How much holiday you get is normally set out in your contract of employment. The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks, but this can mean different amounts depending on your working hours or working pattern.
For a basic calculation of your leave allowance multiply the number of days you work a week by 5.6.
For example, if you work a five day week it would be: 5 x 5.6 = 28, so you are entitled to 28 days annual leave a year. For more complex holiday entitlement calculations you can use the employee holiday calculator on businesslink.gov.uk.
If you're a part-time worker, you're still entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday – 5.6 of your normal working week.
For example, if you work two days a week you have the right to a minimum of 11.2 days' holiday: 5.6 x 2 = 11.2. You should be treated no less favourably if you are a part-time worker than an equivalent full-timer. This means that if your employer gives extra days off to full-timers they may have to give extra time off to part-time workers as well. If you're an agency worker, your agency must allow you to take your paid holidays.
If you work casually or irregular hours it may well be easiest to calculate the holiday entitlement that accrues as hours are worked.
The holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks is equivalent to 12.07 per cent of hours worked. The 12.07 per cent figure is 5.6 weeks' holiday, divided by 46.4 weeks (being 52 weeks - 5.6 weeks). The 5.6 weeks have to be excluded from the calculation as you would not be present during the 5.6 weeks in order to accumulate annual leave.
So if you had worked 10 hours, you would be entitled to 72.6 minutes paid holiday (12.07 x 10 = 1.21 hours = 72.6 minutes). The holiday entitlement is just over 7 minutes for each hour worked.
If you are a shift worker your leave is calculated by using an average of your shifts over a 17 week period.
For example, if you always work four 12-hour shifts, followed by four days off (the ‘continental’ shift pattern) then the average working week is three-and-a-half 12-hour shifts.
So 5.6 weeks’ holiday is 5.6 x 3.5 = 19.6 12-hour shifts). For other shift patterns, it may be easiest to calculate according to the established pattern of repeat.
If you only work term-time your holiday arrangements will depend on your contract of employment.
If you work a reduced number of weeks during the year, you accrue a pro-rata entitlement to paid leave. You need to calculate how many hours a week you work on average over the whole year, then multiply this by the holiday allowance.
multiply your weekly contracted hours by the number of weeks you work. If your contract is for 40 hours a week for 40 weeks of the year 40 x 40 = 1,600 working hours for the year.
calculate the average hours you work each week by dividing your hours for the year by 46.4 (which is 52 weeks minus the 5.6 weeks you would be on holiday). 1600 hours divided by 46.4 weeks = 34.48 average hours per week.
multiply your average working week by the holiday allowance: 34.48 hours x 5.6 weeks = 193.09 working hours holiday a year
if you want to convert this into holiday days, then divide again by the number of hours per day that you work
Employment
