Zero-hours workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid statutory holiday per year, the same as everyone else. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday accrues at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period. Employers can either pay holiday when it is taken using a 52-week reference period, or use rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% of pay each pay period.
Are zero-hours workers entitled to holiday?
Yes. Anyone with the legal status of "worker" under UK employment law is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid statutory holiday per year, and that includes most people on a zero-hours contract. The right comes from regulation 13 and regulation 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998, with no qualifying period - it applies from day one of working.
The complicating factor is that zero-hours workers do not work the same hours every week, so a fixed annual day count like "28 days" rarely fits. Instead, holiday entitlement builds up in line with the hours actually worked, using the rules introduced for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
Who counts as an irregular hours worker
The post-April 2024 accrual method applies specifically to two categories of worker, defined in regulation 15F of the Working Time Regulations:
| Category | Definition | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| Irregular hours worker | A worker whose paid hours each pay period are, under their contract, "wholly or mostly variable". | Zero-hours staff, casual workers, bank staff, most gig and platform workers. |
| Part-year worker | A worker required to work only part of the year, with at least one full week in the contract period when they do not work and are not paid. | Term-time-only school staff, seasonal workers, certain visiting tutors. |
Most people on a zero-hours contract will be irregular hours workers. The category matters because the 12.07% method and rolled-up holiday pay are only legal for these two groups - using them for a regular-hours part-time or full-time worker is unlawful and exposes the employer to unlawful-deduction-of-wages claims.
The 12.07% accrual rule explained
For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, an irregular hours or part-year worker accrues holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period. The rate comes from a simple piece of arithmetic anchored in the 5.6-week statutory entitlement.
That percentage is then applied to the hours actually worked in each pay period. GOV.UK guidance sets out the rounding rule: the resulting figure is rounded to the nearest whole hour, with 30 minutes or more rounded up and anything less rounded down.
Holiday accrual calculator
Use this to try the 12.07% rule on real numbers. Enter the hours worked in a pay period, optionally an hourly rate, and the calculator will show how much holiday accrues and what rolled-up holiday pay would be for that period.
Read on for the choice between rolled-up pay and the accrual method, plus more worked examples.
Two ways to pay holiday: the choice
Once the entitlement has accrued, there are two lawful ways an employer can pay for it. Both are permitted for irregular hours and part-year workers in leave years from 1 April 2024.
| Method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Accrual + 52-week reference | Holiday accrues in hours at 12.07%. When the worker takes leave, the pay rate is calculated from their average earnings over the previous 52 weeks of work. | Workers who take regular blocks of leave; employers preferring a clear separation between work and holiday on the payslip. |
| Rolled-up holiday pay | An extra 12.07% is added to every payslip as the worker earns. Holiday entitlement still accrues, but the pay element is settled in advance. | Casual or short-term workers; situations where paying for leave when taken would be administratively complex. |
Either method is lawful, but only for irregular hours and part-year workers. For regular-hours workers, rolled-up holiday pay remains unlawful and the only acceptable approach is to pay holiday when it is taken, using the 52-week reference period for any variable elements of pay.
Worked examples
Four scenarios cover what most employers will hit in practice. The percentages and round-to-nearest-hour rule come straight from the GOV.UK guidance.
Example 1: Weekly-paid bar worker
Sam works behind the bar on a zero-hours contract. In a particular week they work 30 hours. Their employer pays weekly and uses the accrual method.
| Hours worked in pay period | 30 |
| Accrual calculation | 30 × 12.07% = 3.621 hours |
| Rounded to nearest whole hour | 4 hours of holiday accrued (0.621 rounds up) |
Example 2: Monthly-paid casual worker
Jill works ad hoc events on a casual contract. In June she works 68 hours across various shifts. Her employer pays monthly and her leave year started on 1 April 2026.
| Hours worked in pay period | 68 |
| Accrual calculation | 68 × 12.07% = 8.2076 hours |
| Rounded to nearest whole hour | 8 hours of holiday accrued (0.2076 rounds down) |
Three months in, Jill has worked 200 hours and accrued 24 hours of holiday. She wants to take 16 hours off. To work out the pay rate, the employer averages her pay over the previous 52 weeks of work.
