Free Zero-Hours Calculator
Work out the holiday a zero-hours worker builds up each pay period: 12.07% of the hours they work, rounded to a whole hour the way the law requires, plus their rolled-up holiday pay.
One pay period (a week or a month). The law rounds each period's leave to a whole hour, so work it out one period at a time.
37 minutes is 30 or more, so it rounds up: 4 hours of leave.
30 hours × 12.07% = 3.621 hours, rounded to 4 hours of leave (half an hour or more rounds up, less is dropped). Rolled-up holiday pay: £381.30 pay × 12.07% = £46.02.
Adds the rolled-up holiday pay: 12.07% of the pay for the period. Premiums or regular overtime? Use 12.07% of all of it.
The answer, week by week
Paid weekly, each week's 12.07% is rounded on its own, and a week off earns nothing. Over 13 weeks that's 32h of leave from 267h worked. Paid monthly, the same hours earn the same 32h here, but not always: rounding happens once per pay period.
Paid monthly, the leave is added on the last day of each month and rounded once: 9h, 10h, 13h, 32h in all from 267h worked. Paid weekly, the same hours earn the same 32h here, but not always: rounding happens once per pay period.
However many hours they work, they can build up at most 28 days of leave in a leave year. The weeks above are an example quarter, from your hours: two weeks off, some short, some long.
Then, the pay
The hours of leave are one half. The other is what each hour pays, and the law gives zero-hours staff two ways. Both use the hours and rate you entered above.
Their holiday pay is their average week over the last 52 weeks in which they were paid. A week with no pay doesn't count: go back another week, as far as 104 weeks.
In this example 9 weeks had no pay, so the 52 paid weeks reach back 61 weeks. Regular overtime, commission and shift premiums they are paid can count towards it too.
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers can be paid an extra 12.07% of their pay every pay period instead.
Payslip, this week
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers (which covers most zero-hours staff) build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period, rounded to a whole hour: half an hour or more rounds up, less is dropped. They can build up at most 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days. Holiday pay is either their average pay over the last 52 weeks in which they were paid, paid when they take the leave, or rolled-up holiday pay: an extra 12.07% of their pay on every payslip, shown as its own line.
Worked example: 30 hours in a weekly pay period at £12.71 an hour
4 hours of paid leave earned this week, or £46.02 rolled-up holiday pay on top of £381.30.
Need the full rules, not just the numbers? Read do zero hours workers get holiday pay? for entitlement, notice, bank holidays and leavers.
From the calculator to every timesheet
This calculator gives you the numbers. TimeTally tracks holiday accrual, leave requests, and approvals automatically — so you never need to calculate it manually again. From £3/employee/month.
Zero-hours staff clock in and out on their phone, or fill in a timesheet. Every shift lands on their week, in hours and minutes.
Check the week and approve it. Change an approved timesheet later and the leave it earned is worked out again.
Choose From hours worked in your leave settings and each approved timesheet adds 12.07% of its hours as leave, rounded to a whole hour per timesheet, as the law requires. Keep timesheets the same length as your pay period.
The rate, in your leave settings
From hours worked at 12.07%, the UK rate for casual and zero-hours staff. Turn it on for everyone, or for one person on their own record. Keep leave in hours and 30 hours worked reads as 4 hours of leave, not a fraction of a day.
See leave trackingYour zero-hours staff
Staff submit leave requests via the iPhone or Android app. Entitlement balances update automatically. No emails, no forms, no back-and-forth.
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Every approved holiday, bank holiday, and leave request sits on one calendar. Spot clashes before they become a problem — no more cross-referencing spreadsheets.
All leave requests land in your dashboard. Approve with a single tap, or reject with a reason. Every decision is timestamped — no more disputes about who approved what.
Approved leave is included in your payroll export automatically. Direct integration with Xero and QuickBooks — no manual adjustments, no missed deductions.
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Select any feature for the detail.
Employees see their current balance and their projected future balance — accounting for leave already booked but not yet taken. Optionally let staff see who else in their department has booked time off, so they can plan around colleagues. Managers can manually adjust any employee's balance at any time — ideal when setting up mid-year from a previous system.
Pick the accrual method that fits each employee: upfront (full entitlement from day one), monthly accrual (earned gradually each month), daily accrual (builds day by day), or hours worked (earned per hour worked at a rate you set, 12.07% by default). All calculations are handled automatically — no spreadsheets needed.
TimeTally comes with annual leave, sick leave, maternity, paternity and bank holidays set up. Need something else, like compassionate leave? Create unlimited custom leave types with any name. For each type you control: whether it's paid or unpaid, whether it deducts from the annual leave balance or has its own separate pot, and who it's turned off for.
Decide exactly what happens at year end: toggle carryover on or off, set a maximum number of days that can carry, and optionally add an expiry date so carried-over days must be used within e.g. 3 months. You can also allow employees to book leave before they've earned it (negative balance), with an optional cap to limit exposure.
Set each employee's contracted hours per day of the week (or use a company default). TimeTally uses this to deduct the right amount of leave — a half-day Tuesday only costs half a Tuesday's hours — and to pay the correct amount for each day taken. Pro-rata entitlements for new starters and leavers are calculated automatically from their start date.
Employees can request leave in hours, half days, or full days from the app or website — no training required. Managers can book leave on behalf of any employee. Public holidays are added automatically for the country you choose. Set a custom leave year start date (e.g. 7th April) and balances reset automatically. Easy to set up even when migrating from another system mid-year.
Managers can approve any leave request in one tap. Rejections include an optional reason so employees know why, and they can send a new request. Employees can also ask to change or cancel approved leave, and you approve or turn it down. Any booked leave can be deleted if plans change, and the days go back on the balance — all with a full audit trail.
