How much holiday is this person owed?
The statutory 5.6 weeks, worked out for the pattern someone actually works — in days and in hours, with bank holidays handled either way.
This calculator gives an estimate of the statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations 1998 and is not legal advice. Contractual entitlement above the statutory minimum, and the treatment of bank holidays, depend on the employment contract. Check GOV.UK or take advice before relying on it for a specific case. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.
Holiday entitlement calculator
Pick the working pattern, then enter the hours. Bank holidays and part-year starters are in the advanced options.
Statutory entitlement
Estimates only — verify before making decisions.
The rule the calculator applies
Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year under the Working Time Regulations 1998. It is expressed in weeks rather than days so that it scales to whatever pattern someone actually works.
For a five-day week that comes to 28 days. That figure is also a cap: someone working six days a week is entitled to 28 days, not 33.6.
For workers whose hours are wholly or mostly variable, or who are contracted for only part of the year, leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 accrue at 12.07% of the hours actually worked — which is 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 working weeks in a year.
Bank holidays are not automatically extra
There is no statutory right to take a bank holiday off, and an employer may count bank holidays towards the 5.6 weeks. Both arrangements are lawful — what matters is that the contract says which. Set the treatment in the advanced options to see the difference.
In 2026 there are 8 bank holidays in England and Wales, and 10 in both Scotland and Northern Ireland — and Scotland’s list is different, not simply longer.
Where the calculation usually goes wrong
Assuming 28 days is the entitlement
28 days is what 5.6 weeks comes to for a five-day week. For anyone else it is a different number, and for six-day workers it is a ceiling.
Tracking in days when shifts vary
If a “day” is 4 hours one week and 12 the next, days are the wrong unit. Track the entitlement in hours instead.
Treating zero-hours staff as part-time
Settled part-time hours use the 5.6-weeks pro-rata calculation. Genuinely irregular hours use 12.07% accrual. They give different answers.
Forgetting part-year starters
Someone who joins in month seven is not owed a full year’s entitlement. Set the months worked to pro-rata it.
Stop working holiday out on a spreadsheet
Entitlement that accrues itself, balances staff can see in the app, and a record you can produce six years later.
Calculating it once is easy. Tracking it is not.
RosterElf accrues entitlement from the hours people actually work and keeps the balance right without anyone recalculating it.
Free calculator
Good for a one-off check on a single worker
- 5.6 weeks in days and hours
- 12.07% accrual for irregular hours
- Pro-rata for part-year starters
- No signup required
- Balances that update as leave is booked
- Accrual from clocked hours
- Requests approved against the rota
- A six-year record, as now required
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Holiday entitlement questions
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Multiply the days worked each week by 5.6, capped at 28 days. Five days a week gives 28; three days gives 16.8. For irregular hours, accrue 12.07% of the hours actually worked instead.
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The Working Time Regulations give 4 weeks plus an additional 1.6 weeks, which together make the 5.6 weeks almost every worker is entitled to. The distinction still matters for some carry-over rules — see our holiday entitlement guide.
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28 days is the maximum statutory entitlement. Someone working six days a week is entitled to 28, not 33.6. An employer can of course offer more contractually, and many do.
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Set the months worked below 12. A worker who joined with four months of the leave year remaining is owed roughly a third of the annual entitlement, subject to how the contract handles part-year starters.