Irregular hours holiday calculator
For zero hours, casual and term-time workers in England, Scotland and Wales. Holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period, rounded to the nearest hour at the end of every pay period.
Who these rules apply to
Since 1 April 2024, irregular hours workers and part-year workers build up holiday as hours rather than being given a fixed number of days at the start of the year. An irregular hours worker is someone whose paid hours in each pay period are wholly or mostly variable under their contract. A part-year worker is someone whose contract runs all year but who only works and is paid for part of it, such as a term-time-only employee. Someone on a fixed rota of, say, 15 hours one week and 20 the next is not an irregular hours worker — those hours are fixed.
These rules only apply to leave years that began on or after 1 April 2024. For an earlier leave year, the older pro rata method applies for that year.
Northern Ireland works differently
This 12.07% accrual method sits in the Working Time Regulations 1998, which cover Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own Working Time Regulations (NI) 2016, and the 2024 amendments made there dealt with carrying leave over, not with this accrual method. If you work in Northern Ireland, treat this page as background only and check with the Labour Relations Agency.
Where 12.07% comes from
Statutory leave is 5.6 weeks. A year has 52 weeks, of which 5.6 are holiday, leaving 46.4 working weeks. 5.6 divided by 46.4 is 0.1207, or 12.07%. So every hour worked builds up about 7.2 minutes of paid leave. If your contract gives more than 5.6 weeks, the percentage needs adjusting upwards.
Worked example: 148 hours in one month. 148 ÷ 100 = 1.48; 1.48 × 12.07 = 17.8636 hours. Part hours are rounded down under 30 minutes and up at 30 minutes or more, so 17.8636 becomes 18 hours of paid leave for that pay period. Take 6 hours and 12 hours remain.
The rounding happens at the end of each pay period, so several pay periods are worked out and rounded one at a time and then added up. Adding the raw hours first and rounding once gives a different, incorrect answer.
This is entitlement — how much time off builds up. What each of those hours is paid at is a separate question, covered by the holiday pay calculator.
Common questions
- What about rolled-up holiday pay?
- Employers may instead pay an extra 12.07% on top of each payslip for these workers. If you are paid this way, you are being paid your holiday as you go, so it should not be counted twice.
- I work the same hours every week — is this my page?
- No. Use the main entitlement calculator instead.
- Does overtime count?
- Hours actually worked count towards the accrual, including overtime hours worked in that pay period.