Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For someone working five days a week, that is 28 days.
Two things follow from that which surprise people, and both are covered below: the 28 days is a ceiling, and it may include bank holidays.
A year is 52 weeks. Take off 5.6 weeks of leave and 46.4 working weeks remain. 5.6 divided by 46.4 is 12.07% — the accrual rate for irregular hours.
Working out your own entitlement
Multiply the days you work each week by 5.6:
| Days worked per week | Statutory entitlement |
|---|---|
| 5 | 28 days |
| 4 | 22.4 days |
| 3 | 16.8 days |
| 2.5 | 14 days |
| 2 | 11.2 days |
| 1 | 5.6 days |
The awkward decimals are normal. Employers usually round up to a half or whole day for practicality — and they may round up, but they must never round down below your statutory entitlement.
The 28-day cap
Statutory leave is capped at 28 days no matter how many days a week you work.
Working six days a week would suggest 33.6 days, and seven days a week would suggest 39.2. Neither applies. Both are capped at 28.
This is the single most misunderstood point about UK holiday entitlement. If you work six or seven days a week, the law gives you no more paid leave than someone working five.
Bank holidays are not automatically extra
There is no automatic right to paid leave on a bank holiday in the UK. Your employer may count bank holidays towards your 5.6 weeks rather than giving them on top.
So “28 days plus bank holidays” and “28 days including bank holidays” are both lawful, and they are very different offers — roughly eight days apart. Check which one your contract describes.
We have a separate guide on bank holidays and annual leave.
Joining or leaving part way through a leave year
Entitlement is pro-rated by the proportion of the leave year you are employed.
If your leave year runs from 1 January and you start on 1 July, you are employed for 184 of 365 days — about 50.4% of the year. On a five-day week that gives roughly 14.1 days rather than 28.
Calculate a part-year entitlement
When you leave, any holiday you have accrued but not taken must be paid to you. If you have taken more than you accrued, your employer can only recover it if your contract specifically says so.
Your leave year
Your leave year is whatever your contract says. Common choices are the calendar year, the tax year from 6 April, or the anniversary of your start date. If the contract says nothing, it usually runs from the date you started.
This matters more than it sounds, because several rules — including the 2024 changes for irregular hours workers — apply from the start of the first leave year on or after a given date, not from that date itself.
Carrying leave over
You cannot normally carry statutory leave into the next year. There are exceptions, mainly where you could not take it because of sickness or family leave.
Of the 5.6 weeks, four weeks derive from retained EU law and 1.6 weeks are an additional UK entitlement. The two portions have slightly different carry-over rules. In practice most employers treat all 5.6 weeks the same, but the distinction becomes relevant in disputes.
Who is covered
Nearly everyone classed as a worker, which is broader than “employee”. It includes agency workers, casual staff, and most zero hours workers.
The genuinely self-employed are not covered. But being labelled self-employed by a company does not settle it — worker status depends on the reality of the working relationship, not the label on the contract.
Irregular hours
If your hours are wholly or mostly variable, a different method applies: holiday accrues at 12.07% of the hours you actually work in each pay period. See our guide to irregular hours and part-year workers.
Common problems
“My employer says I must take leave at certain times.” They can require that, provided they give you notice of at least twice the length of the leave.
“I was refused leave.” Employers can refuse a request, but they cannot prevent you taking your statutory entitlement across the year as a whole.
“I am on a zero hours contract so I get no holiday.” Incorrect. Zero hours workers accrue paid holiday.
“My holiday pay is less than my normal pay.” Holiday pay should reflect normal pay, including regular overtime and commission, based on a 52-week reference period.
Sources
- Holiday entitlement — GOV.UK
- Calculate holiday entitlement — GOV.UK
- Checking holiday entitlement — Acas
Checked against source on 30 August 2026. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Written by Nathan Cole
I built the calculators on HoursHQ and check every statutory figure against GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation itself before it goes live. Where the law is genuinely unclear, I say so rather than guessing.