Annual Leave Calculator UK
Estimate statutory or custom annual leave for employees and workers in the UK. This calculator helps you work out holiday entitlement in days and hours, including pro rata leave and optional bank holiday treatment for different UK nations.
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Enter your working pattern and click calculate to estimate annual leave entitlement in both days and hours.
Expert guide to using an annual leave calculator in the UK
Annual leave can look simple at first glance, but in practice it often raises questions about part-time hours, bank holidays, pro rata rights, shift patterns, and what happens when somebody joins or leaves part way through the year. A good annual leave calculator UK tool helps translate the rules into practical figures that employees, HR teams, payroll staff, and business owners can actually use. This guide explains the principles behind the numbers, how statutory holiday entitlement works, and when it makes sense to apply a custom company policy instead of the legal minimum.
What is the statutory annual leave entitlement in the UK?
In the UK, the standard statutory minimum for most workers is 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per leave year. For someone who works 5 days a week, that equals 28 days. This figure is the number most people recognise, but it is really a week-based right. That matters because the same formula can be applied to different working patterns. If someone works 3 days a week, then 5.6 weeks of leave gives them 16.8 days. If they work 4 days a week, it gives them 22.4 days.
The key point is that statutory leave is linked to the number of days worked each week, not just to full-time employment. This is why part-time workers still receive paid holiday on a pro rata basis. It is also why calculators like the one above ask for average days worked per week. Once that is known, the calculation becomes much more straightforward.
Important: Under UK rules, the statutory entitlement for someone working 5 or more days a week is capped at 28 days. Employers can offer more than this, but they cannot offer less than the legal minimum where the law applies.
How this annual leave calculator works
This calculator estimates holiday entitlement using a simple structure that reflects common UK practice:
- It identifies the number of days worked per week.
- It applies either the statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks or a custom number of weeks set by the employer.
- It pro rates the result according to the number of months worked in the leave year.
- If bank holidays are given in addition, it estimates a fair pro rata allocation based on the selected UK nation.
- It converts total leave from days into hours using the hours-per-day figure you enter.
This approach is especially helpful for employees who start mid-year, part-time workers, or anyone comparing a contract holiday allowance against the legal minimum. While calculators are useful, employers should still check contract wording and current government guidance where an arrangement is unusual.
Statutory leave by working pattern
The table below shows the standard statutory entitlement based on 5.6 weeks of annual leave. These figures are commonly used as a benchmark in UK HR and payroll processes.
| Days worked per week | Statutory weeks | Holiday entitlement in days | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 | 5.6 days | Typical for one-day-per-week roles |
| 2 | 5.6 | 11.2 days | Part-time entitlement |
| 3 | 5.6 | 16.8 days | Common three-day schedule |
| 4 | 5.6 | 22.4 days | Often rounded under company policy |
| 5 | 5.6 | 28 days | Standard full-time cap |
| 6 | 5.6 | 28 days statutory cap | Legal minimum does not rise above 28 days |
This table highlights one of the most misunderstood points in UK leave law: working more than 5 days each week does not automatically increase statutory leave beyond 28 days. Some employers choose to be more generous, but the statutory minimum itself remains capped.
How pro rata annual leave is calculated
Pro rata leave means adjusting the full-year entitlement to match the time actually worked during the leave year. For example, if an employee is entitled to 28 days for a full year but only works for 6 months of that year, a basic pro rata estimate would be 14 days. Likewise, if a part-time employee working 3 days a week has a full-year statutory entitlement of 16.8 days and joins halfway through the leave year, the pro rata result would be 8.4 days.
This is why the calculator asks for the number of months employed in the leave year. It gives a practical estimate of the proportion of the leave year completed. In many workplaces, monthly accrual is used operationally even where the legal framework is week-based. For day-to-day planning, that can be a useful and understandable method.
Employers often apply a rounding rule after the pro rata figure is calculated. Some round to the nearest half day, some to the nearest hour, and some round up in favour of the employee. The calculator lets you select display rounding, but your contract or staff handbook should be checked for the policy that applies at your workplace.
Bank holidays: included or additional?