Example 3: Same worker, rolled-up holiday pay
Same Jill, but her employer uses rolled-up holiday pay instead. Her hourly rate is £12.50.
| Hours in June | 68 |
| Basic pay (68 × £12.50) | £850.00 |
| Rolled-up holiday pay (12.07% of basic) | £102.60 |
| Total gross pay | £952.60 |
Jill's payslip must show "Basic pay £850.00 / Rolled-up holiday pay £102.60" itemised separately. When she takes leave, no further pay is due - it has already been paid in advance.
Example 4: High-hours seasonal worker (the cap)
Tom works a busy summer season as a part-year worker, putting in 50 hours a week for 30 weeks. At 12.07% accrual, he would build up 181 hours of holiday over the season - but the statutory cap is 5.6 weeks. The employer must let him take or pay out his statutory entitlement, but anything above 5.6 weeks is contractual and depends on what is written in the contract.
Rolled-up holiday pay: employer guide
Rolled-up holiday pay was widely used before being declared unlawful by the European Court of Justice in 2006. The post-April 2024 reforms reintroduced it specifically for irregular hours and part-year workers - and only for them. Used correctly, it removes a lot of administrative complexity from variable-hours payroll.
Bank holidays and zero-hours staff
There is no automatic right to paid time off on a UK bank holiday under the Working Time Regulations. For salaried full-time workers this rarely matters in practice because most contracts include bank holidays in the 5.6-week entitlement. For zero-hours staff the picture is different.
If a zero-hours worker has no shift booked on a bank holiday, no holiday accrues and none is paid - they simply did not work. If they are scheduled to work and the employer cancels the shift because of the bank holiday, the worker may be due holiday pay if treating the day as leave is part of the agreement.
Sickness, maternity and family leave
One of the trickier corners of zero-hours holiday is what happens during periods of statutory leave or long-term sickness, when the worker is not actually putting in any hours to accrue holiday from. Regulation 15C of the Working Time Regulations handles this with a 52-week look-back rule.
During any period of statutory leave (maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption) or sickness absence, the worker continues to accrue holiday based on their average hours over the 52 weeks before the absence began. Weeks where they were already on statutory leave or off sick are excluded from that 52-week average. If they have not yet worked 52 weeks for the employer, the period is shortened to however long they have been working - but the look-back can extend up to 104 weeks if needed to find 52 paid weeks.
| Situation | How accrual works |
|---|---|
| Worker is at work as normal | 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period. |
| Worker is on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave | Accrual continues based on average hours over the previous 52 weeks of actual work. |
| Worker is off sick | Accrual continues using the same 52-week look-back, regardless of whether SSP is being paid. |
| Worker has been employed for less than 52 weeks | Use the actual weeks worked. Can extend look-back up to 104 weeks to find 52 paid weeks. |
For the linked rules on Statutory Sick Pay (which now applies from day one with no minimum earnings threshold from 6 April 2026), see our SSP 2026 employer guide.
Carrying holiday forward
Different rules apply to irregular hours and part-year workers when it comes to carrying unused holiday into the next leave year. ACAS guidance sets out the position.
An irregular hours or part-year worker can carry over up to 5.6 weeks (28 days) of statutory holiday if any of the following apply:
- The worker was off on statutory leave (maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental) and could not take all their holiday
- The worker was on long-term sick leave - in which case the carried-over leave must be used within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it accrued
- The employer failed in their legal duty to allow or encourage the worker to take their leave
- The employer did not inform the worker that any unused leave would be lost at the end of the leave year
- For rolled-up holiday pay specifically: where the worker did not actually receive the 12.07% uplift they were entitled to
If none of those apply and the worker simply did not get round to taking their holiday, the default position is that statutory leave is lost at the end of the leave year. The full picture, including the Reg 13 versus Reg 13A distinction for regular workers, is in our annual leave carry forward guide.
When a zero-hours worker leaves
On termination, the worker must be paid in lieu for any accrued but untaken statutory holiday. This rule comes from regulation 15E of the Working Time Regulations (which applies specifically to irregular hours and part-year workers).
