Holiday & Leave

How much holiday are hospitality workers entitled to?

Every worker in the UK — full-time, part-time, zero-hours, agency — is legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year under the Working Time Regulations 1998. For someone working 5 days a week, that's 28 days. For someone working 3 days, it's 16.8 days.

That's the statutory minimum. You can always offer more — you just can't go below it.

The entitlement itself hasn't changed in decades. What has changed — significantly — is how you calculate it for the kinds of workers hospitality actually employs.

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Do employees have a right to bank holidays off?

No. There is no automatic legal right to bank holidays off in the UK. This surprises a lot of operators, but it's clearly stated in ACAS guidance on bank holidays.

Bank holidays can be included within the 28-day statutory minimum, or offered on top of it. Which one applies depends entirely on the wording in the employment contract — not on custom, not on what you've always done, and not on what the venue down the road does.

Why this matters for hospitality

Your venue is probably open on bank holidays. Your team is working Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, and the August bank holiday. That's the nature of the industry — but it means getting the contract wording right is worth ten minutes of your time.

The contract wording trap

If the contract says "20 days plus bank holidays" — staff are entitled to time off (or a day in lieu) for every bank holiday that falls in the leave year, however many there are.

If the contract says "28 days including bank holidays" — the entitlement is capped at 28. Bank holidays eat into that number. No surprises, no extra cost.

How many bank holidays are there in 2026/27?

For businesses running an April-to-March leave year, the 2026/27 period contains 10 bank holidays — two more than usual. This is because Easter 2027 falls in late March, putting both Good Friday and Easter Monday inside the same leave year as Easter 2026.

Date	Bank Holiday
3 April 2026	Good Friday
6 April 2026	Easter Monday
4 May 2026	Early May Bank Holiday
25 May 2026	Spring Bank Holiday
31 August 2026	Summer Bank Holiday
25 December 2026	Christmas Day
28 December 2026	Boxing Day (substitute — 26th is Saturday)
1 January 2027	New Year's Day
26 March 2027	Good Friday
29 March 2027	Easter Monday

If your contracts say "plus bank holidays" without specifying a number, you could owe your team two extra days this year. Worth checking now rather than discovering it in March.

Source: GOV.UK — Bank holidays

Can my employer force me to work on a bank holiday?

Yes, provided the contract allows it. There is no statutory right to refuse work on a bank holiday. If someone is rostered to work and declines, it's treated the same as refusing any other shift. Most hospitality contracts already reflect this.

If your business is open on bank holidays, the standard approach is either: pay the normal rate and deduct a day from their holiday balance, or offer a day in lieu to take later.

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How do you calculate holiday for zero-hours staff?

This is where most hospitality businesses trip up — and where the law changed significantly in April 2024.

Who counts as an "irregular hours worker"?

If the number of paid hours someone works in each pay period is wholly or mostly variable under their contract, they're an irregular hours worker. In hospitality terms: your barback who does 30 hours one week and 12 the next. Your events casual who works every weekend in summer and nothing in January. That's most of your team.

Source: GOV.UK — Definition of irregular hours and part-year workers

How does the 12.07% accrual method work?

Since April 2024, holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers is calculated as 12.07% of actual hours worked in each pay period.

Where does 12.07% come from? A full-time worker gets 5.6 weeks off out of 52. That leaves 46.4 working weeks. 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%.

Example: Your KP works 80 hours in March. Their holiday accrual for that month is 80 × 12.07% = 9.66 hours (rounded to 10 hours).

In a quiet January where they only work 30 hours, they accrue 30 × 12.07% = 3.62 hours (rounded to 4 hours).

Holiday builds up as they work. More shifts = more holiday. Quiet months = less accrual.

Source: GOV.UK — Holiday pay and entitlement reforms

What is rolled-up holiday pay?

Since April 2024, employers can legally use rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours and part-year workers. This means you pay their holiday entitlement as an uplift on every payslip, rather than paying them when they actually take time off.

The rate: 12.07% of total pay in each pay period, shown as a separate line on the payslip.

Example: Your server earns £1,200 in April. You add £144.84 (12.07% of £1,200) as rolled-up holiday pay. It has to be itemised separately — you can't bury it in their hourly rate.

The important bit: Even with rolled-up holiday pay, you still need to let them take the time off. Paying the money doesn't mean they forfeit the leave. They still get 5.6 weeks of actual time away from work — they've just already been paid for it.

Rolled-up holiday pay is optional and only available for irregular hours and part-year workers. You can't use it for regular-hours salaried staff.

