Working Time Regulations 1998 · regs 13–15A

Holiday Entitlement Calculator UK

This holiday entitlement calculator works out UK statutory annual leave for anyone with a regular weekly pattern: 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days. For someone starting or leaving part way through a leave year it takes the exact dates and applies GOV.UK’s method, then shows the result in days and hours, next to your contract’s allowance and any leave still owed.

Not for irregular-hours or part-year workers: in leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 they build up 12.07% of the hours they work. Use the GOV.UK holiday entitlement calculator for them.

Calculator

Work out holiday entitlement

Method

How holiday entitlement is pro-rated by date

The Working Time Regulations count a part year differently for someone joining and someone leaving, and GOV.UK’s calculator follows them. This page uses the same counts, cap and rounding; its unit tests reproduce the GOV.UK code’s own test cases. The one exception is a leave year or job that begins on 29 February: GOV.UK’s calculator measures it against a year that begins on 1 March and can show more than the 28-day maximum, so this page uses the year that begins on 29 February.

Full leave year: Days worked per week × 5.6, capped at 28 days (regulation 13A(3)). Hours are the capped days × your average working day, so 48 hours over 6 days gives 28 × 8 = 224 hours, not 48 × 5.6 = 268.8.
Starting part way: The share of the leave year left on the start date (regulations 13(5) and 13A(5)), counted in twelfths: every month begun from the start date to the end of the leave year counts, including the month you join. The result is rounded up to the next half day, the rule regulation 15A(3) sets for first-year accrual.
Leaving part way: The share of the leave year that has passed by the leaving date (regulation 14), in calendar days: from the first day of the leave year to the leaving date inclusive, over 365, or 366 when the leave year contains 29 February. Days and hours are rounded up to one decimal place.
Starting and leaving: For anyone leaving within 12 months of starting: calendar days employed, start to leaving date inclusive, over the 365 or 366 days of the year that begins on the start date.
First-year accrual: A different question: how much leave can be taken yet. In the first year of a job, one twelfth of the full-year amount accrues on the first day of each month of employment (regulation 15A). It limits booking, not the entitlement, and it does not set the pay on leaving; regulation 14’s calendar days do.

Worked examples

Starter, leaver and first-year leaver

Starting on 15 June 2026, and the boundary one day later
5 days (37.5 hours) a week, leave year 1 January to 31 December 2026. Months begun, June to December: 7. 28 × 7/12 = 16.33, rounded up to 16.5 days; 16.5 × 7.5 = 123.75, shown as 123.8 hours. Start on 1 July instead and only 6 months are begun: 28 × 6/12 = 14 days. Joining on 30 June rather than 1 July is worth 2.5 days, because the month you join counts in full.
Leaving on 30 September, with and without 29 February
5 days a week, leave year starting 1 April. From 1 April to 30 September is 183 days. In the leave year to 31 March 2028, which contains 29 February 2028: 183/366 × 28 = 14 days exactly. A year earlier, to 31 March 2027: 183/365 × 28 = 14.04, shown as 14.1 days. With 9 days already taken, 14.1 − 9 = 5.1 days are owed as pay in lieu: regulation 14’s (A × B) − C on the rounded-up entitlement.
Leaving in the first year: exact dates, not monthly accrual
Start 30 June 2026, leave 1 August 2026, 5 days a week. Accrual adds 28/12 = 2.33 days on 30 June and again on 30 July, so up to 5 days (4.67 rounded up) could have been booked. The leaving entitlement is 33/365 × 28 = 2.53, shown as 2.6 days. If all 5 were taken, the 2.4-day excess can be recovered only where the contract or another relevant agreement allows it.

Contracts

Bank holidays and contractual annual leave

There is no statutory right to paid time off on bank holidays. An employer can count them within the 5.6 weeks or give them on top, and the contract says which. A contract of 25 days plus bank holidays is one full-year figure: enter it in the contract field, for example 33 days. The calculator pro-rates it with the same share and rounding as the statutory minimum and flags a figure below that minimum. A part-time worker’s leave cannot be reduced for bank holidays that fall on days they do not work.

