters when you calculate daily pay rates, capacity for a team, or how much an absence costs.
Holiday entitlement for term-time staff
Term-time staff, such as school support staff, are a common source of holiday errors. In Harpur Trust v Brazel (2022), the Supreme Court ruled that permanent staff who work only part of the year cannot have holiday cut in proportion to the weeks they work.
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, GB law lets employers calculate holiday for part-year workers as 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period, which reverses much of the effect of that ruling.
Not every term-time employee is a part-year worker under the law. The definition covers staff with periods of at least a week when they are neither required to work nor paid. Many school staff are paid in equal instalments across 12 months, which may put them outside it. Check the contract, and any sector terms such as the NJC Green Book, before choosing a method.
Carrying leave over
The core 4 weeks of statutory leave must normally be taken in the holiday year. The extra 1.6 weeks can be carried over if your contract or policy allows it. Employees can carry over core leave when they could not take it because of sickness or family leave, such as maternity leave. Sick-leave carry-over is limited to 4 weeks and must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year. They can also carry it over if you did not give them a reasonable chance to take it, or did not tell them it would be lost. Keep this section's existing wording, plus these two points..
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 managementHoliday entitlement FAQs
How many days holiday is a full-time employee entitled to in the UK?
A full-time employee working 5 days a week is entitled to at least 28 days of paid holiday a year, which is 5.6 weeks. Bank holidays can count towards this.
How do I calculate pro-rata holiday?
Multiply the full-time allowance by the days or hours the employee works, then divide by full-time days or hours. For the statutory minimum, multiply days worked per week by 5.6.
Do part-time workers get bank holidays?
Part-time workers are entitled to a pro-rata share of any bank holidays you give full-time staff. Add bank holidays to the total allowance and pro-rate the whole amount, so it doesn't depend on which days they work.
Do employees accrue holiday while on sick leave or maternity leave?
Yes. Holiday continues to build up during sick leave and statutory family leave, such as maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
Can an employer refuse a holiday request?
Yes. An employer can refuse leave for business reasons, but must give notice at least as long as the leave requested. Employers must still let staff take their full statutory entitlement during the year.
Can I pay staff instead of them taking holiday?
Not for statutory leave, except when employment ends. Payment in lieu of untaken statutory holiday is only allowed in the final pay of a leaver.
What is 12.07% holiday?
12.07% is the rate at which irregular-hours and part-year workers in Great Britain accrue holiday, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. It equals 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 weeks left to work.
Is holiday entitlement different in Northern Ireland?
Workers in Northern Ireland also get 5.6 weeks, capped at 28 days. The April 2024 changes to irregular-hours accrual and rolled-up holiday pay apply in Great Britain only.