Employees are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks' paid leave each year.
For employees working five days a week this means 28 days inclusive of public holidays. There is no requirement to give leave on public holidays (in England and Wales there are 8 bank holidays, while in Scotland there are 9).
Since 2015, voluntary overtime can be included in holiday pay.
Part-time employees should not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time employees in their entitlement to pay and benefits. On that basis, they are entitled to a pro-rated holiday entitlement, according to the proportion of full-time hours that they work.
People working irregular hours (commonly on zero hours contracts) are entitled to paid time off for every hour that they work. Such workers might find it helpful to get an estimate of holiday entitlement by calculating leave based on days or hours worked in an average week.
When an employee has taken more leave than they are entitled to and their employment has since been terminated, an employer may be entitled to compensation, depending on whether the employee's contract of employment allows for this.
Calculating holiday entitlement
The employee's contract of employment should specify their entitlement to annual holidays. Otherwise, holiday entitlement is calculated by multiplying the number of days worked each week by 5.6. For example, workers who are contracted to work five days a week must get at least 28 days off a year (5 days x 5.6) including public holidays. If a worker is contracted to work three days a week, their leave entitlement will be 16.8 days off a year (3 days x 5.6).
For more information, read How to calculate holiday entitlement.