Guide · UK
Part-time holiday entitlement in the UK
Updated for 2026 · 4 minute read
Part-time staff are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks of paid leave as full-timers — just measured in their own working week. Here's how to calculate it correctly.
The formula
days_worked_per_week × 5.6 = statutory holiday in days
Round up to the nearest half-day. The 28-day cap on statutory holiday only applies to those working 5+ days a week.
Quick reference table
| Days per week | Statutory holiday |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 days |
| 2 | 11.2 days |
| 3 | 16.8 days |
| 4 | 22.4 days |
| 5+ | 28 days (statutory cap) |
Bank holidays for part-timers
A part-timer who doesn't work Mondays isn't really "losing" the Easter Monday bank holiday — they weren't going to work it anyway. The fair fix is to pro-rate the bank-holiday allowance:
8 bank holidays × (days_per_week ÷ 5) = pro-rated bank holiday days
A 3-day-a-week employee gets 8 × 3/5 = 4.8 days of bank holiday allowance to use across the year, regardless of which weekdays they work.
Irregular hours and zero-hours contracts
For workers without a fixed pattern, the current government-recommended approach is 12.07% of hours worked — that's 5.6 ÷ (52 − 5.6), the fraction of a working year that is paid leave. Accrue this each pay period and pay it as leave is taken.
Worked example
Priya works Tue, Wed, Thu (3 days/week). Full-year entitlement: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days, rounded up to 17. Her contract includes bank holidays, so her bank-holiday allowance is 8 × 3/5 = 4.8 days. She can book off any 17 working days across the leave year and use the 4.8 days towards bank holidays as they fall.
Let Leavo handle the maths
Set each person's working days once and Leavo calculates the right entitlement, pro-rates for joiners and leavers, and applies bank holidays based on the days they actually work.