Annual Leave Calculator

Work out your UK annual leave entitlement in days and hours: 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, counted in your own working pattern — 28 days on a five-day week, pro-rata part-time, less for a part-year start, and 12.07% accrual if your hours are irregular. Free, with nothing to sign up for.

How are the hours worked?

Most staff are on regular hours. Pick irregular hours for casual, zero-hours, agency or term-time work — since April 2024 that leave accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked.

Days worked per week

Half days count — enter 2.5 for two and a half days.

Hours in a working day (optional)

Used to show the entitlement in hours as well as days. Clear it to skip the hours figures.

Leave year

Days of leave already taken

Private by design: everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing you type here is sent to a server, stored or tracked.

Your annual leave entitlement

28 days this leave year

210 hours at 7.5 hours a day

Full-year entitlement:: 5.6 weeks × 5 days a week = 28 days.
Already taken:: 0 days.
Left to take:: 28 days (210 hours).

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How to use this annual leave calculator

This calculator is part of UK Payroll Calculators, a free hub of UK payroll calculators built on the April 2026 rules — no sign-up, no accounts, and every figure worked out in your browser. If you work the same days every week, use the regular-hours setting: enter your days per week, add the length of a working day if you want the answer in hours, and tell it if you started part-way through the leave year. If your hours change from week to week — casual, zero-hours, agency or term-time work — use the irregular-hours setting and enter the hours you have actually worked. Either way, take off the leave already taken and the calculator shows what is left.

How much annual leave are you entitled to?

Almost every worker in the UK is legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. On a five-day week that is 28 days; on any other pattern it is 5.6 times the days you work each week — the same 5.6 weeks, counted in your own days. The statutory total is capped at 28 days, so working six days a week still gives 28 days, not 33.6.

Working pattern	Entitlement (days)	In hours (7.5-hour day)	Note
5 days a week (full-time)	28	210	The standard full-time pattern
4 days a week	22.4	168	—
3 days a week	16.8	126	GOV.UK's own worked example
2.5 days a week	14	105	—
1 day a week	5.6	42	—
6 days a week	28	210	Capped at 28 days by law

These are statutory minimums. Many contracts give more — five weeks plus bank holidays on top is common — and the contract figure is the one that binds your employer. What the law guarantees is the floor in the table.

How is annual leave calculated for part-time workers?

By the same 5.6 weeks, expressed in smaller weeks. A worker on three days a week gets 5.6 × 3 = 16.8 days a year, because each of their weeks of leave is only three days long. Nothing else changes: the entitlement builds up from the first day of the job, keeps building during sick leave and family leave, and bank holidays that fall on a working day usually come out of the total. The pay side of working part-time is a different calculation — our pro-rata salary calculator works out the part-time salary, monthly pay and FTE fraction from the full-time figure.

How does leave build up for irregular-hours and part-year workers?

If the hours change every pay period — or the job runs for only part of the year, like term-time work — there is no fixed pattern to multiply by 5.6. For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, leave instead builds up (“accrues”) at 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period. The percentage is the same 5.6 weeks restated: 5.6 weeks of leave against the 46.4 weeks a year that remain. Work 100 hours and you accrue 12.07 hours of leave, booked as 12 hours. GOV.UK's own example makes the rounding plain: 30 hours worked accrues 3.621 hours, booked as 4 hours — accrued leave is rounded to the nearest whole hour, halves up. Employers of irregular-hours and part-year workers can instead pay the 12.07% on top of wages as “rolled-up holiday pay”, if the contract allows it.

Do bank holidays count towards annual leave?

They can — the law does not put bank holidays on top of the 5.6 weeks. Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave at all, and an employer can count them inside your statutory entitlement. So if your workplace closes on bank holidays and they fall on your working days, those days come out of your 28 (or your pro-rata total) — which is why a five-day worker with bank holidays included usually has 20 days a year to book freely. If your contract gives bank holidays on top, that is better than the legal minimum, and the contract wins.

What happens if you start a job part-way through the leave year?

You get the part of the year's entitlement that matches the part of the year you are employed for, worked out in twelfths — one twelfth of the annual figure for each month of the leave year you are in the job, and the month you start in counts as a whole month even if you start part-way through it. Start a five-day job on 1 July in a leave year that runs from 1 January and you are employed for 6 of the 12 months, so the entitlement is 28 × 6/12 = 14 days. A three-day worker starting on 1 October in the same leave year gets 16.8 × 3/12, given as 4.5 days — part-year figures are rounded up to the nearest half day. The mirror image applies when you leave: you are owed pay for leave accrued but not taken, and payment in lieu of statutory leave is allowed only at the end of a job.

Rules used by this calculator

Figure	How it is worked out
Statutory entitlement	5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year for almost all workers
Regular-hours entitlement	5.6 × days worked per week, in days
Statutory cap	28 days a year, however many days a week are worked
Bank holidays	No legal right to them on top — an employer can count them inside the 5.6 weeks
Irregular-hours / part-year accrual	12.07% of hours worked in each pay period (leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024)
Accrued-leave rounding	To the nearest whole hour, halves up — GOV.UK's rule
Part-year starters	Full-year entitlement × twelfths of the leave year employed for; the start month counts whole; the part-year total is rounded up to the nearest half day

The rules follow the Working Time Regulations 1998, as amended, in the form GOV.UK states them in Holiday entitlement: entitlement and Calculate holiday entitlement.

Leave rules checked against GOV.UK on 9 November 2026. This calculator covers the statutory minimum; your contract may give more, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set the same 5.6-week floor under the same Regulations.

Frequently asked questions

How many days' holiday are you entitled to in the UK?

28 days a year if you work five days a week. The law gives almost every worker 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, counted in their own working pattern, and caps the statutory total at 28 days however many days a week you work. Part-time workers get 5.6 × their days per week (16.8 days on three days a week), and an employer can count bank holidays inside the total rather than on top of it.

How do I calculate holiday entitlement for a 3-day week?

Multiply the days worked by 5.6: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days a year — GOV.UK's own example. The same rule works for any pattern: 4 days a week gives 22.4 days and 2.5 days gives 14 days. To express it in hours, multiply the days by the length of a working day — 16.8 days at 7.5 hours a day is 126 hours of leave.

Are bank holidays on top of the 28 days?

Not by law. Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave on top of the 5.6 weeks, and most employers count them inside the total — on a five-day week that usually means 20 days to choose yourself, plus the bank holidays that fall on your working days. Some employers do give bank holidays on top; your contract or staff handbook says which way yours does it.

How does holiday build up if I work irregular hours?

At 12.07% of the hours you work in each pay period — the rule for irregular-hours and part-year workers whose leave year began on or after 1 April 2024. Work 100 hours and you accrue 12.07 hours of leave, booked as 12; work 30 hours and the 3.62 hours accrued is booked as 4, because accrued leave is rounded to the nearest whole hour, halves up. Accrued leave can normally be taken from the next pay period.

What happens if I start a job part-way through the leave year?

You get the fraction of the year's leave that matches the fraction of the year you are employed for, worked out in twelfths — and the month you start in counts as a whole month. Start a five-day job on 1 July in a January-to-December leave year and you are employed for 6 of the 12 months, so your first-year entitlement is 28 × 6/12 = 14 days. The part-year figure is rounded up to the nearest half day, and leave still builds up while you are on sick leave or family leave.