If you work in the UK, you will usually have a legal right to paid annual leave. The basic rule is straightforward: almost everyone with worker status is entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year. For someone working 5 days a week, that normally means 28 days.
That does not always mean 28 extra days off. Bank holidays can be included in the total, while part-time staff, shift workers and people with irregular hours may have their entitlement calculated differently. This guide explains the main rules in practical terms.
Information in this guide is up to date as of 3 October 2026.
What is the minimum annual leave entitlement in the UK?
The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year. It applies to most people with worker status, including many agency workers, zero-hours workers and people with irregular working patterns.
If you work a regular pattern for the full leave year, the basic calculation is:
- 5 days a week – 28 days of leave,
- 4 days a week – 22.4 days,
- 3 days a week – 16.8 days,
- 2 days a week – 11.2 days.
Statutory leave is capped at 28 days. This means someone working 6 days a week is not legally entitled to 33.6 days of statutory leave; the minimum remains capped at 28 days.
Are bank holidays extra?
There is no general legal right to an additional paid day off simply because a day is a bank holiday. An employer can count bank holidays as part of the statutory 5.6-week entitlement.
For example, a contract might provide 20 days that you can book yourself plus bank holidays. Taken together, that can satisfy the statutory minimum for someone working 5 days a week. Another employer might offer 28 days plus bank holidays, which is more generous than the legal minimum.
Always check your employment contract or your employer’s holiday policy.
Annual leave for part-time workers
Part-time workers are entitled to the same statutory 5.6 weeks, but the number of days depends on how many days they normally work each week.
If you work 3 days a week, the statutory minimum is 16.8 days. Employers may calculate entitlement in days or hours, especially where shifts are different lengths.
Part-time workers should not be treated less favourably simply because they work fewer hours. Where full-time staff receive additional contractual leave above the statutory minimum, part-time staff may need to receive a proportionate entitlement.
Zero-hours contracts and irregular hours
A zero-hours contract does not automatically remove your right to paid holiday. If you have worker status, you will usually still be entitled to statutory annual leave.
For irregular-hours workers and part-year workers whose leave year began on or after 1 April 2024, holiday accrues according to hours actually worked. The standard accrual rate is 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, subject to the statutory maximum of 5.6 weeks.
For these workers, an employer may also choose to use rolled-up holiday pay, where holiday pay is added to normal pay instead of being paid when leave is taken. This must be operated in line with the statutory rules.
Does holiday start accruing from the first day of work?
Yes. Annual leave starts building up from the beginning of the job.
During the first year, an employer can use an accrual system under which one twelfth of the annual entitlement builds up each month. If the full-year entitlement is 28 days, after 3 months that would amount to 7 days accrued.
An employer can choose to let staff take some leave before it has fully accrued, depending on company policy.
What is a leave year?
A leave year is the period during which you are expected to use your annual holiday entitlement. It does not have to follow the calendar year. One employer might run its leave year from 1 January to 31 December, while another might use 1 April to 31 March.
Your employer should tell you when the leave year starts and ends. If you start or leave a job part-way through the leave year, your entitlement is normally calculated proportionately.
Can an employer refuse a holiday request?
An employer can refuse a request for particular dates or restrict leave during especially busy periods. Employers can also require staff to take holiday on specific dates, for example during a Christmas shutdown.
However, an employer cannot simply prevent a worker from taking their statutory holiday altogether. Workers must be given a genuine opportunity to take the leave they are legally entitled to.
If your contract does not set different notice rules, statutory notice requirements apply. In practice, it is sensible to request leave as early as possible and avoid making expensive travel bookings before the leave has been approved.
Does annual leave accrue during sickness or maternity leave?
Yes. Statutory annual leave continues to accrue while someone is off sick and during certain types of statutory family leave, including maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
If long-term sickness prevents a worker from using their holiday, part of the unused entitlement can be carried forward. For long-term sickness, up to 4 weeks of statutory leave can generally be carried over and used within 18 months from the end of the leave year in which it accrued.
If statutory leave such as maternity leave prevents someone from using their holiday, the employer must allow the affected entitlement to be carried over.
Does unused holiday expire?
As a general rule, statutory holiday should be taken during the relevant leave year. A contract or other enforceable agreement may allow some unused leave to be carried into the next year.
There are also situations where carry-over is required by law, for example because of long-term sickness, certain statutory leave, or because the employer did not allow or properly encourage the worker to use their entitlement.
What happens to unused holiday when you leave a job?
If your employment ends and you have accrued statutory holiday that you have not used, your employer must pay you for it in your final pay.
If you have taken more holiday than you had accrued by your leaving date, the employer can only deduct the excess from final pay where this was agreed in writing beforehand.
How much should holiday pay be?
Statutory annual leave is paid. If you work fixed hours for fixed pay, a week of holiday should generally be paid at the same rate as a normal working week.
For shift workers, people earning commission, workers who regularly do overtime or those with irregular hours, the calculation can be more complicated and may use average earnings over a reference period. If your holiday pay looks unusually low, check the GOV.UK guidance or contact Acas.
What about Northern Ireland?
The same basic minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave also applies in Northern Ireland. However, employment rights guidance is provided through services including nidirect, and workplace dispute advice is available from the Labour Relations Agency rather than Acas.
Key points to remember
- most workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave each year,
- for a 5-day working week, that means at least 28 days,
- bank holidays can be included within those 28 days,
- part-time workers still receive 5.6 weeks on a proportional basis,
- zero-hours and irregular-hours workers can also be entitled to paid holiday,
- holiday starts accruing from the beginning of employment and continues during sickness and certain statutory leave,
- unused accrued statutory holiday must be paid when employment ends.