Annual leave calculator: how entitlement works in each country

“Annual leave” means different legal things depending on where you work. This guide compares the minimums in the four countries this site covers and points you to the calculator that applies your country’s rules — because one country’s rules are never a safe guess for another.

United Kingdom: 5.6 weeks

Almost all workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per leave year, capped at 28 days. A five-day week gives 28 days; part-time staff get the same 5.6 weeks of their own pattern (three days a week is 16.8 days). Employers may count bank holidays inside the 5.6 weeks. Starters build leave up monthly in their first year; leavers are worked out by days employed. Irregular-hours and part-year workers in Great Britain can accrue 12.07% of hours worked instead — a method Northern Ireland did not adopt.

UK holiday entitlement calculator — days or hours, starters and leavers
Irregular hours accrual calculator — the 12.07% method
UK holiday pay calculator — what a week of leave is worth
How UK holiday entitlement is calculated — the arithmetic, step by step

Australia: four weeks, accruing from day one

Full-time and part-time employees get four weeks of paid annual leave per year under the Fair Work Act — five for some shiftworkers — built up progressively on ordinary hours from the first day of employment. Casual employees are not entitled to paid annual leave. Leave loading (often 17.5%) comes from an award or agreement, not the Act itself. Long service leave is a separate entitlement governed by each state and territory, with different qualifying periods and rates.

Australian annual leave calculator — the four-week entitlement on your hours
Accrued leave balance calculator — what has built up so far
Annual leave pay calculator — including payout when leaving a job
Long service leave calculator — state by state, with eligibility checks

Canada: two to three weeks, depending on jurisdiction

Minimum vacation is set by each province and territory — and by federal law for federally regulated jobs — so there is no single Canadian figure. Most jurisdictions start at two weeks after each year of employment and move to three weeks after five or six years; vacation pay is a separate calculation, commonly 4% of earnings rising to 6% with service. The details differ enough that the calculators ask for your jurisdiction first.

Canadian vacation entitlement calculator — every province, territory and federal employment
Vacation pay calculator — the percentage rules by jurisdiction
Vacation balance calculator — what has accrued by a date

United States: no federal minimum

There is no US federal law requiring paid vacation, so entitlement comes from your employer’s policy — how much you accrue, when it vests and whether it carries over are all policy questions. Separately, a number of states do mandate paid sick leave with statutory accrual rates, which is a different thing from vacation and is never optional where it applies.

Employer-policy PTO calculator — accrual from the policy your employer gives you
State statutory paid leave calculator — sick-leave accrual where state law requires it

What every calculator on this site has in common

Everything is worked out in your browser. What you type is not sent anywhere or stored.
Each result shows its steps, so you can check the arithmetic against your payslip or contract.
Where a rule is uncertain or a scenario is not supported, the calculator says so instead of showing a precise-looking figure.
The legal minimum is a floor, not a ceiling: your contract, award or agreement can give you more, and nothing here is legal advice.