The rate to pay is the worker's average hourly pay over the 52-week reference period leading up to their last day. Where rolled-up holiday pay has been correctly applied, the holiday element will already have been paid each pay period as the worker earned it - so on termination there is normally nothing further owed unless an audit reveals a shortfall in the 12.07% uplifts.
Common employer mistakes
Five recurring problems show up in tribunal cases and ACAS guidance:
| Mistake | The fix |
|---|---|
| Using rolled-up holiday pay for a regular-hours part-time worker | Only legal for irregular hours or part-year workers. For everyone else, pay holiday when leave is taken. |
| Not itemising rolled-up holiday pay on the payslip | The Working Time Regulations require it as a separate line. Without it, the rolled-up payment may not count and you could owe holiday pay again. |
| Treating zero-hours workers as having no holiday entitlement | Anyone with worker status accrues 5.6 weeks per year. Failing to pay it is unlawful deduction of wages. |
| Using a flat 12.07% on basic pay only when the worker also gets commission or bonuses | The rolled-up calculation should be 12.07% of total pay for work done in the pay period, including any commission, regular overtime and shift premiums. |
| Forgetting the National Minimum Wage check | Rolled-up holiday pay does not count towards NMW. Check that the basic hourly rate before the uplift is at or above the worker's NMW band. |
Sources
This guide draws on official UK government and ACAS guidance, current as of May 2026.
| Source | Reference |
|---|---|
| Working Time Regulations 1998 (as amended) | legislation.gov.uk - regulations 13, 13A, 14 |
| Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 | legislation.gov.uk - regs 15B, 15C, 15E, 15F, 16A |
| GOV.UK: Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024 | gov.uk |
| GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement - Calculate leave entitlement | gov.uk |
| GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement | gov.uk |
| ACAS: Calculating holiday pay | acas.org.uk |
| ACAS: Carrying over holiday for irregular hours and part-year workers | acas.org.uk |
| GOV.UK: Employment status - Worker | gov.uk |
Frequently asked questions
Are zero-hours workers entitled to paid holiday in the UK?
Yes. Anyone with the legal status of "worker" is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid statutory holiday a year, including those on a zero-hours contract. The entitlement accrues based on hours actually worked, calculated at 12.07% of those hours for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days per year regardless of how many hours someone works.
How is the 12.07% holiday accrual rate calculated?
The 12.07% rate comes from the statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks divided by the remaining 46.4 working weeks in a year (52 minus 5.6). 5.6 divided by 46.4 equals 0.1207, or 12.07%. It is the proportion of working time that gets converted into accrued paid leave.
What is rolled-up holiday pay and is it legal?
Rolled-up holiday pay means adding an extra amount equal to 12.07% of pay onto each payslip, instead of paying separately when leave is taken. Since 1 April 2024, it is legal for irregular hours and part-year workers only, including most zero-hours contracts. It is still unlawful for regular full-time and part-time staff. The rolled-up amount must be itemised on the payslip.
Do zero-hours workers get paid for bank holidays?
Bank holidays do not give an automatic right to paid time off in the UK. For zero-hours workers, bank holidays only translate into paid leave if the worker would otherwise have been scheduled to work that day. Holiday pay accrues at 12.07% of hours actually worked, so if no shift is scheduled on a bank holiday there is no accrual specifically for it.
What happens to a zero-hours worker's holiday accrual during sickness or maternity leave?
Under regulation 15C of the Working Time Regulations, an irregular hours or part-year worker continues to accrue holiday during maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption leave or while off sick. The accrual is based on the worker's average hours in the 52 weeks before the absence began, excluding any weeks where they were already on statutory leave or off sick.
What happens to accrued holiday when a zero-hours worker leaves?
Under regulation 15E of the Working Time Regulations, the employer must pay in lieu for any accrued but untaken holiday at termination. The pay rate is the worker's average hourly pay over the 52-week reference period before they leave. Where rolled-up holiday pay has been used, the holiday should already have been paid as it was earned, so there is normally nothing further owed unless there is a shortfall.