One of the biggest points of confusion is whether bank holidays sit inside the annual leave total or on top of it. The statutory 5.6 weeks can include bank holidays. In other words, an employer is not normally required to give bank holidays as extra paid leave on top of the legal minimum. However, many employers do provide a package such as “20 days plus bank holidays” or “25 days plus bank holidays”.
That distinction is important, especially for part-time staff. If bank holidays are included, the employee simply uses their entitlement to cover those dates if they are required to take them. If bank holidays are additional, then an extra pro rata allowance should usually be considered to avoid unfair treatment of employees who do not work a traditional Monday to Friday pattern.
| UK nation | Typical annual bank holidays | Why it matters in calculations |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | 8 | Most common benchmark for contracts |
| Scotland | 9 | Often one more than England and Wales |
| Northern Ireland | 10 | Typically highest of the three |
The calculator above includes these typical figures so that you can estimate a pro rata bank holiday allowance when the contract says bank holidays are additional to standard annual leave. This is particularly useful in payroll and rota planning, where consistency matters.
Why annual leave is often shown in both days and hours
Traditional office contracts often express holiday in days, but many modern workplaces prefer hours. This is common in sectors with variable shifts, compressed hours, or mixed working patterns. Showing annual leave in hours can make booking and payroll much easier because it matches the way time is actually worked. For example, if someone works 7.5 hours a day and is entitled to 28 days, that translates to 210 hours.
Hours-based leave is also helpful for part-time employees whose days are not equal in length. In those cases, recording holiday in hours can produce a more transparent result than trying to assign leave to “days” of different sizes. The calculator converts your days result into hours automatically using your average hours-per-day input.
Who can use an annual leave calculator?
- Employees who want to verify the holiday allowance shown in a contract or payslip.
- Workers with part-time schedules who need to understand pro rata holiday.
- HR managers who need a quick planning tool for offers, onboarding, and mid-year starters.
- Payroll teams who need an estimate of leave hours for administration.
- Small business owners who want a practical way to apply holiday rules consistently.
The calculator is especially useful at three moments: when a person joins, when someone changes working pattern, and when an employer wants to check whether bank holidays are being handled consistently across the workforce.
Common mistakes when calculating annual leave in the UK
- Forgetting that statutory leave is based on weeks. This can lead to wrong assumptions for part-time staff.
- Assuming bank holidays are always extra. Many contracts include them within the total entitlement.
- Ignoring the 28-day statutory cap. This matters for employees who work more than 5 days each week.
- Not pro rating for starters and leavers. Full-year entitlement should not always be granted automatically.
- Using days when hours would be fairer. This is common with variable shifts or unequal working days.
- Not checking the contract. An employer can be more generous than the statutory minimum, and many are.
These issues are exactly why an annual leave calculator UK resource can save time and reduce disagreement. A visible formula makes discussions easier because everyone can see the same logic behind the result.
What if your employer offers more than the legal minimum?
Many organisations offer more than 5.6 weeks or provide a set number of days plus bank holidays. In those cases, the statutory rule becomes the floor, not the final answer. This is where the custom entitlement option in the calculator becomes useful. If your contract says, for example, 6 weeks of annual leave, simply choose custom entitlement and enter 6. The calculator will then estimate your full-year and pro rata entitlement using that enhanced policy.
This is common in professional services, universities, large public bodies, and competitive private-sector employers. Enhanced leave packages can support retention, wellbeing, and recruitment. They also make accurate pro rata calculation more important, because the numbers are no longer as simple as the default 28-day benchmark.
Trusted sources and official guidance
If you want to compare your result against official guidance, these sources are especially useful:
These pages are useful for checking the legal position, especially if your circumstances are unusual. Examples include irregular hours, shifts that cross midnight, leave during sickness absence, or questions about contractual enhancements.
Final takeaway
An annual leave calculator UK tool is most valuable when it turns a legal principle into a practical number you can use. The legal minimum is generally 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, but the real-world figure depends on the employee’s working days, whether the leave year is complete, how bank holidays are handled, and whether the employer offers more generous contractual terms. By entering a few details, you can quickly estimate annual leave in both days and hours and build a clearer picture of what should be available over the year.
Use the calculator above as a practical benchmark, then confirm the result against your employment contract, staff handbook, and official guidance where needed. That combination of calculation plus policy check is the best way to ensure annual leave is both accurate and fair.