Do I get paid for unused holiday when I leave?

The short answer: yes. When you leave, your employer must pay you for any holiday you have built up this leave year but not taken. It goes into your final pay. On a £30,000 salary, every unused day is worth about £115 before tax.

How to work out what you are owed

1. Find your yearly entitlement. The legal minimum is 5.6 weeks, which is 28 days for a five-day week (bank holidays can be included). Your contract may give more.
2. Work out what you have built up. Multiply your entitlement by the share of the leave year you worked. Leaving six months into the year means half your entitlement.
3. Take off the days you have used. Include any bank holidays you were given off if they count towards your total.
4. Multiply by your daily rate. For a full-time salary this is usually your yearly pay divided by 260 working days.

Your leave year is often January to December or April to March, but check your contract. If it does not say, it starts on the date you joined.

Worked example: £30,000 salary, 5 days already taken

Employers usually round part days up or pay them exactly. They are not allowed to round down below what the law gives you.

What 5 unused days are worth

If you work part-time, use your own daily pay and your pro rata entitlement. Our guide to part-time holiday shows how that is worked out.

If your hours or pay vary

For irregular-hours and part-year workers, holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours you work each pay period. When you leave, add up what has built up, take off what you have used, and you are paid the rest. If your employer pays rolled-up holiday pay (an extra 12.07% on every payslip), there is usually nothing extra to pay at the end. See holiday on zero-hours contracts.

If you get regular overtime, commission or shift pay, your holiday pay should reflect it, at least for four of the 5.6 weeks. The day rate is then based on your average pay over the last 52 weeks you were paid, not just your basic.

Can my employer make me take it instead?

Yes. During your notice period your employer can tell you to use your holiday, as long as they give you notice of at least twice the length of the holiday. To use 5 days, they must tell you at least 10 days before. You can ask to take it too, but they can say no for business reasons.

On garden leave or pay in lieu of notice, holiday still builds up during any notice you are paid for if you are still employed. With pay in lieu, it usually stops on the day your job ends.

What if I took more than I earned?

If you leave early in the year after a long holiday, you may have taken more days than you built up. Your employer can only claw back the extra from your final pay if your contract, or something you agreed in writing, allows it. Without that, it counts as an unlawful deduction from wages.

Holiday carried over, sickness and maternity leave

• Carried over days: days carried from last year, for example because you could not take them while off sick, must also be paid when you leave.
• Long-term sickness: statutory holiday keeps building up while you are off sick. You can carry over unused statutory days for up to 18 months after the leave year ends.
• Maternity and other family leave: holiday builds up throughout, so leaving during or straight after it can mean a large holiday payment.
• Extra contractual days: anything above the 28-day minimum follows your contract. Some contracts do not pay extra days out, so check.

Tax on your final payslip

Holiday pay is pay, so income tax, National Insurance, pension and any student loan come off it as usual. A big final payslip can be taxed at a higher rate that month. If you start a new job, give them your P45 straight away so your tax code carries on; if you do not work again that tax year, you may get some back. Our guide to part-month pay covers the rest of your final salary.

If your employer will not pay

Ask your manager or HR in writing first, showing your sums. If that fails, Acas can help for free through early conciliation. You must contact Acas within three months less one day of the date you should have been paid, before you can take an unlawful deductions claim to an employment tribunal.

Extra holiday in your contract

Many contracts give more than the 28-day minimum. Say you get 33 days and leave halfway through the year with nothing taken. You have built up 16.5 days. The first 14 are statutory and must be paid. Whether the other 2.5 are paid depends on your contract. Most contracts pay all of it, but some only pay statutory days on leaving, or let the employer refuse to pay extra days if you are dismissed for misconduct. Read the holiday section of your contract or handbook before your last day.

Worked example: zero-hours or irregular hours

You worked 600 hours this leave year, took 40 hours of holiday and are paid £13.00 an hour.

If your pay varies, the hourly rate should be your average over the last 52 weeks you were paid, including regular overtime or commission.

If you leave without working your notice

Walking out or being let go early does not cancel your statutory holiday pay. Your employer still owes it. They do not have to pay you for notice you did not work, and they can only take other money back, such as training costs, if your contract clearly says so and the deduction does not take you below the minimum wage for hours worked.

If you are made redundant, unused holiday is paid on top of any redundancy pay and notice pay. See how redundancy pay works.

Bank holidays can change the sum

If your 28 days include the 8 bank holidays, check which ones have already passed. Leaving in September means Christmas and New Year have not happened yet, so you may have used fewer days than you think. Leaving just after Christmas can mean the opposite.

Checklist before your last day

• Find your leave year start date and total entitlement in your contract.
• Count the days you have taken, including bank holidays if they come out of your total.
• Work out what you have built up and the daily rate, using the steps above.
• Ask HR to confirm the figure in writing before your final payroll is run.
• Check your final payslip shows the holiday pay as its own line.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules shown are for England, Scotland and Wales from 2026/27. Northern Ireland has similar but separate rules.