Holiday pay: how much should you get?

If your holiday pay looks short, you have a right to challenge it. Today, save the payslip and write down the hours, overtime or commission you usually earn. Then ask payroll, in writing, how they calculated your holiday pay. A basic-rate payment can be wrong when regular extra pay should count.

How much holiday do you get?

In Great Britain, the Working Time Regulations 1998 give workers, including employees, 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave from day one. Four weeks come under regulation 13 and another 1.6 under regulation 13A. In Northern Ireland the 2016 regulations provide the same entitlement. The statutory total is capped at 28 days, even if you work six days a week.

On a five-day week that means 28 days. On three days, 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days. An employer cannot round down your entitlement. A separate first-year accrual rule rounds fractions of a day up to a half or whole day to calculate how much leave you can take at a particular point. It does not automatically turn your full-year 16.8-day entitlement into 17 days.

Part-time workers get pro-rata leave. A bank-holiday benefit above the statutory minimum must generally be offered pro rata too. Agency workers have the minimum from day one through their agency and, after 12 weeks in the same role, equal treatment on annual leave compared with a direct hire. Genuinely self-employed people have no statutory holiday right. Your contract’s label does not decide whether you are really a worker.

Why your holiday pay can differ

For regular-hours workers in Great Britain, the four weeks under regulation 13 must be paid at “normal remuneration”. The additional 1.6 weeks under regulation 13A may be paid at basic rate. Many employers pay the same rate for all leave. The regulations do not say which pot of leave you take first. Check how your employer identifies each one.

Since 1 January 2024, normal remuneration has a statutory definition. It includes commission intrinsically linked to contractual tasks, payments for seniority or qualifications, and overtime or other payments regularly made in the 52 weeks before the calculation date. Bonuses depend on what they reward; not every bonus qualifies. For GB irregular-hours and part-year workers under the post-April 2024 rules, all statutory holiday pay is based on total pay, whether paid when leave is taken or rolled up.

How holiday pay is calculated

If you have a salary and fixed hours, a week’s holiday is a week’s normal pay. On £31,200, you earn £600 a week, so a week’s leave pays £600. For the regulation-13 weeks, add any regular overtime or commission due.

Hourly and variable pay: the 52-week average

In Great Britain, if your hours or pay vary, a week’s holiday pay is normally based on the last 52 weeks of usual pay. Skip weeks with no pay. If needed, look back no more than 104 weeks. If fewer than 52 qualifying weeks exist, average the weeks available. This 52-week reference period has applied since 6 April 2020. For irregular-hours or part-year workers on rolled-up pay, holiday is paid with each payslip instead.

Irregular-hours and part-year workers: 12.07%

In Great Britain, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, an irregular-hours worker’s contracted paid hours must be wholly or mostly variable in each pay period. A part-year worker has at least one week during the contract when they are not required to work and are not paid for that week. Both groups accrue statutory leave at 12.07% of hours worked each pay period. A rotating but fixed shift pattern does not automatically count as irregular hours.

Rolled-up holiday pay

Employers in Great Britain may use rolled-up holiday pay for irregular-hours and part-year workers in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. They add 12.07% of total pay in each pay period and show it separately on the payslip. This must be on top of wages that meet the National Minimum Wage. You still take leave. It has already been paid for. Rolled-up pay remains unlawful for regular-hours workers and in Northern Ireland.

The diagram shows how the GB calculation changes with your work pattern. A zero-hours contract may fall within the irregular-hours definition, but the label alone is not enough. Check what your contract says about paid hours. Northern Ireland keeps different rules for irregular and part-year work.

Accruing, taking and carrying over leave

Paid leave starts building up on day one. In the first year of a regular-hours job, one-twelfth of the annual entitlement becomes available at the start of each month; an employer can let you take leave earlier.

Holiday continues to build up during sick leave and statutory family-related leave. For GB irregular-hours and part-year workers, leave years from 1 April 2024 use a 52-week look-back to work out average hours before the absence, then accrue 12.07% of those hours for each week away. Weeks affected by sickness or statutory family leave are excluded from that average; other non-working weeks can count.

Under GB regulation 15, a request for 10 days off normally needs at least 20 days’ advance notice. An employer refusing those dates must normally give at least 10 days’ counter-notice. To require a 10-day shutdown as holiday, they must give 20 days’ notice. A relevant agreement, such as a contract, can vary these periods.

In Great Britain, an agreement can let regular-hours workers carry over up to eight days of the extra 1.6 weeks. If sickness prevents you taking leave, up to four weeks can carry over. You must use it within 18 months of the leave year’s end. Leave blocked by maternity or another statutory family leave must carry over. If your employer fails to enable or encourage leave, or warn that you will lose it, up to four weeks of a regular-hours worker’s leave can carry forward. Irregular-hours and part-year workers have different carry-over limits, including all untaken leave in some circumstances.

