Holiday Entitlement Calculator UK: annual leave in days and hours

Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year (GOV.UK). If you work five days a week that is 28 days. The most you can get as statutory holiday is 28 days, so a six or seven day week still gives 28.

Our calculator follows the rules in GOV.UK's own holiday entitlement calculator, whose source code is public. Days are worked out from the days you work each week, and hours from the hours in an average working day. Figures are rounded up, never down, as an employer may round up but not down.

• Full year, days = 5.6 × days per week, up to 28 days
• Hours = days of holiday × hours in an average working day
• Started part-way = full-year days × (whole months you work ÷ 12), rounded up to the next half day
• Left part-way = full-year days × (days employed in the leave year ÷ days in the leave year)
• Irregular hours = hours worked × 12.07%, rounded to a whole hour

Part-timers get the same 5.6 weeks as full-timers, which works out as fewer days. Multiply the days you work each week by 5.6: three days a week gives 16.8 days, and two days gives 11.2 days. The number of hours does not change the days, only the length of each day of holiday.

Enter your days and hours. A three day week of 22.5 hours means each day of holiday is 7 hours 30 minutes, and your holiday totals 126 hours.

Your leave year is the 12 months your contract gives for counting holiday. If it does not say, it starts on the first day of your job, or on 1 October if you started on or before 1 October 1998 (GOV.UK).

If you start part-way through, your holiday builds up by the whole month: a share of 12 months, rounded up to the next half day. Starting on 1 July in a leave year that begins on 1 January is six months, so half of 28 days: 14 days.

If you leave part-way through, it builds up by the day. Leaving on 30 June in a leave year that began on 1 January is 181 of 365 days, so 13.9 days on a five day week. Your employer may use a different method, as long as you get at least this much.

If your hours change from week to week, or you only work part of the year, your holiday builds up as 12.07% of the hours you work in each pay period. A pay period of 30 hours gives 3.621, which rounds to 4 hours of holiday you can take from the next period (GOV.UK).

Add up the hours for a longer period to see a total. A year of 1,950 hours (37.5 hours a week for 52 weeks) builds up 235 hours.

This page shows the holiday you build up, not what you are paid for it. For irregular hours, holiday pay is based on your average pay over the last 52 weeks in which you were paid; the GOV.UK page has the details.

Bank holidays do not have to be paid as extra leave. Employers can count them towards your 5.6 weeks, so the 28 days may include them, or your employer may give them on top. Check your contract.

The number of bank holidays depends on where you work. In 2026 there are 8 in England and Wales, 10 in Scotland (including a one-off World Cup bank holiday on 15 June) and 10 in Northern Ireland. For a five day week, we show how many days are left to book if all of them come out of your 28 days (GOV.UK bank holidays).

If you work fewer than five days, how many bank holidays fall on your working days depends on which days you work, so we leave that sum to you and your employer.

Your contract can let you carry some leave into the next year. The rules differ for leave you could not take because of sickness or family leave, so read the GOV.UK guidance or ask your employer.

When you leave a job, untaken statutory holiday must be paid. Your employer may also let you take leave during your notice period.

This calculator shows the legal minimum. Your contract can give you more. If your employer says you get less than the figures here, ask them to explain, and see Acas for free advice.