Holiday Pay Calculator
Calculate your statutory holiday entitlement and pay value for 2026. Works for full-time, part-time, and zero-hours workers. Updated for April 2024 regulations on irregular hours.
Holiday Pay Calculator
1. What is Holiday Pay?
Holiday pay is the remuneration you receive while taking your statutory annual leave entitlement. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, almost all workers in the UK — including part-time workers, agency workers, and those on zero-hours contracts — are entitled to paid annual leave.
The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks per year. For a standard 5-day week worker, this equals 28 days (including public/bank holidays if the employer chooses to include them). Your contract may provide more generous terms, but cannot be less than the statutory minimum.
Holiday pay must reflect your normal remuneration. Following court rulings, this means it must include regular overtime, commission payments, and productivity bonuses — not just basic salary. The relevant pay is averaged over the previous 52 weeks you actually worked.
2. How to Calculate Your Holiday Pay
The calculation method depends on your working pattern:
- Fixed hours (full-time or part-time): Entitlement = Days per week × 5.6, capped at 28 days. Daily pay rate = Annual salary ÷ 52 ÷ days per week. Holiday pay value = Daily rate × entitlement days.
- Irregular / zero-hours workers: Entitlement = 12.07% of hours worked. Pay rate = average of last 52 weeks’ pay. Holiday pay value = hours entitlement × average hourly rate.
For workers with irregular pay (including commission and overtime), HMRC requires using a 52-week average based on weeks where pay was actually received. This averaging period was introduced in April 2020 to replace the previous 12-week reference period.
3. Irregular Hours and Part-Year Workers (The 12.07% Method)
One of the most significant changes in recent years concerns “irregular hours” and “part-year” workers (such as term-time only staff). Following the Supreme Court ruling in Harpur Trust v Brazel, there was a period where the 12.07% accrual method was deemed unlawful, leading to anomalies where part-year workers could receive proportionately more holiday pay than full-time colleagues.
However, the government introduced new regulations effective for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. These regulations effectively reinstated the 12.07% accrual method for irregular hours and part-year workers. Under this system:
- Holiday entitlement accrues at a rate of 12.07% of the hours worked in a pay period.
- The figure 12.07% is derived from the standard 5.6 weeks holiday divided by the remaining working weeks in a year (46.4 weeks). (5.6 / 46.4 = 12.07%).
- Employers can now legally use “rolled-up holiday pay” for these specific groups of workers, provided it is clearly itemised on the payslip. This involves paying an additional 12.07% on top of the hourly rate in every pay packet, rather than accumulating time off.
This return to the percentage method simplifies administration significantly for zero-hours contracts and casual workforce management in 2026.
4. Components of Holiday Pay: Overtime and Commission
Historically, holiday pay was often calculated on “basic pay” alone. This changed following a series of EU and UK court rulings. In 2026, it is settled law that holiday pay must reflect “normal remuneration”. This means that if a worker regularly works overtime, receives commission, or gets productivity bonuses, these must be factored into their holiday pay.
Specifically, for the first 4 weeks of statutory leave (derived from EU law), pay must include:
- Compulsory and non-guaranteed overtime (overtime you must do if asked, but the employer doesn’t have to offer).
- Voluntary overtime that is worked regularly enough to be considered part of normal pay.
- Commission payments and performance bonuses.
- Shift allowances and travel allowances (taxable elements).
The remaining 1.6 weeks of statutory leave (a purely UK addition) can strictly be paid at the basic rate, although many employers simply apply the enhanced rate to the full 5.6 weeks for administrative simplicity.
5. Part-Time Workers
Part-time workers are protected against less favourable treatment under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. Their holiday entitlement is calculated strictly pro-rata to a full-time worker.
If a full-time worker gets 28 days (including bank holidays), a part-time worker working 3 days a week gets: 3 days × 5.6 weeks = 16.8 days. Employers cannot round this down; it must be rounded up to the nearest half-day or kept as a fraction. If bank holidays fall on days the part-time worker usually works, they must either be given the day off paid (deducted from entitlement) or, if the business is open, be given a day off in lieu.
6. Accrual During Sickness and Leave
Workers continue to accrue statutory holiday entitlement while they are off work sick, or on maternity, paternity, or adoption leave. This is a crucial right. If an employee cannot take their holiday due to long-term sickness, they are entitled to carry it over into the next leave year. The regulations generally allow this carry-over for up to 18 months from the end of the leave year in which it accrued.
Similarly, during maternity leave, holiday accrues as normal. It is often common practice for employees to tag their accrued holiday onto the beginning or end of their maternity leave to extend their paid time away from work.
