Pro rata holiday calculator
Work out annual leave for part-time staff, and for anyone who starts or leaves part-way through the leave year.
Full-time entitlement
The leave a full-time employee gets in a whole leave year.
Include bank holidays if your policy counts them.
Work pattern
How much the employee works compared with full time.
Part of the year
For someone who starts or leaves during the leave year.
Rounding
Part days can be rounded up, but not down.
Pro-rata annual leave
16.8 days
For a full leave year
- Full year
- 16.8
- Of full time
- 60%
- Of the year
- 100%
How it adds up
- Full-time leave
- 28 days
- × 3 of 5 days
- 16.8 days
What is pro rata holiday?
Pro rata means “in proportion”. Pro rata holiday is a full-time leave allowance scaled down to match how much someone works. A part-time employee gets the same number of weeks off as a full-time colleague, but each of their weeks has fewer working days, so the allowance counts fewer days. The same idea applies to someone who only works part of the leave year.
How to calculate pro rata holiday
Pro rata leave = full-time leave × days worked a week ÷ full-time days a week
An employee working 3 days of a 5-day week, where full-time staff get 28 days, gets 28 × 3 ÷ 5 = 16.8 days a year. For hours-based patterns, use hours instead: someone working 22.5 of a 37.5-hour week works 60% of full time, so they get 60% of the full-time allowance in hours.
For someone who starts or leaves during the leave year, multiply again by the part of the year they are employed:
Leave this year = pro rata leave × part of the leave year employed
Pro rata holiday by days worked
Annual leave for a full leave year, based on a 5-day full-time week:
| Days worked a week | 20-day allowance | 25-day allowance | 28-day allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 4 days | 5 days | 5.6 days |
| 2 days | 8 days | 10 days | 11.2 days |
| 3 days | 12 days | 15 days | 16.8 days |
| 4 days | 16 days | 20 days | 22.4 days |
| 5 days | 20 days | 25 days | 28 days |
Starting or leaving part-way through the year
Someone who joins after the leave year has begun only gets part of the year’s allowance. There are two common ways to count it:
- By months. The employee earns a twelfth of their yearly leave for each month. On GOV.UK, someone on 28 days who starts on 13 January gets a twelfth for January, 2.33 days, rounded up to 2.5.
- By days. The allowance is scaled by the calendar days they are employed in the leave year. This is more exact, and it is how employers can pro-rate a first month that starts part-way through.
The same works in reverse for leavers: work out what they earned up to their last day, then subtract the leave they have already taken. What is left is owed to them, and anything below zero is leave they took in advance.
UK holiday rules to know
- Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For a 5-day week that is 28 days, and statutory paid holiday is capped at 28 days even for people who work 6 days a week.
- Part-time workers on regular hours get at least 5.6 times their working week: 16.8 days for a 3-day week.
- Part days cannot be rounded down. In the first year of employment, part days must be rounded up to the nearest half day.
- Untaken statutory leave must be paid when someone leaves, even after dismissal for gross misconduct. If they took more than they earned, the employer cannot take it from their final pay unless that was agreed in writing beforehand.
Sources: GOV.UK holiday entitlement and Acas. Irregular-hours and part-year workers follow a separate accrual rule (12.07% of hours worked) for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, which this calculator does not cover.
How this calculator counts
- The leave year runs for 12 months from the start date entered. Start and end dates outside it are ignored.
- Counting by months gives a full twelfth for every month of the leave year the employee works at least one day of. Counting by days uses calendar days employed over the days in the leave year.
- For hours-based patterns, the full-time allowance is turned into hours using the full-time day length (full-time hours ÷ full-time days).
- To see how leave builds up pay period by pay period, use the PTO accrual calculator. For the full yearly allowance from a working pattern, use the holiday entitlement calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate pro rata holiday?
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Multiply the full-time entitlement by the share of a full-time week the employee works. Someone working 3 days of a 5-day week on a 28-day entitlement gets 28 × 3 ÷ 5 = 16.8 days. If they only work part of the leave year, multiply again by the share of the year they are employed.
How much holiday does a part-time worker get in the UK?
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Part-time workers on regular hours are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, the same as full-time staff, but measured in their own working weeks. Someone working 3 days a week gets at least 16.8 days (3 × 5.6).
How much holiday do you get if you start part-way through the year?
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Only part of the year’s entitlement, in proportion to how much of the leave year is left. GOV.UK’s example is someone starting on 13 January in a leave year that begins on 1 January: they get a twelfth of 28 days for January, 2.33 days, rounded up to 2.5.
Can holiday entitlement be rounded down?
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Not in the UK. Acas says employers cannot round down part days. In the first year of employment, part days must be rounded up to the nearest half day; after that, rounding up is the employer’s choice.
What happens to unused holiday when you leave a job?
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In the UK, untaken statutory leave must be paid when someone leaves, even if they are dismissed for gross misconduct. This payment in lieu is the only time statutory leave can be swapped for pay. Rules for leave above the statutory minimum depend on the contract.
What if an employee has taken more holiday than they have earned?
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In the UK, the employer must not take money from the final pay unless it was agreed in writing beforehand, usually in the employment contract or handbook.