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📋 Toolbox Talk · Employment Rights

Holiday Entitlement
and Holiday Pay

How much paid holiday you get, how it's counted, and the traps around bank holidays and irregular hours.

📅 Last reviewed: October 2026📚 GOV.UK · Acas · nidirect · legislation.gov.uk🇬🇧 UK-wide, with Northern Ireland differencesukworkrights.co.uk

⬇ Download free PDF

The basics

5.6 weeks' paid holiday

Almost all workers, including employees, are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year.
Work 5 days a week: at least 28 days. The statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days, so 6 days a week is still 28 days.
Regular part-time hours: 5.6 times your working week. Example: 3 days a week gives at least 16.8 days.
The self-employed have no statutory right to paid holiday.

Bank holidays

Not extra on top

Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave.
If your employer gives them, they can count towards your 5.6 weeks.
Northern Ireland has 10 bank and public holidays.

⚠ Watch out

Bank holidays are not an extra statutory right on top of the 5.6 weeks.

The holiday year

When it starts, and carrying over

Holiday is counted by holiday (leave) year, not the calendar year. Check your contract or written statement for the start date.
If no date is set, it starts on the day you started the job, and on that date each year.
Started part way through the year? You get a share of the year's holiday for the part that was left.
You usually take it within the year. You can sometimes carry it over — for example if you were off sick, on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or your employer did not give you a fair chance to take it. Limits apply.

Irregular hours

Building up holiday as you work

England, Wales and Scotland: irregular-hours and part-year workers whose leave year started on or after 1 April 2024 build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, up to 28 days a year.
Northern Ireland: if you work casual or irregular hours, you are entitled to paid time off for every hour you work.
You build up holiday while off sick and during maternity, paternity or adoption leave (GB guide).

Getting paid

Pay, leaving, and claims

Northern Ireland guide: you are paid your normal pay for your holiday, and when you finish a job you are paid for any holiday you have not taken.
An unpaid holiday pay claim has a time limit counted from the date the pay was due — for a series, from the last one.
England, Wales and Scotland: a claim for unlawful deductions, including holiday pay, cannot go back more than 2 years.
Talk to your employer first; then Acas (GB) or the LRA (NI) — notify them before most tribunal claims.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Can my employer make me use holiday for bank holidays?

They can count bank holidays they give as part of your 5.6 weeks.

I work 6 days a week. Do I get 33.6 days?

No — the statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days.

How do I work out my days?

Use the free holiday entitlement calculator: ukworkrights.co.uk/holiday-entitlement-calculator.html

Free rights guidance

Check your
holiday rights

Get plain-English guidance on your rights and your employer's legal duties.

Acas

0300 123 1100

acas.org.uk

LRA (Northern Ireland)

03300 555 300

Labour Relations Agency

Citizens Advice / Advice NI

Free advice

citizensadvice.org.uk

UK Work Rights — Free guide

Employee Rights (England, Wales and Scotland)

ukworkrights.co.uk/guide-employee-rights-gb.html

General rights guidance only — not legal advice · © UK Work Rights Ltd · Company No. 17228507 · ICO Registration No. ZC239465 · Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ · hello@ukworkrights.co.uk
Published by UK Work Rights Ltd
Drafted with AI assistance, using official sources.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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