Bank holidays for part-time workers: how it works

The short answer: part-timers get the same holiday as full-timers, scaled to their hours. That’s 5.6 weeks, and bank holidays count towards it. Whether you’re short-changed depends on which days you work. Bank holidays fall on Mondays far more than any other day, so a part-timer who works Mondays can use up a big slice of their allowance, and one who doesn’t may not lose any. Here’s how to work out what you should have.

The pro rata sums

A full-time week of 37.5 hours earns 5.6 weeks of holiday, capped at 28 days. At 7.5 hours a day that’s 210 hours, including the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales (which add up to 60 hours). To scale it for part-time hours, multiply by your share of the full-time week:

Hours are the safest unit. Counting in days gets awkward if your days are different lengths, such as four hours on Tuesday and eight on Thursday. A holiday record in hours also matches how your pay is calculated.

Why it can feel unfair

The catch is that four of the eight bank holidays always fall on a Monday: Easter Monday, the early May bank holiday, the spring bank holiday and the summer bank holiday. Good Friday is always a Friday. New Year’s Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day move around.

Where the employer treats bank holidays as part of your total, two people with the same hours can end up with very different amounts to book. Take someone on 22.5 hours a week who has 126 hours of holiday (5.6 × 22.5):

• The Monday-to-Wednesday worker loses at least 30 hours to the four Monday bank holidays, leaving no more than 96 hours to book.
• The Tuesday-to-Thursday worker doesn’t lose those, so they can book up to 126 hours (less any of the moving bank holidays that land on their days).

That’s a gap of 30 hours, nearly four working days, for exactly the same job and hours. It’s legal under the statutory minimum, but it can still be unfair, and it breaches the principle that part-timers shouldn’t be treated less favourably than comparable full-timers if it’s not justified.

How employers handle it

1. Deduct the bank holidays you would have worked. This is the most common method. Your allowance is the pro rata total, and each bank holiday that falls on a working day comes off it.
2. Give a fixed pro rata bank holiday allowance. Everyone gets bank holiday time in proportion to hours (for example 4.8 days on a 60% contract) whichever days they work, with the rest to book freely. This is fairer to Monday workers.
3. Give bank holidays on top. Your contract may say your holiday is 28 days plus bank holidays, in which case pro rata is applied to both.

Look at your contract or handbook to see which applies. If it says “28 days including bank holidays” and you’re part-time, ask how it is pro-rated.

If bank holidays are working days for you

Shift workers, nurses, retail and hospitality staff often work bank holidays. There’s no legal right to extra pay for working them. What you get depends on your contract: time off in lieu, a higher rate, or nothing. If bank holidays are included in your 28 days and you work one, make sure it doesn’t also use up your leave. For the maths on a bank holiday that falls in your holiday week, see how your employer records it.

Quick checklist

• Work out your total in hours: 5.6 × your weekly hours, capped at 28 × your daily hours for a five-day worker.
• Check whether bank holidays are included or on top.
• Count which bank holidays fall on your working days.
• If you’re on irregular hours instead, use the 12.07% rule.
• Compare with holiday entitlement for part-time workers.

Are bank holidays part of your annual leave?

There is no legal right to have bank holidays off, and no right to extra pay for working them. The law gives every worker 5.6 weeks of paid leave, and employers are allowed to count bank holidays towards it. Many contracts do exactly that: your allowance is 28 days including bank holidays, or 20 days plus the eight bank holidays. Which one applies is in your contract, so it is the first thing to check.

Can bank holidays be unpaid?

If your contract gives you bank holidays as paid days off, then yes, you must be paid for them. If it does not, you can legally be asked to work them or be given them unpaid, provided you still receive your 5.6 weeks of paid leave across the year. Where it goes wrong is a part-time worker who never works the day a bank holiday falls and so gets no benefit. Treating them less favourably than a full-timer without good reason can be discrimination, which is why most employers give a pro rata share to everyone.

England, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ

England and Wales have eight bank holidays a year. Scotland has nine, with different dates (including 2 January and St Andrew’s Day). Northern Ireland has ten, including St Patrick’s Day and the Twelfth of July. If your contract counts bank holidays towards your allowance, the number that applies is the one for where you work, so a part-timer in Northern Ireland could have two more days to share than one in England.

The formulas in this guide work for any number: replace the eight with the number that applies to you.

This is general information, not legal advice. It uses 8 bank holidays and 7.5-hour days as an example. Northern Ireland and Scotland have different bank holidays. Check your contract.