Holiday Entitlement for Irregular Hours: The 12.07% Rule Explained

What changed in April 2024?

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked. This replaced the previous 52-week reference period method under the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023.

Where does 12.07% come from?

5.6 weeks ÷ (52 weeks − 5.6 weeks) = 0.1207. For every hour worked, accrue 0.1207 hours of paid holiday.

Examples:

• Work 20 hours → 2.41 hours accrued
• Work 35 hours → 4.22 hours accrued
• Average 25 hrs/week → roughly 157 hours or ~21 days per year

Does this apply to me?

Applies to irregular-hours workers and part-year workers whose leave years started on or after 1 April 2024. If your leave year started before this date, the old 52-week averaging method still applies.

Rolled-up holiday pay — is it back?

Yes. From April 2024, employers can pay rolled-up holiday pay — adding 12.07% to each payslip instead of providing paid time off. Optional — they can still give actual paid time off.

How to check your employer is getting it right

Your employer must calculate your accrued holiday regularly and communicate it to you. Check your payslip for a holiday accrual figure. Use our calculator to estimate your entitlement.

Where the 12.07% comes from

The figure is not arbitrary. A full-time worker gets 5.6 weeks of holiday in a 52-week year, which is 5.6 ÷ 52 = 10.77% of the year. But holiday is paid time that is not worked, so as a proportion of worked time the ratio becomes 5.6 ÷ (52 − 5.6) = 12.07%.

That is why the accrual is applied to hours actually worked rather than to the whole year: each hour worked carries a small holiday entitlement with it. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, this replaced the older practice of averaging pay over a reference period.

If you have fixed hours, 12.07% is the wrong method — you should get 5.6 weeks expressed in your own days or hours instead.

Worked example across a month

Say you work variable shifts and logged 92 hours in a month at £12.50 an hour.

• Holiday accrued: 92 × 12.07% = 11.1 hours
• Value of that holiday: 11.1 × £12.50 = £138.75
• If you take an eight-hour shift as holiday, you use 8 of your 11.1 accrued hours.

Accrual should be tracked as hours, not rounded to whole days. Rounding a small monthly accrual down to zero quietly removes entitlement over a year.

Rolled-up pay since April 2024

For irregular-hours and part-year workers, employers may now add 12.07% to each payslip instead of paying you when you take leave. This is the only group for whom rolled-up holiday pay is lawful — it remains unlawful for workers with regular hours.

Where it is used, the pay must be shown separately on your payslip so you can see the amount and check it. A single consolidated "gross pay" figure with no holiday line is not compliant, and "we include holiday in your rate" is only acceptable if the rate genuinely sits on top of the 12.07% and is evidenced.

Leave year, carry-over and your payslip

Statutory holiday normally has to be taken in the leave year it accrues, but there are exceptions: holiday you could not take because of sickness, family leave or because the employer did not give you a reasonable opportunity to take it can carry over.

When you leave, any accrued but untaken holiday must be paid in your final payslip. Check three things: the accrual figure for the final month, the rate used to value it, and whether the total matches your own calculation. If it does not, raise it in writing before the payslip is finalised.