Source: ACAS — Rolled-up holiday pay

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What counts as "normal pay" for holiday pay?

Getting the entitlement right is one thing. Paying the correct amount is another — and this is where a lot of venues unknowingly underpay.

UK holiday entitlement has two layers:

• 4 weeks (from EU-derived law) — paid at the worker's normal rate
• 1.6 weeks (from UK law) — can be paid at basic pay only

For most hospitality businesses that don't distinguish between the two, paying everything at the normal rate is the simpler and safer approach.

What's included in "normal" pay?

Since January 2024, the law is clear on what goes into the "normal" rate for the 4-week EU entitlement:

• Regular overtime (if it's sufficiently regular and settled)
• Commission and performance-related pay linked to tasks or output
• Shift premiums and weekend rates
• Compulsory overtime the worker is required to work

What's not included: employer pension contributions, expenses, benefits in kind, one-off irregular bonuses.

Do tips count toward holiday pay?

This is evolving. The 2025 Palanki v The Big Table Group tribunal ruling found that tronc payments should be included in holiday pay where they flowed through the employer's payroll without a genuinely independent tronc structure. It's not yet binding law, but the direction is clear. See our full breakdown in the Tips, Tronc & Service Charges guide.

What is the 52-week reference period?

If you're not using rolled-up holiday pay, you calculate what a week's pay is worth by looking back over the worker's previous 52 paid weeks (ignoring any weeks where they weren't paid at all) and averaging their earnings.

This matters in hospitality because December and summer will be high-earning months, and January will be quiet. The 52-week average smooths this out so holiday pay reflects what someone actually earns across the year — not just the slow period when they happen to book time off.

Source: GOV.UK — Calculate holiday pay

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Can employees carry over unused holiday?

The default position: statutory holiday should be taken in the leave year it's earned. Use it or lose it.

But there are important exceptions:

When carry-over is protected

Workers are entitled to carry over untaken holiday into the next leave year if they couldn't take it because of:

• Maternity or family-related leave — carry over all 5.6 weeks
• Sickness — carry over all 5.6 weeks (this can stack up, so it's worth staying on top of)

For irregular hours workers, carry-over in these circumstances is capped at 28 days.

Does holiday accrue during sick leave?

Yes. Holiday continues to accrue while someone is off sick. And if they couldn't take their holiday because of the illness, they're entitled to carry it over. See our Sick Pay guide for the full picture.

The employer's role in managing leave

Here's the bit that catches people out: if a team member doesn't take their holiday, the employer has a legal duty to have actively encouraged them to use it, informed them they'd lose it if they didn't, and given them a genuine opportunity to take it.

If you can't show you did those things, a tribunal may find the worker was entitled to carry the leave over regardless.

In practice: A simple reminder when someone has untaken leave goes a long way. Put the balance on their payslip. Flag it in a team meeting.

Source: ACAS — Carrying over holiday

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What are the holiday record-keeping requirements from April 2026?

From 6 April 2026, employers need to keep records showing:

• The correct amount of holiday has been given
• The correct payments have been made for that leave
• Payment in lieu for unused holiday (including carry-over) has been paid on termination

There's no prescribed format — spreadsheets, software, paper — whatever works. But the records need to be kept for six years.

Non-compliance is a criminal offence with a potentially unlimited fine. The new Fair Work Agency has enforcement powers.

This doesn't need to be complicated — it just needs to be consistent and retrievable.

Source: GOV.UK — Employment Rights Act 2025 factsheets

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How much holiday do part-time workers get?

Part-time workers get the same 5.6 weeks — just calculated against their actual working pattern.

Example: A part-time server works 3 days per week. Their holiday entitlement is 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days per year. You can round this up to 17, but not down.

If they work irregular days, use the hours-based 12.07% accrual method instead.

Bank holiday trap for part-timers: If your full-time staff get 20 days + 8 bank holidays (28 total), your part-timers on 3 days/week should get 16.8 days total — not 12 days plus all 8 bank holidays. Pro-rate the bank holidays too, or you'll end up giving part-timers proportionally more holiday than full-timers.

Source: GOV.UK — Holiday entitlement rights

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Key dates

Date	What changed
January 2024	New rules on what's included in "normal" holiday pay. Carry-over provisions codified.
April 2024	12.07% accrual method for irregular hours workers. Rolled-up holiday pay legalised.
April 2026	Record-keeping duty: 6-year retention, criminal offence for non-compliance. Fair Work Agency begins enforcement.

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