UK holiday pay calculator

Workers are entitled to a week's pay for each week of statutory holiday they take. Most workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, so the pay for a full year of holiday is 5.6 times a week's pay. What counts as a week's pay depends on how you work and how you are paid. This includes full-time, part-time, term-time and casual workers.

If you work regular hours for fixed pay, a week's pay is your normal pay for a week, and a week of holiday pays the same as a normal working week. For regular-hours workers, at least 4 weeks of statutory holiday must be paid at the normal rate of pay and the remaining 1.6 weeks at the basic rate. When your pay is a fixed amount, the two rates are the same.

The regulations pay a week's pay for each week of leave. To price a part of a week, such as 2 days, this calculator divides a week's pay by the days you work each week. If you earn £600 a week over 5 days, a day of holiday pays £120 and 2 days pay £240.

With irregular hours and part-year work, a week's pay is your average pay from the previous 52 weeks, counting only weeks in which you were paid. A week usually runs from Sunday to Saturday. If you were not paid in a week, count back another week so the average is based on 52 weeks in which you were paid. You can count back a maximum of 104 weeks to find them. If you have been paid for fewer than 52 weeks, use the average pay rate for the full weeks you have worked.

If you are paid monthly, gov.uk works a week's pay out by dividing the month's pay by the hours worked in the month to get an average hourly rate, then multiplying by the hours worked in a week, for each of the last 52 weeks, and averaging those weeks. Normal pay includes commission, regular overtime and any payments related to length of service or professional qualifications. It does not usually include bonus payments.

Employers can pay holiday for irregular hours and part-year workers as a 12.07% uplift on the pay for work done, paid at the same time as that pay, instead of paying it when the holiday is taken. This is allowed only for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, and the payslip must show the amount of holiday pay. For example, pay of £1,000 for a pay period gives £120.70 of rolled-up holiday pay, so the worker receives £1,120.70 for that period.

For regular-hours workers, an employer cannot include an amount for holiday pay in the hourly rate. If a worker paid rolled-up holiday pay goes on sick leave or statutory leave, the employer must pay holiday pay for the holiday built up during that leave, equal to the average holiday pay paid in each pay period over the previous 52 weeks, or less if they have been paid this way for a shorter time.

The only time someone can be paid in place of taking statutory holiday is when they leave. Employers must pay for untaken statutory leave, even if the worker is dismissed for gross misconduct. Under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, unless your contract sets its own formula, the payment is the pay due under regulation 16 for a period of leave worked out as (A x B) - C, where A is the leave you are entitled to in the leave year, B is the share of the leave year that has passed and C is the leave you have taken. Statutory holiday carried over from an earlier leave year and still untaken is paid as well.

If you have taken more holiday than you have built up, your employer must not take money from your final pay unless this was agreed in writing beforehand. If your employer offers more than 5.6 weeks of holiday, it can agree separate arrangements for the extra leave.