How Holiday Accrual Is Calculated in the UK
Learn how holiday builds up over a leave year and how to check how much you have accrued so far.
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What is holiday accrual?
Holiday accrual means your holiday entitlement builds up gradually throughout the leave year. You do not get all 28 days on day one — you earn them over time.
How it works
If your annual entitlement is 28 days and your leave year runs from January to December, you accrue approximately 2.33 days per month (28 ÷ 12). By the end of June, you would have accrued about 14 days.
The 12.07% rule
For irregular-hours and part-year workers, holiday accrues at 12.07% of hours worked. This rate comes from dividing 5.6 weeks of holiday by the remaining 46.4 working weeks in a year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%).
Leave year start dates
Your leave year can start on:
- 1 January (calendar year)
- 1 April (UK tax year)
- Your employment start date anniversary
- Any date your employer chooses
Check your contract or ask HR if you are unsure.
New starters
If you join partway through a leave year, your entitlement is pro-rated from your start date to the end of the year. In the first year, some employers allow you to take holiday in advance of accrual as a goodwill gesture.
Worked example
Anna has 28 days' annual entitlement. Her leave year starts 1 April. By 1 October (6 months in), she has accrued 14 days. She has taken 8 days. She has 6 days remaining of accrued holiday, with 14 more to accrue in the second half of the year.
Try the calculator
Use our Holiday Accrual Calculator to see exactly how much holiday you have built up so far.
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Last updated
Last reviewed: 2026-04-12T11:32:25.479Z.