How Does Holiday Accrual Work for Hospitality Staff?
How holiday accrues for full-time, part-time and zero-hours hospitality staff in the UK: the 5.6-week rule, the 12.07% accrual method, pro-rata for starters, bank holidays and rolled-up holiday pay.
Staff on fixed hours get 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days. Zero-hours and irregular-hours staff accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024.
Key Facts
In Detail
Every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year under the Working Time Regulations 1998. For somebody on a fixed pattern that is simple: multiply the days they work each week by 5.6, so five days a week gives 28 days and three days a week gives 16.8. Twenty-eight days is also the statutory cap, so a six-day week does not earn more. The entitlement exists from day one of the leave year; in the first year of employment it accrues at a twelfth a month, which is why a new starter cannot take three weeks in their second month. Hospitality is full of people who do not have a fixed pattern: zero-hours bar staff, casual kitchen porters, seasonal staff and students who work more in the holidays. For those irregular-hours and part-year workers, leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 use a different method. Holiday accrues at 12.07% of the hours actually worked in each pay period. The figure is 5.6 divided by 46.4, the working weeks left in a year once the holiday is taken out. Somebody who worked 120 hours last month accrued 14.5 hours of paid holiday, rounded to 14 or 15 depending on the fraction. Employers can pay that as rolled-up holiday pay, a 12.07% uplift on the hourly rate shown separately on the payslip, if the contract says so. Three things trip venues up. Bank holidays are not extra: the 5.6 weeks can include them, and a part-timer who never works Mondays is still owed a proportionate share. A starter part-way through the leave year gets the full-year figure pro-rated by the share of the year left. And the leave year is whatever the contract says, not the calendar year, so a 1 April leave year changes every one of these calculations. The free holiday entitlement calculator on this site handles all of it, including the 12.07% method.
Fixed-hours staff: the 5.6-week rule
Take the days worked each week and multiply by 5.6. Five days gives 28, four days gives 22.4, three gives 16.8, and most employers round up to the nearest half day. For staff paid by the hour on a fixed pattern you can do the same in hours: 30 hours a week times 5.6 is 168 hours a year. Whichever unit you use, keep it consistent on the request log and the payslip.
Zero-hours and casual staff: the 12.07% method
For each pay period, take the hours worked and multiply by 12.07%. That is the holiday accrued for that period, rounded to the nearest hour with half an hour or more rounding up. The balance grows as the person works, so a casual who does one shift a fortnight builds a small entitlement slowly and a student who works full time over summer builds it fast. The rule replaced the 52-week average method for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024; if your leave year started before that, the old method still applies until it ends.
Starters, leavers and the leave year
A starter gets the full-year figure multiplied by the share of the leave year left after their start date. A leaver is paid for accrued holiday not taken, and can have over-taken holiday deducted only if the contract allows. The leave year itself is set by the contract; 1 January and 1 April are the common choices, and the tax year on 6 April is the third. Every calculation above depends on knowing which one you use.
Where venues get it wrong
The two mistakes that reach tribunals are treating zero-hours workers as if they had no holiday at all, and paying rolled-up holiday pay without showing it separately on the payslip. The two that reach the manager's inbox are forgetting the part-timer's bank holiday share and approving a request without knowing the balance. A written log with the remaining entitlement on every line fixes the last one; software that calculates accrual from the timesheet fixes all four.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days holiday does a part-time worker get?
5.6 times the days they work each week. Two days a week is 11.2 days, three days is 16.8, four days is 22.4. Round up to the nearest half day.
Do zero-hours workers get paid holiday?
Yes. They accrue 12.07% of the hours they work as paid holiday, and can be paid it as rolled-up holiday pay if the contract says so and it is shown separately on the payslip.
Can I include bank holidays in the 28 days?
Yes. There is no separate right to bank holidays off. The 5.6 weeks can include them, as long as the total paid holiday is at least 5.6 weeks of the person's pattern.
What happens to holiday not taken by the end of the leave year?
The first four weeks generally have to be used in the year. The extra 1.6 weeks can be carried over if the contract allows. Leave not taken because of sickness or maternity carries over automatically.
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