How to calculate pro-rata holiday entitlement
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Almost all workers in the UK are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday each year. This is known as statutory leave entitlement and can include bank holidays.
Employees working a 5-day week get a minimum of 28 days’ paid holiday days each year (including bank holidays).
Pro-rata holiday entitlement is a calculation based on the amount of annual leave an employee is entitled to in relation to the amount of the holiday year they have worked.
If your employees are full-time and work five days a week, then they're entitled to a statutory minimum of 28 days’ paid annual leave a year, or 5.6 weeks’ holiday. If your workers are part-time and they work the same number of hours each day, Monday to Friday, every week they are also entitled to 5.6 weeks’ holiday, but this works out to be less than 28 days because they work fewer hours per week.
The basic way to work out how many days holiday an employee is entitled to is to multiply the number of days a week they work by 5.6. That gives someone working a five-day week the 28 days we’ve already mentioned. Someone who is part-time and only works three days a week would be entitled to 3 x 5.6 = 16.8 days.
It gets more involved if the hours differ on the days they do work, but our online calculator allows you to work out holiday entitlement both in days and in hours worked each week.
Similarly, if you have a member of staff who starts part-way through the holiday year or leaves part-way through, then the amount of annual leave they are entitled to will be calculated based on the amount of time they have actually worked for you and will be a proportion of the full entitlement that they have accrued. This would be their pro-rata holiday entitlement.
Our HR-user dashboard provides a snapshot, shop-window view of your employees' holiday allowances, including any adjustments you've made from the calculations above or below. Check out the adjustment tab and click on (time off in lieu) TOIL to explore further - this is also used for updating holiday from overtime hours worked.
For employees that join or leave part-way through your business' holiday year - regardless of full or part-time status - their annual leave entitlement is based on the amount of time worked during their period of employment with you.
It's important to note that staff accrue annual leave at the rate of 1/12 per every month worked.
Employees starting part-way through the year will have their holiday entitlement calculated from the date they join.
For example, if your holiday year start date is January 1 and they don’t start working for you until March 1, their holiday allowance will be based on the period from March 1 through to December 31.
Employees accrue annual leave at the rate of 1/12 for each month within the holiday year, therefore, in this instance the employee will be entitled to 10/12 of a full year’s holiday allowance.
For an employee leaving part-way through the year the period of entitlement will run from your holiday year start date through to their leaving date.
If they’ve taken more than their annual leave entitlement at the point they leave, then you can take the money back in their final pay pack, but only if it has been agreed in writing beforehand. If they have taken less than their entitlement at the point of departure you may be able to offer them payment in lieu of holiday.
If you have part-time staff or staff who work irregular hours each month, then the calculations are carried out differently again. You also need to be mindful of bank holidays when working out their entitlement.
If staff work irregular hours, for example, they are shift workers or working patterns change regularly, then holiday pay will be based on the average hours they have worked in the previous 12 weeks.
For an employee leaving part-way through the year the period of entitlement will run from your holiday year start date through to their leaving date.
If they’ve taken more than their holiday entitlement at the point they leave, then you can take the money back in their final pay pack, but only if it has been agreed in writing beforehand. If they have taken less than their entitlement at the point of departure you may be able to offer them payment in lieu of holiday.
For an employee leaving part-way through the year the period of entitlement will run from your holiday year start date through to their leaving date.
If they’ve taken more than their holiday entitlement at the point they leave, then you can take the money back in their final pay pack, but only if it has been agreed in writing beforehand. If they have taken less than their entitlement at the point of departure you may be able to offer them payment in lieu of holiday.
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