Free UK Tool
Holiday Pay Calculator
Work out how much you should be paid when you take holiday — for salaried, hourly, and variable-hours workers.
Calculate your holiday pay
How holiday pay is calculated
For workers with normal working hours and fixed pay, a week's holiday pay is your normal weekly earnings. For workers with variable pay (overtime, commission, bonuses), employers must use a 52-week average reference period — looking back at the last 52 weeks in which you were paid. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Harpur Trust v Brazel (2022).
Your employer cannot pay you less than your normal remuneration when you take holiday. This includes regular overtime, commission, and bonuses that form part of your normal pay.
Important notes
- Holiday pay is subject to Income Tax and National Insurance in the normal way — the figures shown are gross (before tax).
- This calculator shows the minimum you must receive under UK law. Your contract may provide more.
- For rolled-up holiday pay (12.07% added to each payslip), this only applies to irregular-hours and part-year workers from April 2024.
- If you believe your employer is underpaying your holiday pay, contact ACAS for free advice.
Who this calculator is for
It covers the three pay patterns that cause most disputes in practice: salaried staff on a fixed annual figure, hourly-paid staff on a fixed rate, and workers whose pay changes week to week. If you are paid a salary but also receive regular overtime or commission, treat yourself as the third case for holiday-pay purposes — your holiday pay should reflect that regular extra pay, not just your basic salary.
- Salaried, fixed hours: a week's holiday pay equals a week's normal pay. Divide annual salary by 52, then by days worked per week for a daily rate.
- Hourly, fixed hours: multiply the hourly rate by the hours you normally work in a week, then divide by the days you normally work.
- Variable pay: use the 52-week average described below instead of a single week's figure.
Worked examples
Three common patterns, calculated for a five-day week. All figures are gross, before tax and National Insurance.
| Pattern | Inputs | Daily rate | 5 days' holiday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salaried | £30,000 a year, 5 days | £115.38 | £576.92 |
| Hourly | £12.50/hr, 37.5 hrs | £93.75 | £468.75 |
| Variable | £480 average week, 25 hrs | £96.00 | £480.00 |
The variable-hours figure is the one people get wrong. With average weekly earnings of £480 across the reference period, a week of holiday is worth £480 — not the amount you happened to earn in the week before you booked it.
How the 52-week reference period works
Where pay varies, holiday pay is based on average earnings across the previous 52 weeks in which you were paid. It is not based on your contract rate, your last payslip, or your best week. The rules that matter:
- Weeks in which you received no pay at all are left out and the period is extended backwards so that 52 paid weeks are used.
- If you have worked for less than 52 weeks, average over the weeks you have actually worked.
- Regular overtime, commission, bonuses and allowances that form part of normal pay must be included — otherwise the average understates what you normally earn.
- From April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers may instead accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked, with rolled-up pay permitted for those groups.
What counts towards normal pay
The purpose of holiday pay is to put you in the same financial position as if you had been working. That means it should include:
- Guaranteed and regularly worked overtime
- Shift premiums and unsocial-hours allowances
- Commission and performance bonuses that are regular, not genuinely one-off
- Travel or site allowances paid as part of normal remuneration
Genuinely occasional payments — a discretionary one-off bonus, expense reimbursement, or a benefit in kind — do not usually form part of the calculation.
Common employer mistakes
- Paying holiday at basic rate only while regular overtime is worked every week.
- Applying 12.07% to workers who have fixed hours — that method is for irregular-hours and part-year workers.
- Rounding statutory entitlement down (for example 22.4 days to 22 for a four-day week).
- Treating bank holidays as additional when the contract says the 28 days are inclusive.
- Using the last payslip rather than a 52-week average for variable pay.
If you think you have been underpaid
Raise it in writing with your employer first, specifying the dates and the amount you believe is owed, and keep your payslips and any rota or timesheet records. ACAS offers free, impartial advice on 0300 123 1100 and can support early conciliation. Employment tribunal claims for unlawful deduction from wages generally must be brought within three months less one day of the deduction, and a series of underpayments can be treated as linked — so do not sit on it for years, but do not assume an old underpayment is automatically out of time either.
This page explains the statutory minimum. Your contract, a collective agreement or a settled custom at your workplace may give you more, and where it does, the better term normally applies.
Holiday pay FAQs
How is holiday pay calculated in the UK?
For workers with fixed hours and pay, holiday pay is normally based on normal weekly earnings. For workers with variable pay, employers use an average of the last 52 paid weeks.
Should overtime, commission or bonuses count in holiday pay?
Regular overtime, commission and bonuses that form part of normal remuneration should be included so holiday pay reflects normal pay.
Is holiday pay taxable?
Yes. Holiday pay is treated as normal pay and is subject to Income Tax and National Insurance.
Can rolled-up holiday pay be used?
Rolled-up holiday pay applies only to irregular-hours and part-year workers from April 2024. Other workers should normally be paid when holiday is taken.