Understanding annual leave entitlement is one of the most common questions UK employers and employees face. Whether you're running a small business or managing HR for a growing team, getting leave entitlement right is both a legal requirement and essential for employee wellbeing.
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, almost all workers in the UK are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year. For someone working a standard 5-day week, this equals 28 days (including bank holidays).
This is the statutory minimum — employers can offer more, but never less. Many employers choose to offer additional days as a benefit, particularly for senior roles or long-serving employees.
Yes. There is no legal requirement to give bank holidays as additional leave. Most employers in the UK include the 8 bank holidays within the 28-day statutory entitlement, leaving employees with 20 days of "flexible" annual leave plus 8 bank holidays.
However, this is entirely up to the employer. Some businesses offer 28 days plus bank holidays, while others include bank holidays within the 28-day total.
Part-time employees are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks of leave, but calculated pro rata based on the number of days they work per week.
The formula is simple:
Days worked per week × 5.6 = annual leave entitlement
Free Pro Rata Leave Calculator
Quickly calculate pro rata annual leave for part-time employees based on their working pattern.
Try it now| Days worked per week | Annual leave entitlement |
|---|---|
| 5 days | 28 days |
| 4 days | 22.4 days |
| 3 days | 16.8 days |
| 2 days | 11.2 days |
| 1 day | 5.6 days |
For employees who work irregular hours or don't have fixed weekly patterns, annual leave is calculated as 12.07% of hours worked. This figure comes from 5.6 weeks ÷ 46.4 working weeks (52 weeks minus 5.6 weeks of leave). Many employers use accrual-based leave to build up entitlement gradually for these workers.
By default, the Working Time Regulations allow employees to carry over up to 1.6 weeks (8 days for a full-time worker) of unused leave into the next leave year — but only if the employment contract or workplace agreement allows it.
Key carry-over scenarios:
The leave year is defined in the employment contract. If no start date is specified, it defaults to:
Most UK businesses choose to run the leave year from 1 January to 31 December, or 1 April to 31 March (aligning with the tax year).
Tracking annual leave entitlement manually — with spreadsheets, emails, or paper forms — is error-prone and time-consuming. Leavely automates the entire process:
Automatic balances, pro-rata calculations, bank holidays, one-click approvals, and a visual leave calendar replace the spreadsheet work.