United Kingdom. Working Time Regulations 1998, statutory minimum
A leave tracker for the statutory minimum, not for your spreadsheet's guess
Most leave disputes are arithmetic: bank holidays counted twice, a four-day week pro-rated wrongly, more carried over than the law allows. This tracker computes the statutory floor and balance. It does not know your contract, which can only be better.
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UK statutory annual leave by days worked per week, 2026
Last updated
The whole of statutory annual leave for a regular hours worker comes from one multiplication and one ceiling. This is that table, computed the way gov.uk and Acas compute it, with the point at which the 28 day cap starts to bite made explicit.
Every row is days worked in a normal week multiplied by 5.6, then capped at 28 days. Both steps are stated on gov.uk: "almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year" and "statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days". Acas works the same multiplication for part-time staff, giving 16.8 days for a three day week (3 x 5.6). Figures are the statutory minimum for a full leave year and exclude any contractual leave above the floor. The 12.07% row is the separate accrual method for irregular hours and part-year workers, which applies to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 and is measured in hours, not days. Nothing here is estimated: the arithmetic is reproducible from the two published rules, and the calculator on this page runs the same two steps so the tool and the table cannot disagree.
| Days worked in a normal week | Before the cap (days x 5.6) | Statutory leave, days | Cap applied | Equivalent if 8 bank holidays are counted inside it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 | 5.6 | No | 0 days left to choose, and the employer may only count bank holidays that fall on the worker's working days |
| 2 | 11.2 | 11.2 | No | 3.2 |
| 3 | 16.8 | 16.8 | No | 8.8 |
| 4 | 22.4 | 22.4 | No | 14.4 |
| 5 | 28.0 | 28.0 | No, it lands exactly on the cap | 20.0 |
| 6 | 33.6 | 28.0 | Yes, 5.6 days lost to the ceiling | 20.0 |
| 7 | 39.2 | 28.0 | Yes, 11.2 days lost to the ceiling | 20.0 |
| Irregular hours or part-year | 12.07% of hours worked in the pay period | Measured in hours, not days | The 5.6 weeks ceiling still applies | Bank holidays are not a separate entitlement here either |
- UK statutory annual leave is 5.6 weeks a year and is capped at 28 days, so a five day week reaches the ceiling exactly and a six day week gains nothing further.
- Part-time statutory leave is days worked per week multiplied by 5.6: a three day week is 16.8 days, a four day week is 22.4 days.
- Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and an employer may count them inside the 5.6 weeks rather than on top of it.
- For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of the hours they actually work in each pay period.
- 12.07% is not a rule of thumb: it is 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 weeks of a year that are not statutory leave.
- Workers can normally carry a maximum of 8 days into the next leave year, and only with the employer's agreement.
Cite this page
“UK statutory annual leave by days worked per week, 2026”, Leave Tracker, https://leavetracker.uk/ (updated 2026-08-15). Every row is days worked in a normal week multiplied by 5.6, then capped at 28 days. Both steps are stated on gov.uk: "almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year" and "statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days". Acas works the same multiplication for part-time staff, giving 16.8 days for a three day week (3 x 5.6). Figures are the statutory minimum for a full leave year and exclude any contractual leave above the floor. The 12.07% row is the separate accrual method for irregular hours and part-year workers, which applies to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 and is measured in hours, not days. Nothing here is estimated: the arithmetic is reproducible from the two published rules, and the calculator on this page runs the same two steps so the tool and the table cannot disagree.
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The detail
Each one cites where its numbers come from.
Irregular hours holiday pay: the 12.07% rule
Irregular hours holiday pay: from leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of hours worked.
Bank holidays and annual leave: inside the 5.6 weeks or on top?
Bank holidays are not a statutory entitlement in the UK. Whether they come out of the 5.6 weeks or sit above it is a contract question, and it changes the balance.
Carryover leave: the 8 day rule and its exceptions
Carryover leave in the UK: workers can normally carry over up to 8 days with the employer's agreement. Family leave and sickness are treated differently.
Part-time holiday entitlement: pro-rating that survives a tribunal
Part-time statutory leave is days worked per week multiplied by 5.6. The pro-rating errors that survive in spreadsheets, and how to spot them in a balance.
The assumptions
- The statutory floor is 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. gov.uk states that "almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year". It adds that "most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days' paid annual leave a year" (gov.uk).
