Do I Get Bank Holidays If I Work Part-Time?

It depends on your contract

There is no statutory right to time off on bank holidays for any worker. Whether you get bank holidays depends on your employment contract. Part-time workers must not be treated less favourably under the Part-Time Workers Regulations 2000.

"28 days including bank holidays"

Your total is pro-rated: a 3-day worker gets (3/5) × 28 = 16.8 days. Bank holidays on your working days are deducted from this.

"20 days plus bank holidays"

A 3-day worker gets (3/5) × 20 = 12 days of flexible holiday, plus bank holidays on your working days. This is generally fairer because the two are separate.

The pro-rata bank holiday solution

ACAS recommends a pro-rata bank holiday allowance. A 3-day worker gets (3/5) × 8 = 4.8 bank holidays. This ensures they receive the same proportion as full-time colleagues.

What to do if you are being short-changed

Calculate your entitlement using our calculator and compare with what you receive. If below the statutory minimum, speak to your employer. If unresolved, contact ACAS on 0300 123 1100.

Worked examples for three- and four-day weeks

The arithmetic is the same as for any part-time pattern: your statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks, pro-rated by the days you work.

• Four days: 4 ÷ 5 × 28 = 22.4 days total, bank holidays included in the statutory minimum.
• Three days: 3 ÷ 5 × 28 = 16.8 days.
• Two days: 2 ÷ 5 × 28 = 11.2 days.

What matters is whether those totals are inclusive or exclusive of bank holidays — that is a contract question, not an arithmetic one. The statutory floor stays the same either way: you cannot end up with fewer than 5.6 pro-rated weeks.

When a bank holiday falls on your day off

If you do not work Mondays, a Monday bank holiday does not touch your allowance. Your employer should not deduct a day from your 22.4 (or 16.8) because a bank holiday happened to fall on a day you were never rostered to work.

This is the most common error in part-time holiday calculations. The test is simple: only bank holidays that fall on days you would otherwise have worked can count against your entitlement.

If your employer operates a fixed "bank holidays are extra" policy for full-timers but nets them off for part-timers, that is less favourable treatment on the grounds of part-time status and is very likely unlawful.

Do you get extra pay for working a bank holiday?

There is no statutory right to premium pay for working a bank holiday, and no statutory right to a day off on one. What you are owed depends on your contract: some give time and a half, some give a day in lieu, some give nothing beyond normal pay.

If you do work a bank holiday and receive a day off in lieu, that lieu day is additional to your statutory entitlement — it is compensation for working, not a substitution for holiday you were already owed.

How to check your employer's maths

1. Write down your contracted days per week and whether they are fixed.
2. Find the holiday clause and note whether it says "including" or "plus" bank holidays.
3. Count how many bank holidays actually fall on your working days in the leave year — not the national total.
4. Compare the resulting figure with 5.6 × your weekly days. If the answer is lower, query it in writing.

Keep the rota or contract that shows your working pattern; disputes usually turn on proving which days you were expected to work.