Holiday Pay Calculator 2026/27
Whether you're salaried, on a zero-hours contract, or irregular hours — check your exact holiday entitlement and how much you should be paid when you take time off.
Your Employment Type
Unpaid Holiday Entitlement
£2,076.92
The monetary value of your remaining holiday, before tax and NI.
Your statutory holiday entitlement
Almost all workers in the UK — including part-time workers, agency workers, and people on zero-hours contracts — are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year. For a standard 5-day week, that's 28 days. For other patterns, you calculate it proportionally.
| Working pattern | Statutory days per year | How it's calculated |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days/week | 28 days | 5 × 5.6 = 28 |
| 4 days/week | 22.4 days | 4 × 5.6 = 22.4 |
| 3 days/week | 16.8 days | 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 |
| 2 days/week | 11.2 days | 2 × 5.6 = 11.2 |
| Irregular/zero-hours | 12.07% of hours worked | 5.6 ÷ 46.4 working weeks |
Bank holidays: There is no automatic right to bank holidays off. Whether bank holidays count toward your 28 days or are on top depends on your contract. Check your written terms carefully.
How holiday pay is calculated
The rules changed significantly following several Employment Tribunal and Supreme Court cases. Holiday pay is no longer simply your basic salary — it should reflect your normal remuneration.
For workers with variable pay, holiday pay is calculated as an average of the previous 52 weeks of pay (excluding weeks with no pay). This means regular overtime, shift premiums, and commission must be included.
✓ Must be included in holiday pay
Regular overtime, guaranteed overtime, commission, shift allowances, on-call pay (if regularly received)
⚠ May or may not need to be included
Genuinely voluntary overtime (case by case), discretionary bonuses — depends on how regularly they are paid
Does not need to be included
Expenses reimbursements, one-off payments, contractual benefits such as a car allowance (in most cases)
Zero-hours contracts and holiday pay
Zero-hours and irregular hours workers have the same statutory holiday rights as permanent employees — they just accrue it differently. Rather than being given a set number of days upfront, you accrue holiday as you work.
The 12.07% method is the standard approach: for every hour worked, 12.07% of an hour of holiday pay accrues. When you take time off, your employer pays you for your accrued hours. If you work for 2 hours, you've earned 14.5 minutes of paid holiday. Over a year working 1,000 hours, that's 120.7 hours of holiday entitlement.
Rolled-up holiday pay — now legal (from April 2024)
Instead of paying you separately when you take time off, your employer can include 12.07% extra in your hourly rate. This is called rolled-up holiday pay and is now legal for irregular hours and part-year workers.
If your contract uses this method, your payslip must itemise the rolled-up element separately. When you take time off, you receive no additional pay — it was already paid with each working hour.
Common holiday pay mistakes — and what you're owed
⚠ Employer calculates holiday pay on basic salary only
If you regularly earn overtime or commission, holiday pay should reflect your average total earnings over the previous 52 weeks.
⚠ Holiday not accrued during sick leave
Statutory holiday continues to accrue during sick leave. If you couldn't take holiday due to illness, you can carry it over into the next holiday year.
⚠ Holiday pay not paid on leaving (untaken holiday)
When you leave a job, your employer must pay you for all accrued but untaken statutory holiday. This is called a payment in lieu of holiday (PILH) and is taxed as normal income.
⚠ Zero-hours workers told they have no holiday entitlement
All workers — including zero-hours, casual, and agency workers — have statutory holiday rights. There are no exceptions based on contract type.