Our free holiday entitlement calculator works out each employee's holiday allowance in Excel, in hours. Every UK worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For a five-day week, that is 28 days, and it can include bank holidays.
The sums get harder with part-time staff, uneven working weeks, new starters, leavers and zero hours workers. The calculator handles all of them, for everyone in your team.
This guide explains what the calculator does and why it works in hours rather than days. It also covers the rules behind each figure.
Download the free holiday entitlement calculator
An Excel spreadsheet that works out each person's holiday allowance for your holiday year.
- Full-time staff, and pro rata holiday for part-time staff, in hours
- New starters and leavers, worked out from their dates
- A warning for anyone below the legal minimum
- A separate sheet for irregular hours and zero hours staff
- Plain instructions, with worked examples
Get your copy
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What the holiday entitlement calculator does
The calculator has two sheets. The first is for staff who work a set number of hours each week, full-time or part-time. You enter your holiday year and the full-time entitlement in days, then each person's weekly hours. It works out their holiday allowance in hours.
For anyone joining or leaving during the year, add their start or end date. The calculator gives them the right share of the year. It also shows the legal minimum beside each figure and flags anyone who falls below it.
The second sheet is for irregular hours and part-year workers, such as zero hours and seasonal staff. You enter the dates of each period and the hours worked, and it shows the holiday they have earned.
It works out allowances only. It does not record holiday taken, which belongs in your HR system.
Why we calculate holiday in hours, not days
Days work well when everyone's working day is the same length. Many employees work uneven weeks, though, and that is where days go wrong.
Take someone who works 20 hours a week. They work 3 hours on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, and 5 each on Thursday and Friday. In days, a Monday off and a Tuesday off both cost one day of holiday. Yet one covers 3 hours of work and the other covers 7. Over a year, that adds up to real unfairness in one direction or the other.
In hours, the same employee gets 112 hours of holiday, which is 5.6 times their 20-hour week. A Monday off uses 3 hours and a Tuesday off uses 7. Nobody gains and nobody loses, which is why we recommend hours to our clients.
How to work out holiday entitlement
The legal minimum comes from the Working Time Regulations, and it is the same for every employer, regardless of size. Your contracts can give more, but never less.
Full-time staff
A full-time employee gets 5.6 weeks of holiday a year. For a five-day week, that is 28 days. For a six-day week it would be 33.6 days, but the law caps statutory holiday at 28 days.
You can round an allowance up to the nearest half or whole hour. You can never round it down below the legal minimum.
Part-time staff
Part-time staff get the same 5.6 weeks, pro rata to their own working week. Multiply their usual weekly hours by 5.6. Someone working 30 hours a week gets 168 hours a year.
| Hours worked each week | Statutory holiday a year |
|---|---|
| 37.5 hours | 210 hours |
| 30 hours | 168 hours |
| 20 hours | 112 hours |
| 15 hours | 84 hours |
If your full-time staff get more than the minimum, part-time staff get the same proportion more. The calculator handles this when you enter your full-time entitlement in days.
New starters and leavers
Someone who joins or leaves during the holiday year gets a share of the full allowance. That share matches the part of the year they work. Our calculator works it out from their dates, and it allows for leap years.
When someone leaves, you must pay them for any statutory holiday built up but not taken. Have they taken more than they built up? Then you can only deduct it from their final pay if their contract allows it.
Irregular hours and zero hours staff
Different rules apply to irregular hours and part-year workers for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. They build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work, a method known as holiday accrual. The figure comes from 5.6 weeks of holiday out of the 46.4 weeks left to work.
You can also pay these workers rolled-up holiday pay instead. That means adding holiday pay to each payslip as a separate amount. Our guide to holiday entitlement for zero hours contracts covers this in more detail.
Holiday pay is a separate calculation
The calculator tells you how much holiday someone has. It does not tell you what to pay them for it, and that is a different set of rules.
For the first four weeks of holiday, pay must reflect a person's normal pay. That includes regular overtime, commission and some allowances, not just basic pay. Getting it wrong is one of the most common causes of holiday pay claims.
Our payroll team works out holiday pay every pay run, so you do not have to.
Bank holidays and enhanced holiday
There is no legal right to time off on bank holidays. Most employers include the eight bank holidays in England and Wales within the 28 days. Others give them on top, as part of a more generous package.
Whichever you do, put the full figure into the calculator as days including bank holidays. For example, 25 days plus bank holidays is 33 days. The calculator then works out each person's share in hours.
Getting holiday entitlement right
- Set your holiday year. Most employers use the calendar year or the financial year. Put it in your contracts so everyone knows when it runs.
- Record holiday in hours. Hours keep things fair for anyone whose working days vary, and they avoid arguments later.
- Check new starters and leavers. Work out their share as soon as you know their dates, so final pay is right first time.
- Keep holiday records. Since 6 April 2026, employers must keep records of holiday and holiday pay for six years. The calculator works out the allowance, but you still need a record of what is taken.
- Write it into a policy. A clear holiday policy covers booking, carry-over and bank holidays, and stops disputes before they start.
How we can help
Most holiday questions are simple. The tricky ones are the leaver who has taken too much, or the irregular hours worker. Then there is the disagreement about holiday pay. That is where we come in.
Our HR support for SMEs covers holiday policies, contracts and difficult cases. Our outsourced payroll services make sure holiday pay goes through correctly. We are also a Breathe Partner. Breathe's HR software records every holiday booking and balance in one place.
Final thoughts
Holiday entitlement causes many small disputes, and most come from a simple miscalculation. Download the calculator and work your figures out in hours. Then check anyone who joins or leaves part way through the year.
Common questions
How many hours holiday does a part-time employee get?
Multiply the hours they work in a normal week by 5.6. Someone working 20 hours a week gets 112 hours of paid holiday a year at the legal minimum. If full-time staff get more than 28 days, part-time staff get the same proportion more.
Do bank holidays count towards holiday entitlement?
They can. There is no separate legal right to time off on bank holidays. Most employers include them in the 5.6 weeks. If you give bank holidays on top, add them to the full-time figure before you work out anyone's entitlement.
How do you work out holiday for someone who starts part way through the year?
Give them the share of a full year's holiday that matches the part of the holiday year they will work. Someone joining halfway through gets roughly half. Our calculator does this when you enter their start date.
How is holiday calculated for zero hours workers?
Their holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours they actually work in each pay period. This applies to leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. You can instead pay rolled-up holiday pay, shown as a separate amount on each payslip.
What happens to unused holiday when someone leaves?
You must pay them for any statutory holiday they have built up but not taken. Have they taken more than they built up? You can only recover it from their final pay if their contract allows it.
Can employees carry over unused holiday?
The law only requires it in certain situations. One example is when sickness or family leave stopped someone taking their holiday. Otherwise it depends on your contract or holiday policy, so it is worth setting out clearly.
Should holiday be recorded in hours or days?
Hours are the safest choice for anyone whose working days vary in length. Days work only when every working day is the same. Recording in hours means a short day off costs exactly the hours that person would have worked.
Is the holiday entitlement calculator free?
Yes. Fill in the short form on this page and we email you a link to the Excel file. It covers staff on set weekly hours and those on irregular or zero hours.