- The 28 day ceiling is applied to the regular hours figure. gov.uk states that "statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days". So a six or seven day week does not produce more than 28 days of statutory leave (gov.uk).
- Part-time entitlement is days a week multiplied by 5.6, the calculation gov.uk and Acas both work. A three day week gives "at least 16.8 days' leave a year (3 x 5.6)" (Acas).
- Irregular hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of actual hours worked in a pay period, for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. That percentage is 5.6 weeks divided by the 46.4 working weeks of a year (gov.uk).
- Bank holidays are treated as a setting, not a fact, because they are one. gov.uk: "bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave". And "an employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker's statutory annual leave" (gov.uk).
- The carry-over figure uses the general rule that "workers can normally carry over a maximum of 8 days into the next leave year, with the agreement of their employer". Statutory family leave is treated differently and is not modelled here (gov.uk).
- This tracks the statutory minimum for a full leave year. It does not model contractual leave above the floor, service-related uplifts, leave in the first year of a job under an employer's accrual scheme, or a leave year part-completed. Where the contract is more generous, the contract governs and this figure is the legal floor beneath it.
- Converting accrued hours to days uses the normal day length you enter. That conversion is a presentation choice, not a statutory rule: the entitlement of an irregular hours worker is measured in hours.
Leave Tracker is an information site. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to gov.uk, Acas or any government body, and it is not a law firm or an employment adviser. Nothing here is legal advice on any individual case. The figures are the statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations 1998 as described by gov.uk and Acas on the date shown, and a contract of employment can only improve on them, so where your contract and this page disagree the contract governs. We publish no figure that is not taken from a source cited on this page, and we take no payment from any employer or worker for the calculation.
Common questions
How much annual leave is a UK worker legally entitled to?
5.6 weeks a year. gov.uk: "almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year". Most on a five day week must receive at least 28 days. It is capped: "statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days", so six or seven days a week give no more. Anything above is contractual.
How do you calculate holiday entitlement for a part-time worker?
Multiply normal weekly days by 5.6. Acas: three days a week gets 16.8 days' paid holiday a year (3 x 5.6). Pro-rate the statutory entitlement first, then handle bank holidays. Pro-rating a figure with bank holidays already deducted gives 12 days for a three day week instead of 16.8. That is below the statutory floor: the most common error here.
Do bank holidays count as part of the 5.6 weeks?
A contract question. gov.uk: "bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave". An employer "can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker's statutory annual leave". On a five day week, eight bank holidays inside the entitlement leave 20 free days; on top, 28. Both are lawful; the written statement should say which.
How does holiday accrue for zero hours or term-time staff?
12.07% of hours actually worked each pay period, for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Irregular hours: paid hours per pay period wholly or mostly variable under the contract. Part-year: required to work only part of the year, unpaid gaps of a week or more. That is 5.6 weeks over 46.4 working weeks; entitlement is in hours.
How much annual leave can be carried into the next leave year?
Normally a maximum of 8 days, only with the employer's agreement: a ceiling, not a right. Family leave is the exception: if maternity or other family related leave stopped a worker taking holiday, the employer must allow all of it to carry over. Long-term sickness is treated differently again; check case by case, not against the eight day rule.
Can a leave balance be negative?
Against the statutory floor, yes; it usually means the contract is more generous, not that something is wrong. This tracker computes the legal minimum. A worker with a contractual 33 days who has taken 30 shows negative against a 28 day statutory entitlement. The law guarantees the floor; the worker is owed the contract, which can only be better.
Does the 28 day cap reduce a part-time worker's entitlement?
No, and if a part-time calculation has used the cap the calculation is wrong. The cap only engages above a five day week: five days times 5.6 is exactly 28, so anybody working five days or fewer is unaffected by it. A six day week is the first pattern where the ceiling bites, cutting 33.6 days down to 28.
Sources
This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:
- The UK Leave Software Price Index carries 14 published figures read from 13 sources' own pages; the 13 published figures given without a breakdown run from 0.60 to 8 GBP, read 11 November 2026.
- The UK Statutory Leave Rules carries 7 published figures read from 6 sources' own pages, from 4 to 104 week, read 7 November 2026.
Check a balance against the legal floor
Two facts about the working pattern, two about what has been taken, and the statutory position is settled.
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