Except for lawful rolled-up pay, you cannot exchange statutory leave for cash while still employed. When your job ends, your employer must settle any statutory holiday pay still owed. Leave already covered by lawful rolled-up pay is not paid a second time. For working-time limits, see our working time guide.

Do you get bank holidays off?

No. There is no separate statutory right to paid time off on a bank or public holiday. An employer may count those days within your 5.6 weeks. For a five-day worker in England and Wales, “28 days including bank holidays” and “20 days plus the usual eight bank holidays” can both meet the minimum. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different calendars (Northern Ireland has 10). Check your contract for which days you can take.

Is holiday pay pensionable?

Holiday pay is part of qualifying earnings for workplace pension auto-enrolment. If your scheme calculates contributions using qualifying earnings, it counts alongside ordinary wages, subject to the scheme’s contribution rules and earnings band. A scheme with a different definition of “pensionable pay” can treat holiday pay differently. Check your scheme documents. The Pensions Regulator explains variable-pay assessments.

Leaving a job: accrued holiday and final pay

If you are a regular-hours worker leaving partway through a leave year, pro-rate your annual entitlement by calendar days in employment, not days worked. Subtract leave already taken. The unpaid balance goes into final pay. Your employer can deduct excess holiday from final wages only if you agreed to it in writing beforehand. If you are a GB irregular-hours or part-year worker, check the leave you have accrued from hours worked and whether it has already been paid through lawful rolled-up pay.

1. Find your leave year. Check your contract for the start and end dates.
2. Calculate leave accrued. For regular hours, use days employed ÷ days in the leave year × annual entitlement. For GB irregular or part-year hours, use accrued hours.
3. Subtract leave taken and pay received. Your employer owes any remaining unpaid balance. Recovering excess leave from final pay needs prior written agreement.

Refused, cancelled or underpaid holiday

An employer can refuse dates or cancel approved leave with the required notice, but should have a sound business reason. They cannot block you from taking your statutory entitlement altogether. If you have paid for travel, keep the approval, cancellation and receipts. Whether you can recover losses depends on the facts, not simply on how late the cancellation was.

In Great Britain, underpayment may support a complaint under regulation 30 of the Working Time Regulations and/or an unlawful-deduction-from-wages claim under the Employment Rights Act 1996. A gap of three months or more does not automatically break a series of deductions. The Supreme Court rejected that rule in Agnew.

When an employer keeps holiday pay the law says you are owed, that is wage theft. Our view: a system that leaves workers to sue for it protects the employer with more time and money, not the person missing wages.

A two-year backstop applies to Great Britain unlawful-deduction claims. Northern Ireland has no equivalent two-year cap. Under the 2026 commencement and transitional regulations, the usual GB tribunal limit is six months for a holiday-pay complaint or wage deduction only when the relevant refusal or payment date is on or after 1 October 2026. Earlier relevant dates keep the previous three-month limit. The reform does not revive an expired claim. Acas early conciliation can pause the clock. Northern Ireland’s industrial tribunal generally has a three-month limit for holiday complaints. Speak to Acas in GB or the Labour Relations Agency in NI promptly. See our tribunal guide.

1. Save the proof. Keep payslips, rotas, holiday requests and messages. Note the date the holiday pay was due.
2. Ask payroll in writing. Say which payment looks short and ask how it was calculated. Keep the response.
3. Get help and watch the clock. In Great Britain, the usual deadline is six months only if the relevant refusal or payment date is on or after 1 October 2026. Earlier dates keep the previous three-month limit. In Northern Ireland, holiday complaints generally have a three-month limit. Acas early conciliation can pause the GB clock. Contact Acas or the Labour Relations Agency promptly, not after another pay cycle.
4. Get backup. Your union can help you challenge the calculation: Unite represents many hospitality, retail and logistics workers; UNISON represents many care and health workers; GMB and IWGB also organise workers in these sectors. Citizens Advice and local law centres can explain your options. Report a suspected minimum-wage breach to HMRC. Report labour exploitation to the GLAA where it applies, unsafe work to the HSE, and discrimination to the EHRC. These bodies do not replace a holiday-pay tribunal claim.

What changed by October 2026?

1. 1 Jan 2024Normal pay defined (GB)

   The law specified which regular extras belong in normal holiday pay.

2. 1 Apr 2024New GB accrual and pay options

   For leave years starting from this date, irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of hours; eligible employers may use rolled-up pay.

3. 6 Apr 2026Records duty in force (GB)

   Employers must retain adequate holiday records for six years.

4. 1 Oct 2026New GB tribunal time limits

   Six months for most claims where the relevant date is on or after 1 October; earlier relevant dates stay on the previous limit.

The 5.6-week entitlement itself has not changed. Holiday-pay enforcement by the Fair Work Agency remains a proposal without a start date. For other changes see our Employment Rights Act 2025 tracker.