Zero-hours contract holiday: how much you get and how to check it

The short answer: on a zero-hours contract you get the same 5.6 weeks of paid holiday as everyone else, but it builds up differently. You earn 12.07% of the hours you work, so a month with 68 hours gives you about 8 hours of paid leave. Your employer can pay it when you take the time off, or add it to every payslip as “rolled-up” holiday pay. Either way, it should never be less than 12.07% of what you work.

Where 12.07% comes from

A full-time worker gets 5.6 weeks of holiday, which leaves 46.4 weeks of work (52 minus 5.6). Divide the holiday by the work and you get 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 0.1207, or 12.07%. So for every hour worked, you earn a little over seven minutes of holiday. Work 1,000 hours in a year and you have built up about 121 hours of paid leave, which is about 15 eight-hour days.

This method applies to irregular-hours workers (where the hours you work vary from week to week, as on a zero-hours contract) and part-year workers (who work only part of the year, with at least a week at a time off). It doesn’t apply to people with regular hours, such as someone on a fixed three-day week. For them, holiday is 5.6 times their normal working week.

How much you build up

Holiday is counted from the hours you actually work in each pay period. Here is how it adds up at the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour:

The government’s own example works the same way: someone who works 68 hours in a month builds up 8.21 hours of paid holiday. A quiet month builds up very little, a busy one builds up more, and the total evens out over the year.

Two ways to be paid for it

1. When you take the time off

You book leave in the usual way and are paid for it. The pay is your average weekly earnings over the last 52 weeks in which you were paid, which means any week with no pay at all is skipped and the count goes back further, up to 104 weeks. If your average is £210 a week, a week of holiday pays £210. Overtime and regular extras count towards it.

2. Rolled up into every payslip

Your employer can instead add 12.07% on top of your pay each time you’re paid. At £12.71 an hour that’s about £1.53 extra per hour worked, so the total comes to about £14.24 an hour. The rules are tight:

• It’s allowed only for irregular-hours and part-year workers, never for people on fixed hours.
• It has to be a separate line on your payslip and spelled out in your contract or written particulars.
• You still take time off when you want it, and your employer still has to let you, but you’ve already been paid for it.
• It can’t be used to top you up to the minimum wage. Your basic hourly rate must meet the minimum on its own.

Rolled-up pay is easy to miss on a payslip, because your hourly rate looks higher. If you’re paid £14.24 an hour, check whether £12.71 of it is the base rate and £1.53 the holiday element. If it’s just one rate with no breakdown, you may be owed.

Common mistakes to look for

• No holiday at all. Zero-hours workers are entitled to paid holiday from their first day. “No hours, no holiday” is wrong.
• 12.07% of the wrong thing. The accrual is based on hours worked, and the rolled-up pay is a percentage of what you earn for that period. It should not be taken out of your normal pay.
• The rate being too low. If you take leave, it should be paid at your average earnings, not just your basic rate if you often earn more through overtime or bonuses.
• Holiday lost at the year end. Statutory holiday normally can’t be swapped for money while you still work there, except through rolled-up pay.
• Nothing paid when you leave. Any built-up, untaken holiday has to be paid in your final pay.

Checking your own payslips

Add up your hours for the period and multiply by 12.07%. Compare that with the holiday hours on your payslip or holiday record. If your employer uses rolled-up pay, divide the holiday line by your pay for the work: it should come to roughly 12.07%. Employers also have to keep records of leave, so you can ask to see them. If the numbers don’t match, raise it in writing first, then contact Acas for free advice.

Pay for part-time staff with regular hours works differently. See holiday entitlement for part-time workers, and for how bank holidays fit in, bank holidays for part-time workers. To see what your holiday and hours are worth in take-home terms, use the take-home pay calculator.

Do bank holidays count?

Yes, but they are not extra. On a zero-hours contract there is no fixed day you would have worked, so a bank holiday is not automatically a paid day off. If you are rostered to work on one, you are paid for the shift as normal. Bank holidays can be counted as part of your 5.6 weeks, so if you are given one off you may be asked to take it from your accrued holiday. Check what your contract says, because some employers add bank holidays on top of the statutory minimum.

What if you are not working at the moment?

Holiday on this basis builds up only while you work. Weeks with no work add nothing to your pot, but they also do not wipe out what you have already earned. If you have accrued hours and you leave, your employer should pay you for the unused ones in your final pay. If you are on rolled-up pay instead, the extra is already in each payslip and nothing is owed at the end.

The rules for workers who are not irregular-hours or part-year are different. If your hours are the same every week, you get 5.6 weeks pro rata through the usual calculation, covered in holiday entitlement for part-time workers. Bank holidays for fixed part-time patterns are in bank holidays for part-time workers.

This is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the rules for England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland uses different rules for calculating holiday pay. Check your contract and gov.uk guidance.