Almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave).
This includes:
- agency workers
- workers with ‘irregular hours’ (where the number of hours they work in a pay period often or always changes)
- ‘part-year’ workers (where there are periods of at least a week in a leave year where they do not need to work and are not paid)
An employer can include bank holidays as part of statutory annual leave.
Statutory annual leave entitlement
Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.
Working part-time
Part-time workers who work regular hours for the whole year are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday, but this will amount to fewer than 28 days.
For example, if they work 3 days a week, they must get at least 16.8 days’ leave a year (3 × 5.6).
Working irregular hours or for part of the year
People working irregular hours or part of the year are entitled to up to 5.6 weeks statutory leave.
They will build up (‘accrue’) leave depending on the hours they’ve already worked, rather than getting a fixed number of days or hours.
Use the holiday entitlement calculator to work out how much leave they’ve accrued in a pay period.
For leave years beginning on or before 31 March 2024, leave entitlement for irregular-hours and part-year workers does not need to be accrued based on hours they’ve already worked. You can use the holiday entitlement calculator to estimate their entitlement based on the average days or hours they work each week.
Limits on statutory leave
Statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days. For example, staff working 6 days a week are only entitled to 28 days’ paid holiday.
Bank holidays
Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave.
An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.
Extra leave
An employer can choose to offer more leave than the legal minimum. They do not have to apply all the rules that apply to statutory leave to the extra leave. For example, a worker might need to be employed for a certain amount of time before they become entitled to it.
Other aspects of holiday entitlement
Workers have the right to:
- get holiday pay
- build up holiday entitlement during certain types of leave, such as maternity, paternity, or adoption leave
- build up holiday entitlement while off work sick
- request holiday at the same time as sick leave
Disputes
Paid annual leave is a legal right that an employer must provide. If a worker thinks their rights to leave and pay are not being met there are a number of ways to resolve the dispute.
FAQs
The amount of time off someone gets depends on their circ*mstances. For example, to work out someone's holiday entitlement in days, multiply the number of days they work each week by 5.6. If they work 5 days a week, their statutory paid holiday is 28 days a year (5 x 5.6).
What is the minimum holiday entitlement in the US? ›
While Americans workers are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid vacation via the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, there is no federal law regulating paid vacation minimums. This means that it's up to state laws to regulate and more often, up to businesses.
How do I calculate holiday entitlement based on hours worked? ›
To check what the statutory minimum hours you need to give your employees for holiday allowance, simply do: 28 (days leave) x hours in a working day. Alternatively, you can do: 5.6 weeks x hours in a working week. These should lead you to the same answer.
How to work out holiday entitlement for zero hours contract? ›
So to generate holiday entitlement for zero-hour contract workers, you need to take their number of hours worked and multiply it by 12.07%. If you had a zero-hour contract employee work for 77 hours in a single month, then their holiday entitlement would be: Hours worked in month x 12.07%
What are compressed hours for holiday entitlement? ›
Compressed hours
Rather than taking a day's holiday, they would take the number of hours that they would have otherwise worked on that day (ie for 36 hours worked over four days, they would take nine hours' holiday for each day otherwise worked).
How are holidays determined? ›
Only Congress can designate federal holidays, which are established under the constitutionally prescribed voting process. These are sometimes referred to as “national holidays,” but there's really nothing national about them.
What is a typical US holiday allowance? ›
What Is the Average Number of Vacation Days Per Year in the US? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of paid vacation days is 11 days. This average is based on a US employee working in the private sector, with 1 year of service.
How many holidays are mandatory in the US? ›
As of 2022, there are 11 federal holidays in the United States. Each of these days commemorates an important moment or milestone in the country's shared national identity and culture.
What holidays do most companies give off? ›
The Most Common Paid Holidays
- Memorial Day.
- Independence Day.
- Labor Day.
- Thanksgiving Day.
- Christmas Day.
- New Year's Day.
25 days or 180 hours annual leave (25 x 7.2 hours) plus 7 days or 50.4 hours (7 x 7.2 hours) public holidays = 32 days / 230.4 hours leave entitlement for full year.
Examples. Here's some common examples of hours of annual leave converted into days. 90 hours annual leave is 11.25 days assuming 8 hour work days. 100 hours annual leave is 12.5 days assuming 8 hour work days.
How do you calculate working on holidays? ›
The first formula assumes the employee worked 6 hours on the holiday, their hourly rate is $15 per hour, and your company pays time-and-a-half for holidays. Then, their holiday pay would be: (6 hours x $15/hour) + [(6 hours x $15/hour) x 0.5] = $135.
Can I say no to work on a zero hour contract? ›
Zero hour contracts, by nature, do not guarantee you'll receive work from your employer, however, you're also under no obligation to accept the work offered. For example, if for some reason you can't work a shift being offered to you, you don't have to accept it while on a zero-hours contract.
How do you calculate leave in days from hours? ›
Converting leave balances from hours to days
For any leave categories that need to convert from an hourly balance to a day balance, the formula is as follows: Total leave hours (for a specific leave category) divided by the employee's hours per day.
What is the formula for annual leave? ›
Annual leave is pro-rated using this formula: (Number of completed months of service ÷ 12 months) × Number of days of annual leave entitlement.
How does holiday accrual work? ›
How does holiday accrual work? Holiday accrual is the process of an employee accumulating paid holiday on a monthly basis. An employee begins earning paid holiday from their first day on the job. Holiday accrual works based on employee pay or annual salary and the number of days or hours they've worked.
How many holidays are there in a year? ›
Holidays are a welcome break, and a chance to celebrate important events. The Federal Government recognizes 11 holidays. However, several things can affect when you observe your holidays such as your alternative work schedule (if you work one) and if you work full time or part-time.
