In short
Every UK worker is entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days for someone working a standard 5-day week. Part-time staff get the same 5.6 weeks pro rata, new starters accrue it monthly in their first year, and workers with irregular or zero hours build it up using a 12.07% accrual method. Employers can offer more than the legal minimum, never less.
If you run a small business in the UK, holiday entitlement is one of the few HR areas where getting it wrong has a direct legal cost. The rules themselves are not complicated, but they get applied inconsistently — especially once your team includes part-timers, shift workers, or anyone on a zero-hours contract. This guide walks through what the law actually requires in 2026, with worked examples for the situations that trip up small employers most often.
What is statutory holiday entitlement?
Statutory holiday entitlement is the minimum amount of paid time off an employer is legally required to give a worker each year. It is set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998 and applies to almost everyone on your payroll — full-time, part-time, agency, casual and zero-hours workers all qualify. The only people who fall outside it are the genuinely self-employed.
The entitlement is expressed in law as 5.6 weeks of paid leave per year. For a worker on a standard 5-day week, that works out to 28 days — which is also the statutory maximum a "week" calculation can produce, even if someone works 6 days a week. You can check the exact figure for any working pattern using GOV.UK's holiday entitlement calculator.
How much holiday do part-time staff get?
Part-time workers are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks, calculated pro rata against the days they actually work. The formula is simple: multiply the number of days worked per week by 5.6.
| Days worked per week | Statutory annual leave |
|---|---|
| 5 days | 28 days |
| 4 days | 22.4 days |
| 3 days | 16.8 days |
| 2 days | 11.2 days |
Do bank holidays count toward the 28 days?
There is no automatic statutory right to a paid day off for bank holidays in the UK — it depends entirely on the contract. Most employers fold the 8 bank holidays into the 28-day entitlement, which leaves 20 discretionary days. Others offer 28 days plus bank holidays on top, taking the total closer to 33 days. The wording in the contract or staff handbook is what settles it, and it's worth checking yours says exactly what you intend it to.
How new starters accrue holiday in their first year
A new employee doesn't get their full annual allowance from day one. Instead, leave accrues at one-twelfth of the annual entitlement per month during the first year, rounded up to the nearest half day. So someone entitled to 28 days who joins at the start of your leave year has built up roughly 14 days by the six-month mark. This is a common source of payroll disputes when someone leaves partway through their first year and the final pay calculation doesn't reflect what they'd actually accrued.
Irregular hours and zero-hours workers
This is where most small businesses get caught out. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, workers with genuinely irregular hours or part-year contracts accrue holiday using a 12.07% method: multiply the hours actually worked in a pay period by 12.07% to get the holiday hours earned. That figure comes from dividing 5.6 weeks by the 46.4 weeks typically worked in a year.
Crucially, this method can only be applied to workers who are correctly classified as irregular hours or part-year, and only for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 — it can't be applied retrospectively, and it can't be used for staff on regular fixed hours. Misclassifying a worker to apply this method, or expressing their entitlement in days rather than hours, is one of the more common compliance mistakes and increases the risk of under-accrual claims.
Rolled-up holiday pay: is it allowed?
Rolling holiday pay into an employee's hourly rate, rather than paying it out when leave is taken, was unlawful for years following a Supreme Court ruling. That's since been reversed for irregular-hours and part-year workers specifically: rolled-up holiday pay is now permitted for this group, provided it's shown as a clearly separated line on the payslip rather than buried in the hourly rate. It still isn't an option for workers on regular fixed hours.
Calculating holiday pay for variable earnings
For staff with fixed hours and fixed pay, a day's holiday pay is simply a normal day's pay. It's less straightforward for anyone whose earnings vary — through overtime, commission or irregular shifts. In that case, holiday pay must be based on their average pay over the previous 52 weeks in which they actually earned something, skipping any weeks with no pay at all.
Carrying leave over — and what's changing on record-keeping
Statutory holiday generally needs to be used within the leave year it's earned, though limited carry-over is allowed in specific circumstances, such as when someone couldn't take leave due to long-term sick leave or family-related leave. Beyond the leave rules themselves, small employers should also be aware that record-keeping requirements around holiday and hours are being tightened under recent employment law reform, with new obligations phasing in through 2026 — another reason to move away from tracking leave in spreadsheets or on paper.
The mistakes that catch small businesses out
- Writing holiday policies purely in "days" for staff whose hours genuinely vary, instead of hours.
- Applying the 12.07% accrual method to workers who don't actually qualify for it.
- Getting first-year accrual wrong when someone leaves partway through their initial 12 months.
- Leaving bank holiday treatment ambiguous in the contract, then disputing it later.
- Losing track of who has approved, pending, or unused leave once headcount passes what a spreadsheet can realistically manage.
How HR Soul helps
HR Soul's Holiday System is built around these exact rules: set your holiday policy once — including how bank holidays and accrual are treated — and it applies consistently across the business. Employees submit requests, managers approve or reject them with a clear audit trail, and the annual calendar gives you a single view of who's off and when, without a spreadsheet in sight. See pricing and plans to get started.
Frequently asked questions
Can an employer offer less than the statutory minimum?
No. 5.6 weeks (28 days for a standard 5-day week) is the legal floor. Employers are free to offer more, but never less.
Does holiday still accrue during sick leave or maternity leave?
Yes. Statutory holiday continues to build up during sick leave, maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
Do zero-hours workers get paid holiday?
Yes — they have the same statutory right to 5.6 weeks, usually calculated using the 12.07% accrual method against hours actually worked.
This guide is intended as general information for UK employers and isn't a substitute for legal advice. For guidance specific to your business, check the current rules on GOV.UK or speak to ACAS or an employment solicitor.