SalaryCalculator
Tax year 2025/26 · Rest of UK · annual

Holiday Entitlement Calculator

Statutory holiday for full time and part time workers.

Tax year
Region
Schedule

Your details

Annual holiday (days)

28.0

Annual holiday (hours)

210.0

Statutory weeks5.6
Days worked / week5.0
Statutory cap28 days
Your entitlement28.0 days

Interactive scenarios

Tax and deductions, your way

Tax year

Region

Pay schedule

Salary £45,000

Net (monthly)

£2,806

Income tax (monthly)

£541

NI (monthly)

£216

Effective rate

20.2%

Modelled on a 5% pension. Showing monthly figures, rest of UK, tax year 2025/26.

The full guide

Everything worth knowing about holiday

Worked examples with real figures, the order payroll applies them in, and the traps that catch people out.

01

Statutory leave in days you can actually book

Full time staff get 5.6 weeks of paid leave a year, which is twenty eight days for a five day week and can include bank holidays if the contract says so.

Part time and irregular hours are where the arguments start, because the entitlement is a fraction of a week rather than a fixed pile of days.

An abstract calendar grid
Weeks first, then days, then the pattern you actually work.
02

The order payroll works in

Deductions are not a flat set that each take a bite of the same cake. They run in sequence, and the sequence decides the cost of every one after the first.

Pension goes first under salary sacrifice, leaving gross pay before tax and National Insurance ever see it. Under relief at source it leaves net pay instead and HMRC tops the pot up. Same percentage on paper, different payslip.

Income tax then applies band by band against the tax code. National Insurance follows, worked out per pay period rather than across the year. Student loan sits on top of all of it and never reduces taxable pay.

Change the order and the answer changes. That is why a payslip with the same gross as a colleague's can pay a different net.

Pay flow

Gross, pension, tax, National Insurance, net

72%
14%
  • Net pay
  • Income tax
  • NI
  • Pension
  • Student loan
03

Three working patterns

Three days a week gives 5.6 times three, which is 16.8 days a year. Rounding up to seventeen is common practice and costs an employer almost nothing.

Starting in October leaves half the leave year, so entitlement halves too and any bank holidays already taken count against it.

Zero hours and irregular shifts use the 12.07 percent accrual method, so a hundred hours worked earns just over twelve hours of paid leave.

Worked payslip

Gross to net, line by line

Sample payslip

Month 06 · 2025/26

Gross pay

£2,916.67

Pension (5%)

£145.83

Taxable pay

£2,770.84

Income tax

£373.83

National Insurance

£149.52

Net pay

£2,247.66

04

Where the numbers come from

Rates, bands and thresholds follow published HMRC and gov.uk figures for the 2025/26 tax year, held in one table that every tool reads. April arrives, the table changes, and the results move together.

Earlier years stay available through the year selector, so a late self assessment runs on the numbers that applied at the time rather than today's.

Some cases still need an accountant. K codes carrying negative allowances, bespoke sacrifice arrangements, the annual allowance taper for very high earners, and anything involving two employments at once.

05

Where to go next

Holiday Entitlement Calculator answers one question. The salary calculator turns gross into net, the income tax calculator splits the bill by band, the National Insurance calculator shows the step at the upper limit, and the pension calculator prices a percentage change three ways at once.

Every tool reads the same rate table, so two pages never disagree. Run this one, note the figure, then open the next and watch which line moves.

06

What the number will not tell you

Cash is the floor of a decision, not the decision. An hour a day handed back by a shorter commute is roughly two hundred and fifty hours a year, and nothing prices that against a manager worth working for.

Some benefits convert cleanly. Health cover has a taxable value, a learning budget has a receipt, extra leave has a daily rate. Share options that vest over four years and enhanced parental leave do not, so weigh those separately rather than treating them as salary.

Example gallery

Real inputs, real outputs

Graduate starter

First job, default workplace pension.

rUK

Gross / yr

£28,000

Pension

5%

Income tax

£3,086

NI

£1,234

Take home / month£1,857

Mid career

Standard tax code, modest pension uplift.

rUK

Gross / yr

£45,000

Pension

6%

Income tax

£6,486

NI

£2,594

Take home / month£2,768

Higher rate

Crossing the higher rate band.

rUK

Gross / yr

£72,000

Pension

8%

Income tax

£16,232

NI

£3,451

Take home / month£3,880

Scotland mid

Scottish bands applied.

Scotland

Gross / yr

£45,000

Pension

5%

Income tax

£6,928

NI

£2,594

Take home / month£2,769

About this calculator

Almost all UK workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year , capped at 28 days for full-time. Part-time entitlement is pro rata based on the days you actually work.

Quick reference

Allowance 0%
0%
Basic 20%
20%
Higher 40%
40%
Additional 45%
45%

Frequently asked questions

Questions are added here as readers send them in.