Holiday entitlement in the UK

Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For a five-day week that is 28 days, and your employer is allowed to count the bank holidays as part of those 28. Most public sector employers give more than the minimum: an NHS Agenda for Change post starts at 27 days plus 8 public holidays, and a council job on the Green Book starts at a minimum of 33 days in total.

The statutory minimum in days

The law sets holiday in weeks, so the number of days depends on how many days you work. A week of holiday is the number of days you normally work in a week, and multiplying that by 5.6 gives your entitlement.

Days worked a week	Statutory holiday
5	28 days
4	22.4 days
3	16.8 days
2	11.2 days
1	5.6 days

There is a ceiling. Someone working six days a week would come out at 33.6 days on the formula, but statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days. Your contract can give more, and many do.

Part-timers get the same 5.6 weeks, pro rata. The details, including how to handle hours that differ from day to day, are in our guide to holiday for part-time workers.

Bank holidays and the 28 days

There is no legal right to have bank holidays off, and no legal right to extra pay for working them. What counts is your contract. Some contracts say “28 days including bank holidays”, which means the eight bank holidays in England and Wales come out of your 28. Others give a basic allowance plus bank holidays on top, which is the normal approach in the public sector. Our guide to bank holidays and work goes through what each sector does.

What public sector employers give

These are contractual entitlements under national agreements. Your employer can be more generous, and some academies and NHS employers outside Agenda for Change set their own terms.

Employer	Basic annual leave (full-time)	Public holidays
NHS (Agenda for Change)	27 days, 29 after 5 years, 33 after 10 years of NHS service	8, on top
Councils and school support staff (Green Book)	At least 23 days, 26 after 5 years’ continuous service	8 public holidays and 2 extra days, on top
Statutory minimum	5.6 weeks (28 days for five days a week)	Can be included

Under the Green Book, the minimum works out at 33 days in total for a new starter (23 plus 8 plus 2). Many councils give more than the national minimum.

Teachers are different. A full-time teacher in a maintained school in England can be directed to work on 195 days a year (190 teaching days and 5 other days), and holiday is taken in the school holidays. The national teachers’ conditions give no separate days-of-leave figure. The statutory 5.6 weeks still applies, and the school holiday periods easily cover it.

Civil Service departments set their own leave terms, so check the advert or the contract.

Term-time-only staff

If you work only in term time, for example as a teaching assistant, you do not take holiday when you like. Your leave is built into your pay. Under the NJC’s model, your paid weeks are the weeks you work plus a pro-rata share of your annual leave, public holidays and the two extra days, and the total is paid in 12 equal monthly instalments. That is why a term-time salary is a percentage of the full-time figure. Our guide to how term-time-only pay is calculated shows the arithmetic.

Irregular hours and part-year workers

For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, the rules changed for people whose hours vary a lot (zero-hours staff, some bank and casual workers) and for people who work only part of the year. Their holiday builds up at 12.07 per cent of the hours they actually work in each pay period. Employers are also allowed to pay “rolled-up holiday pay” to these workers: an extra 12.07 per cent added to each payment of wages, shown separately on the payslip, instead of paying when the holiday is taken.

If you do NHS bank shifts or casual council work, look at your payslip. Rolled-up holiday pay should appear as its own line.

How holiday pay is worked out

You should be paid your normal pay while on holiday. If your pay is the same every week, that is straightforward. If it varies, for example because of unsocial hours enhancements or regular overtime, holiday pay is based on an average of what you have actually earned over a reference period. Payments you receive regularly as part of the job, such as shift enhancements, normally have to be reflected in holiday pay for at least part of your leave. NHS Agenda for Change staff have specific handbook rules on this, and your payroll team can show you how your rate was calculated.

Holiday pay is taxed like any other pay. If your payslip looks odd after a period of leave, our page on holiday pay and tax may explain it.

Booking and refusing leave

Your employer can control when you take holiday. The law lets them refuse a request, tell you to take holiday on certain dates, or ban leave during busy periods, as long as you still get the chance to take your full entitlement over the year. Schools do this by default, and NHS wards often have rota rules about how many people can be off at once.

Statutory holiday should normally be taken in the leave year it belongs to. Your contract may let you carry over some contractual leave beyond the statutory minimum. If you could not take leave because you were off sick or on family leave, you can usually carry it forward.

When you leave a job, you are entitled to be paid for statutory holiday you have built up but not taken. If you have taken more than you have built up, your contract may allow the employer to take the extra back from your final pay.

If you think you are not getting the holiday or holiday pay you are owed, raise it with your manager or HR first. ACAS gives free, confidential advice on holiday disputes, and a union rep can help if you are a member.