7. “Use it or Lose it” and Carry Over Rules
The general principle for statutory holiday is “use it or lose it”. The first 4 weeks of leave must usually be taken in the leave year it is due. The additional 1.6 weeks can be carried over to the following leave year if there is a written agreement between the employer and employee.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency legislation allowed the carry-over of up to 4 weeks of leave for two years if it was not reasonably practicable to take it due to the virus effects. Note for 2026: These special COVID carry-over rules have expired. Any leave carried over under those specific provisions should have been used by March 31, 2024. The standard rules now apply fully.
8. Agency Workers
Agency workers have specific rights under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. From day one of an assignment, agency workers are entitled to statutory holiday. However, after a 12-week qualifying period in the same job with the same hirer, they become entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer. This often means an increase in holiday entitlement if the permanent staff receive more than the statutory minimum.
9. Calculating Pay for Leavers
When an employment contract terminates, the employer must pay for any statutory holiday accrued but not taken. This is one of the only times it is legal to pay cash in lieu of holiday (the other being the rolled-up pay method for irregular hours workers). The calculation for this payment relies on the proportion of the leave year that has passed.
Formula: (A ÷ B) × C - D
- A: The period of time the job lasted within the leave year.
- B: The proportion of the leave year passed.
- C: The total annual holiday entitlement.
- D: The amount of holiday already taken.
If a worker has taken more holiday than they have accrued by the time they leave, the employer may be entitled to deduct the overpayment from the final wage, provided this provision is clearly stated in the employment contract.
10. Disputes and Tribunals
Failure to pay holiday pay is treated as an unlawful deduction from wages. Employees can bring a claim to an Employment Tribunal. However, there is a strict time limit: claims must usually be made within three months minus one day of the deduction (i.e., the date the holiday pay should have been paid). In cases of a series of deductions, the claim can cover the series, but a gap of more than three months between deductions can break the chain.
How the Holiday Pay Calculator Works
This calculator helps you understand your UK pay entitlements using current 2025/26 rates and regulations. Whether you are checking statutory pay, overtime calculations, or holiday pay, the results reflect the latest HMRC thresholds and employment law requirements.
UK pay calculations must account for income tax, National Insurance contributions, pension auto-enrolment, and any applicable statutory payments. Employers are legally required to provide itemised payslips showing each deduction, making it easier to verify your pay is correct.
Key Information for 2025/26
The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.21 per hour from April 2025. The personal allowance remains at £12,570, and employee National Insurance is charged at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. Workplace pension auto-enrolment requires minimum contributions of 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer.
Example Calculation
An employee working 37.5 hours per week at £15 per hour earns £29,250 per year. After income tax of £3,336 and National Insurance of £1,334, the take-home pay is approximately £24,580 per year or £2,048 per month before pension contributions.
Source: Based on official HMRC 2025/26 rates. Last updated March 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is holiday pay calculated for irregular hours in 2026?
As of the regulations updated in April 2024, holiday pay for irregular hours and part-year workers can be calculated using the 12.07% accrual method based on hours worked in the pay period. This simplifies the previous averaging method. Employers can also utilize ‘rolled-up’ holiday pay, paying the 12.07% uplift in every payslip rather than when leave is taken, provided it is distinct on the payslip.
Does holiday pay include overtime and commission?
Yes. Following court rulings, holiday pay for the first 4 weeks of your statutory entitlement must be based on your ‘normal remuneration’. This means if you regularly work overtime, receive commission, or get performance bonuses, these earnings must be included in the calculation. The calculation is based on your average earnings over the previous 52 weeks.
What is the statutory holiday entitlement in the UK?
Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year. For a full-time worker working 5 days a week, this equals 28 days. This is the statutory cap; working 6 days a week does not increase the statutory entitlement beyond 28 days, although your employer may offer more.
Can I carry over unused holiday?
Generally, the statutory 4 weeks cannot be carried over unless you were unable to take it due to sickness or maternity/family leave. The additional 1.6 weeks can be carried over if the employer agrees. COVID-19 specific carry-over rules have now ended, so any leave carried over under those terms should have been utilised.
How is holiday pay calculated for zero-hours contracts?
For zero-hours workers, holiday is accrued based on hours worked. The most common and now legislatively supported method (since April 2024) is accruing 12.07% of hours worked as holiday entitlement. This effectively provides roughly 7 minutes of holiday for every hour worked.
Are bank holidays included in the 28 days?
Employers can choose to include the 8 bank holidays as part of your statutory 28-day entitlement. There is no automatic statutory right to be off on bank holidays or to be paid extra for working them, unless specified in your employment contract.
What happens if I leave my job with untaken holiday?
If you leave your job, you are entitled to be paid for any statutory holiday you have accrued but not taken. This is known as payment in lieu. Conversely, if you have taken more holiday than you accrued, your employer may deduct the difference from your final pay if your contract allows.