UK holiday entitlement explained: 5.6 weeks, part-timers, irregular hours and starters
How much paid holiday UK workers get, how to work it out for part-time, irregular-hours and part-year staff, how bank holidays and carry-over work, the notice rules for booking and refusing leave, and the new 6-year record rule.
Published 22 October 2026 · 4 min read
Checked against official guidance on 22 October 2026. This post reflects GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement, and Calculate leave entitlement. Guidance changes, so check the linked pages for the current version. This is information, not legal advice.
The legal minimum: 5.6 weeks, capped at 28 days
Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For someone working 5 days a week, that is 28 days. Statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days, so a 6-day worker still gets 28, not 33.6.
Bank holidays do not have to be given on top. An employer can include them in the 28 days. If you give 20 days plus the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales, you are meeting the minimum for a full-timer; if you give 28 days plus bank holidays, you are giving more than the law requires. Say which in the contract.
Part-time workers on regular hours
Part-timers are also entitled to 5.6 weeks, which means fewer days. Multiply the days worked each week by 5.6:
- 4 days a week: 22.4 days.
- 3 days a week: 16.8 days.
- 2.5 days a week: 14 days.
If your full-time staff get more than the minimum, part-timers must get the same pro-rata. A 3-day worker in a company that gives full-timers 33 days should get 33 × 3 ÷ 5 = 19.8 days. Treating part-timers less favourably is unlawful.
When part-timers' days fall on different weekdays, bank holidays can feel unfair: someone who works Mondays gets most of the bank holidays off. The cleanest fix is to give everyone a total allowance that includes bank holidays, and have Monday workers book bank holidays out of it.
Irregular-hours and part-year workers
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours workers (whose paid hours vary week to week, such as zero-hours staff) and part-year workers (who work only some weeks of the year) build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period. Round up to the nearest hour if the result is half an hour or more.
Example: someone who works 30 hours in a weekly pay period builds up 30 × 12.07% = 3.621 hours, which rounds to 4 hours, usable from the next pay period. For these workers you can also choose rolled-up holiday pay, paying an extra amount with each payslip instead of paying during leave.
Starters and leavers
Regular-hours workers who start part-way through the leave year build up one-twelfth of their annual entitlement each month. GOV.UK's example: a worker with 28 days a year who starts on 13 January builds up 28 ÷ 12 = 2.33 days for January, rounded up to the nearest half day, so 2.5 days. You can instead pro-rate the first month by days worked.
When someone leaves, they must be paid for statutory leave they have built up but not taken, even if they were dismissed for gross misconduct. Payment in lieu of statutory holiday is only allowed when employment ends. If they have taken more than they built up, you can only deduct the difference from their final pay if that was agreed in writing in advance, for example in the contract or handbook.
Booking and refusing leave
Unless the contract says otherwise:
- A worker must give notice of at least twice the length of the leave they want. Two days off needs four days' notice.
- An employer can refuse a request by giving notice equal to the length of the leave. Ten days off can be refused with ten days' notice.
- An employer can require staff to take leave on certain days, such as a Christmas closure, by giving notice of at least twice the length of the leave.
- You can refuse leave at a particular time, but not refuse to let someone take their holiday at all.
Carry-over
Workers on the standard 28-day entitlement can carry up to 8 days into the next leave year. Workers who could not take leave because of sickness can carry over up to 20 of their 28 days (regular hours, full year), or up to 28 days for irregular-hours and part-year workers. Full entitlement can carry over if the worker was not given a reasonable opportunity to take it, or was not told they would lose untaken leave.
Holiday keeps building up during maternity, paternity, adoption and sick leave.
Keep records for 6 years
From 6 April 2026, GOV.UK says employers must keep detailed holiday records for at least 6 years. That means entitlement, leave taken and holiday pay, for every worker. A spreadsheet that gets overwritten each January does not meet that.
How Zetta HR helps
In Zetta HR, HR sets each person's allowance and any carry-over once. Staff request leave in a few taps, weekends and bank holidays are skipped automatically, managers approve from their dashboard, and everyone sees their own days left. Every request and decision is kept, so the history is there when you need it.
Try our free holiday entitlement calculator for full-time, part-time, part-year and irregular-hours staff.
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