Check if you're entitled to paid holidays

You’re entitled to paid holidays if you’re an employee or a worker - including an agency worker.

You might be an employee or worker even if your contract says you’re self-employed. You aren't entitled to paid holidays if you run a business and you work for a client.

If you’re not sure if you’re an employee or a worker, check your employment status.

Check how much paid holiday you should have

If you work regular hours all year round, your employer has to give you 5.6 weeks' holiday each year. This is known as your 'statutory entitlement’. Your employer might give you more than this but it’s up to them - check your contract. 

If your contract gives you more than 5.6 weeks’ holiday, the first 5.6 weeks are your statutory entitlement, anything more is called ‘contractual’ holiday. 

Bank holidays aren’t extra to your statutory entitlement - your employer can ask you to take bank holidays off using your paid holiday. Check your contract or employer’s leave policy to see if you get your bank holidays extra to your holiday entitlement. Read more about working on bank holidays.

If you work the same number of days each week, 5.6 weeks translates into the following days’ holiday per year:  

If you’re in the armed forces, police or civil protection services, your contract will tell you how much paid holiday you’ll get. Civil protection services include firefighters and coastguards.

If you work irregular hours or only part of the year

Your paid holiday might be more difficult to calculate.

You still have a right to take holiday. It's calculated as 12.07% of the hours you've worked in a pay period - for example, each month. This is rounded to the nearest hour.

Example

Rowan gets paid once every month. They worked for their employer for 100 hours last month. They accrued 12 hours of holiday for this pay period. 100 x 12.07% is 12.07 hours - this is rounded down to 12 hours.

If you’re not sure how much holiday you should get, you can use the holiday entitlement calculator on GOV.UK.

If your current leave year started on or after 1 April 2024, your employer can choose to:

• keep paying you when you take holiday

• pay you nothing when you take holiday, but pay you ‘rolled-up holiday pay’ instead

If your employer pays you rolled-up holiday pay, you’ll get an extra 12.07% on top of your normal pay each pay day.

You can check if you've got the right amount of holiday pay.

When you can take your holiday

You have to take your holiday in a period called a ‘leave year’. Your contract or written statement will say when that begins and ends. It might not be the same as the calendar year. Read more about a leave year.

You also have to give your employer notice of when you want to go on holiday. If you give them the right notice, you can take as much holiday as you’re entitled to  - unless you’ve been in your job for less than a year. Read more about how much notice you have to give your employer. 

If you started your job less than a year ago

You can only take the holiday you’ve built up since you started your job. You’ll build up holiday entitlement for each month you work - this means if you’ve been in your job for a month, you can take 1/12th of your entitlement. 

If you’ve only worked for part of a leave year

If you start or stop work part way through a leave year, your holiday entitlement depends on how much of the year you’ve worked. Use the calculator on GOV.UK to find out how much holiday you’re entitled to.

If you leave your job part way through a leave year, you’re entitled to be paid for any holiday you haven’t taken. Use the holiday calculator on GOV.UK to work out how much holiday you’re owed. 

If you don’t get paid for it, you should write to your former employer to ask for it. Give them a deadline in which to pay you - like 2 weeks. 

If they don’t pay, contact Acas early conciliation saying you want to make a claim for unlawful deduction from wages. You must contact Acas within 3 months less one day from when your former employer should have paid you. 

If you haven’t used all your holiday entitlement in a leave year

You’ll normally have to use your holiday entitlement in the leave year it relates to. There are exceptions if you haven’t been able to take it before the end of the leave year because:

• you’ve been off sick long term

• you were on statutory leave - like maternity leave

• your employer didn't encourage you to take your holiday

• your employer didn't warn you that you'll lose your holiday if you don't use it

• your employer has deliberately stopped you from taking holiday - for example, by repeatedly refusing your holiday requests or saying you weren’t entitled to it

If one of these exceptions apply, you might be able to use your holiday in your next leave year - this is called ‘carrying over’ your holiday.

If you were on statutory leave, you can carry over up to 5.6 weeks. If you work irregular hours or for only part of the year, you can carry over all of the holiday you’ve built up.

If you were on sick leave, you can carry over up to 4 weeks. If you work irregular hours or for only part of the year, you can carry over up to 5.6 weeks. You must use this holiday within 18 months from the start of the new leave year. If you don’t, you’ll lose it.

If your employer stopped you from taking holiday, you can carry over up to 4 weeks. If you work irregular hours or for only part of the year, you can carry over up to 5.6 weeks. You can carry your holiday over into future leave years until your employer lets you use it.

If your employer says you’re not entitled to paid holiday

This might happen if your employer has wrongly told you that you’re not entitled to any paid holiday because you’re self-employed and not a worker or an employee

If you’ve been wrongly called self-employed, or your employer has prevented you from taking your full holiday entitlement, you can take up to 4 weeks’ statutory holiday into the next leave year. This is called ‘carrying over’ holiday. If your employer keeps not letting you take it, you can keep carrying up to 4 weeks over into your next leave years. You can do this even if you’ve taken unpaid holiday.

If you leave your job, you’re entitled to be paid for any holiday you haven’t taken. This can include holiday you’ve carried over from previous leave years. 

If your employer won’t pay you for holiday you haven’t taken, talk to an adviser.