Statutory holiday by days worked per week
Days a week	Full year	First-year accrual a month
1	5.6 days	0.47 days
2	11.2 days	0.93 days
3	16.8 days	1.4 days
4	22.4 days	1.87 days
5	28 days	2.33 days
6	28 days (cap)	2.33 days

Limits

What this calculator does not cover

Irregular-hours and part-year workers. For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, holiday accrues at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period, and employers may use rolled-up holiday pay for them. Regulations 13 and 13A, used here, apply to everyone else.
Shifts and annualised hours. The GOV.UK calculator has separate options for shift patterns and annualised hours.
Holiday pay in pounds. Pay in lieu is shown in days; its value is a week’s pay under regulation 16, which this page does not work out. Leave carried over from earlier years is not included.
Northern Ireland. The Working Time Regulations 1998 extend to Great Britain only; Northern Ireland has its own working time regulations.
This is the statutory minimum, not legal advice. Your contract, your employer’s HR team or Acas can confirm what applies to you.

Next steps

Pro-rata salary — convert a full-time salary when days, hours or weeks change.
Redundancy pay — statutory redundancy pay if leaving was not your choice.
Maternity pay — map statutory maternity pay and leave across the weekly schedule.
UK payroll and tax guide — every connected UK pay calculation in one place.

Questions

Carry-over and pay instead of leave

Can I carry over unused annual leave to the next year?

Ordinary carry-over depends on your contract or another relevant agreement. For a worker entitled to 28 days, an agreement may allow up to 8 days to move into the next leave year. Different protections apply when leave could not be taken: family-related leave must be allowed to carry into the next leave year, while long-term sickness can allow a regular-hours worker to carry up to 20 days and use it within 18 months of the end of the leave year. Irregular-hours and part-year workers can carry up to 28 days after long-term sickness. Check your contract and the current GOV.UK or Acas guidance for your circumstances.

Can I be paid instead of taking my holiday?

Not while you are still employed. Statutory leave can be replaced by a payment in lieu only when employment ends (regulations 13(9)(b) and 13A(6)). On leaving, untaken leave for the current leave year is paid under regulation 14, and leave carried over from earlier years because of sickness, family leave or an employer’s failure to let you take it is paid under regulation 14(6).

Authoritative sources

GOV.UK — Calculate holiday entitlement
The government calculator whose method this page reproduces. It also covers irregular hours, shifts and annualised hours, which this page does not.
GOV.UK smart-answers — holiday entitlement calculator code
The published code behind the GOV.UK calculator: the month count for starters, the calendar-day share for leavers, the 365/366 test and the rounding. This page’s unit tests reproduce its test fixtures.
GOV.UK — How to calculate holiday entitlement on different types of contract
Entitlement must not be rounded down; section 2.2 applies the 28-day cap before converting to hours; sections 3 to 5 set out first-year accrual, half-day rounding for starters and calendar days for leavers. Examples 6 to 8, 11 and 12 are reproduced in the tests.
legislation.gov.uk — Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 13
Four weeks’ leave, the default leave year starting on the first day of employment, the starter proportion in 13(5) and payment in lieu only on termination in 13(9).
legislation.gov.uk — Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 13A
The additional 1.6 weeks, the 28-day maximum in 13A(3) and the starter proportion in 13A(5).
legislation.gov.uk — Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 14
Leavers: the proportion of the leave year expired, the (A × B) − C payment in lieu, recovery of excess leave only under a relevant agreement, and pay for carried-over leave.
legislation.gov.uk — Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 15A
First-year accrual of one twelfth on the first day of each month, with fractions rounded up to a half or whole day.
GOV.UK — Holiday entitlement
The 5.6 weeks and 28-day limit, the rule that bank holidays can count towards statutory leave, and the definition of irregular-hours and part-year workers.
GOV.UK — Carrying over leave
Ordinary carry-over depends on an agreement; family-related leave, long-term sickness and an employer failing to provide a reasonable opportunity to take leave have separate protections and limits.
GOV.UK — Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024
The 12.07% accrual and rolled-up holiday pay for irregular-hours and part-year workers in leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
Acas — Bank holidays and Christmas
Bank holidays on non-working days cannot be deducted from holiday entitlement; the contract decides whether bank holidays sit inside the statutory leave.
Acas — Carrying over holiday
The 4-week sickness carry-over limit for regular-hours workers and the requirement to use that leave within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it accrued.

Published by Kalcify · Last updated 25 September 2026

Calculators are built against primary sources — government tax authorities (IRS, HMRC, CRA, ATO) for finance and the World Health Organization for health metrics. Updated when rates or rules change. View methodology and data sources.

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Work out holiday entitlement

How holiday entitlement is pro-rated by date

Starter, leaver and first-year leaver

Starting on 15 June 2026, and the boundary one day later

Leaving on 30 September, with and without 29 February

Leaving in the first year: exact dates, not monthly accrual