How holiday pay works for irregular-hours and part-year workers
For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, statutory holiday accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period. Agencies can choose to pay this either as rolled-up holiday pay — an uplift on every payslip — or the traditional way, when the worker takes leave.
Rolled-up vs paid when leave is taken
| Method | When it can be used | How the worker is paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rolled-up (GB only) | Irregular-hours and part-year workers in England, Scotland and Wales. | 12.07% uplift added to every payslip as a distinct holiday-pay line. |
| Paid when taken | All workers, and the only option in Northern Ireland or for fixed-hours employees. | A week’s pay for each week of leave, based on the previous 52 paid weeks. |
Who counts as an irregular-hours worker
- The number of paid hours varies each week under the contract.
- Zero-hours and agency temps are typical examples.
- Fixed-hours workers with occasional overtime are not irregular-hours.
What has to go on the payslip
- Rolled-up holiday pay must be a separate line, not merged with basic pay.
- Show the accrual rate (12.07% for statutory 5.6 weeks).
- Keep records of hours worked and holiday accrued.
Worked example: a typical agency week
A warehouse temp works 37.5 hours in a week at £13.20 an hour. The statutory accrual is 37.5 × 12.07% = 4.53 holiday hours, worth £59.75. Paid as rolled-up holiday pay that is a separate £59.75 line on the payslip; paid when taken, those 4.53 hours are banked and paid at the 52-week average rate when the worker books leave.
| Hours worked | Accrued holiday hours | Holiday pay at £13.20 |
|---|---|---|
| 8 (single shift) | 0.97 | £12.80 |
| 37.5 (full week) | 4.53 | £59.75 |
| 150 (four-week period) | 18.11 | £239.00 |
Holiday pay is an employment cost like employer National Insurance and pension, so it belongs in the rate you quote the client. The charge rate calculator shows how the 12.07% uplift flows through to a client charge rate and your margin.
The 52-week reference period
When holiday is paid as leave is taken, a week’s holiday pay is the average of the previous 52 paid weeks. Weeks in which the worker earned nothing are skipped, and payroll can look back up to 104 weeks to find 52 paid weeks. If the worker has been engaged for less than 52 weeks, use however many paid weeks exist. Include normal commission, regular overtime and shift premiums in the average — not one-off discretionary bonuses or expenses.
Bank holidays and the 5.6 weeks
The statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks in total, capped at 28 days for a five-day week. The eight UK bank holidays can be counted inside that 5.6 weeks rather than added on top, unless the contract says otherwise. For irregular-hours workers on the 12.07% method there is no separate bank-holiday entitlement — the accrual already represents the full 5.6 weeks, so paying bank holidays on top means paying above statutory.
Managing this across a temp workforce is easier when hours, rates and accrual sit in one place — see how Youtemp handles it for agencies.
Zero-hours contract holiday pay
Zero-hours workers accrue statutory holiday from day one. Because the hours vary they count as irregular-hours workers, so holiday builds at 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period. A week with no shifts simply accrues nothing — it does not reduce the balance already banked. Someone working 22 hours one week and 6 the next accrues 2.66 and 0.72 holiday hours respectively.
Accrued holiday reference table (12.07%)
Use this table as a quick check on any accrued holiday calculation. The holiday hours column is hours worked × 12.07%; the pay columns apply common agency hourly rates.
| Hours worked | Holiday hours accrued | Pay at £12.71 | Pay at £15.00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0.48 | £6.14 | £7.24 |
| 8 | 0.97 | £12.27 | £14.48 |
| 12 | 1.45 | £18.41 | £21.73 |
| 16 | 1.93 | £24.54 | £28.97 |
| 20 | 2.41 | £30.68 | £36.21 |
| 24 | 2.90 | £36.81 | £43.45 |
| 30 | 3.62 | £46.02 | £54.32 |
| 37.5 | 4.53 | £57.52 | £67.89 |
| 40 | 4.83 | £61.36 | £72.42 |
| 160 | 19.31 | £245.44 | £289.68 |
Casual and irregular-hours holiday pay
Casual workers — bank staff, seasonal temps, anyone booked shift by shift — follow the same 12.07% accrual. Where they differ from zero-hours staff is usually the payment method: casual engagements that run for a few weeks are often paid rolled-up, while longer casual contracts bank the hours and pay them at the 52-week average when leave is booked. Both are lawful in Great Britain; only paid-when-taken is lawful in Northern Ireland.
Accrued holiday pay when a worker leaves
On termination, any statutory holiday accrued but not taken must be paid out. Work out the total holiday hours accrued across the leave year to date, subtract the holiday hours already taken or already paid as rolled-up uplift, and pay the balance at the worker’s average hourly rate. If more holiday has been taken than accrued, it can only be recovered where the contract expressly allows it.
AWR and agency worker holiday entitlement
Statutory holiday of 5.6 weeks applies from day one under the Working Time Regulations. The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) go further: after 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, the agency worker is entitled to the same basic terms as a directly employed comparator — including any enhanced holiday entitlement above the statutory 5.6 weeks. Where the hirer gives 30 days, the qualifying agency worker gets the equivalent, which lifts the accrual rate above 12.07%. Set the entitlement in the calculator to the enhanced figure and it uses the raw formula rather than the statutory shortcut.
Rolled-up holiday pay in practice
Rolled-up holiday pay is legal in Great Britain for irregular-hours and part-year workers in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. The uplift must be calculated on all pay for work done in the period, shown as a separate payslip line, and paid at the same time as the pay it relates to. It cannot be used to avoid giving the leave itself — workers are still entitled to take their 5.6 weeks off.
Quick estimator: pay when leave is taken
For workers paid when leave is taken, a week’s holiday pay equals the average pay over the previous 52 paid weeks. This simplified estimator multiplies your average by the weeks taken — payroll should apply the full lookback rules where they matter.
Estimated holiday pay for this leave
£450.00