A day’s and a week’s holiday pay, the 52-week average and rolled-up holiday pay, under the Working Time Regulations.
Holiday pay
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Enter the pay and the days to see the holiday pay.
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Choose how the worker is paid, enter the pay and the days of holiday, and get the holiday pay to the penny, with the workings. The calculator follows the rules for England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own regulations: holiday pay there is averaged over 12 weeks and the 12.07% rules do not apply, so it is not covered.
Workers are paid a week’s pay for each week of leave. On fixed hours and pay, that is the normal week’s pay, and a day’s holiday pay is the week’s pay divided by the days worked in a week. On a fixed yearly salary, divide it by 52 to get the week. Most workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, at most 28 days: someone working 3 days a week gets 16.8 days.
When pay changes from week to week, a week’s pay is the average over the last 52 weeks in which the worker was paid. Weeks with no pay are skipped, looking back no more than 104 weeks, and someone employed for fewer than 52 complete weeks uses the weeks they have. For the first 4 weeks of leave the pay must include commission, regular overtime and payments for length of service or professional qualifications.
In leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period, rounded to the nearest hour: under 30 minutes counts as nothing. Their employer can pay holiday pay when the leave is taken, on the 52-week average, or add rolled-up holiday pay of 12.07% to every payslip as a separate item.
Every amount is rounded once, to the nearest penny, with halves rounded up. The average week’s pay is rounded first, and the day’s pay and the holiday pay are worked out from that figure, so each line of the workings adds up as shown.
Holiday pay = a week’s pay × days taken ÷ days worked a week.
Average week’s pay = pay in the paid weeks counted ÷ number of those weeks (52 at most).
Rolled-up holiday pay = pay for the pay period × 12.07%; holiday accrued = hours worked × 12.07%.
This is GOV.UK’s example. Mark works irregular hours and is paid fortnightly: 20 hours at £11 and 20 hours at £12, so £460.00 for the fortnight. His rolled-up holiday pay is £460.00 × 12.07% = £55.52, paid with his wages as a separate item. On fixed pay of £480.77 a week over 5 days, 3 days of holiday come to £480.77 × 3 ÷ 5 = £288.46.
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period: 68 hours in a month gives 8.2076, so 8 hours of holiday (GOV.UK’s example). The pay for that holiday is either the 52-week average when it is taken, or rolled-up holiday pay of 12.07% added to each payslip.
For the first 4 of the 5.6 weeks, yes, when it is paid regularly: holiday pay must include commission, regular overtime and payments for length of service or qualifications. The remaining 1.6 weeks can be paid at the basic rate. Irregular-hours and part-year workers must have all their leave paid at the normal rate.
It is 5.6 weeks of leave against the 46.4 weeks a year left for work: 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%. A contract with more leave gives a higher figure: 6 weeks of leave is 6 ÷ 46 = 13.04%.
The regulations set rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% of pay, which this calculator rounds once to the penny: £364.70 gives £44.02. GOV.UK’s worked example rounds pay ÷ 100 to the penny before multiplying by 12.07, which gives £44.06 on the same pay. Contracts can also give more holiday or count overtime differently.
Statutory leave can only be paid instead of taken when the job ends. The employer must pay for leave built up and not taken, even if the worker is dismissed for gross misconduct. Enter the untaken days as the days taken to see the amount.
This calculator gives general information, not legal, tax, financial or accounting advice. A contract or collective agreement can give more than the statutory minimum: check with the employer, Acas or an adviser.
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