Leave sits in the main team calendar alongside timesheets and rota shifts — one view of the whole business. If you use time tracking, overtime converts to TOIL automatically at a rate you define. Leave analytics give managers a clear picture of absence patterns, entitlement usage, and remaining balances across the whole team.
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The Harpur Trust v Brazel ruling and the April 2024 reforms changed how this works. Here's what the law now requires.
How much they build up
The 12.07% accrual rate is derived by dividing the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks' holiday by the remaining 46.4 working weeks in the year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%). For every hour a zero-hours worker works, they accrue 12.07% of that time as paid leave, worked out per pay period and rounded to a whole hour (half an hour or more rounds up). For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 it is the statutory accrual rate for irregular-hours and part-year workers, and employers may pay it as rolled-up holiday pay: a 12.07% uplift on each payslip.
The Supreme Court's ruling in Harpur Trust v Brazel (2022) changed the holiday pay landscape for part-year workers (those with a permanent contract but who only work for part of the year, such as term-time-only staff). The Court held that the 12.07% method cannot be used for these workers — they are entitled to the full 5.6 weeks' leave, not pro-rated to the weeks they work, with holiday pay based on a 52-week reference period that ignores weeks with no pay. This means term-time workers may receive proportionally more holiday than part-time workers — a counter-intuitive but legally correct outcome.
Following the Harpur Trust ruling, the government amended the Working Time Regulations 1998 in 2023 to create a specific regime for 'irregular-hours workers' and 'part-year workers'. From April 2024, these workers' holiday entitlement is calculated on an accrual basis at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period, rather than a fixed 5.6 weeks however few weeks they work (their holiday pay is still based on the 52-week average). The new rules apply to leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 and cover part-year workers as well as irregular-hours workers, so for those leave years term-time staff also accrue at 12.07% of hours worked. Harpur Trust still governs leave years that began before then.
What it pays
The Working Time Regulations were amended in 2023 to formally permit rolled-up holiday pay for irregular-hours workers and part-year workers. Rolled-up holiday pay means the 12.07% holiday entitlement is included in the worker's hourly rate, rather than paid separately when leave is taken. To be lawful, the pay must be calculated correctly, clearly identified on payslips, and not used to reduce effective hourly pay below the NMW. Workers must still be permitted to take time off — they simply receive their holiday pay in advance rather than at the point of taking leave.
Holiday pay for zero-hours workers must reflect 'normal remuneration' — not just the contracted or basic hourly rate. Where a worker regularly receives additional payments (shift premiums, productivity bonuses, or regular overtime), these must be factored into holiday pay calculations. The relevant reference period is the last 52 weeks in which the worker received pay (ignoring weeks with no pay). Using only the base rate without accounting for variable supplements can result in underpayments, which are recoverable as unlawful deductions from wages.
Zero-hours workers are not automatically entitled to 8 bank holidays simply because they exist: no worker has a legal right to bank holidays off or paid. An employer can choose to count bank holidays as part of statutory leave, so a paid bank holiday comes out of the hours the worker has built up at 12.07%. If the employer closes on bank holidays and expects the worker to take those days from their holiday entitlement, this must be reflected in the contract. Bank holidays given on top of the statutory leave are a contractual extra.
Keeping it right
Zero-hours workers' accrued holiday entitlement is subject to the same carryover rules as other workers. Statutory leave (the 4-week EU entitlement) can be carried over where a worker was unable to take it due to sickness or family leave, and in certain circumstances where the employer failed to facilitate it. Additional statutory leave (the 1.6 weeks) can be subject to a use-it-or-lose-it policy if the worker had a genuine opportunity to take it. Rolled-up holiday pay arrangements should be reviewed to ensure accrued leave is still trackable and carryover rules are properly applied.
Accurate time records are essential for zero-hours holiday entitlement compliance. Because entitlement is based on hours worked, employers must retain records of all hours worked per pay period, the holiday accrual calculated on those hours, any holiday pay paid (whether rolled-up or separately), and any leave taken. Without these records, verifying compliance or defending a tribunal claim is effectively impossible. The Employment Tribunal can draw adverse inferences from absent or incomplete records — the burden shifts to the employer to disprove underpayment.
Real reviews from TimeTally customers
TimeTally has been excellent for our business. The app is simple to use, reliable, and makes managing holidays, absences, and staff records straightforward. The system has saved us a significant amount of administration time and gives both managers and employees clear visibility of leave balances and requests. Highly recommended for any business looking for an easy-to-use workforce management solution.
Jordan IngoeCLI ManchesterSetup was dead simple and the team just got on with it. Got everyone up and running in an afternoon with no help needed. Does everything we need for timesheets and holidays without the faff.
Has completely changed how I handle timesheets. Used to dread it every week — now it takes me minutes. Really easy to get around and my staff picked it up straight away.
Started using it just for rotas but quickly realised it does loads more. The timesheets and leave management are great, and it even handles TOIL and overtime which I wasn't expecting. Use it for everything now.
Common questions about holiday entitlement and pay for zero hours contract workers.
The 12.07% method calculates holiday entitlement by multiplying the hours worked in each pay period by 0.1207, then rounding to a whole hour: a fraction of half an hour or more counts as one hour, less counts as nothing. The figure comes from dividing 5.6 weeks (statutory holiday entitlement) by 46.4 working weeks (52 weeks minus 5.6 weeks). For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, it is the method the law requires for irregular hours and part-year workers, set by the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 (regulation 15B of the Working Time Regulations).
Holiday pay is due when the worker actually takes annual leave. If using the standard method, the employer pays holiday pay for the leave period based on the worker's average pay over the last 52 weeks in which they were paid. If using rolled-up holiday pay (allowed for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024), 12.07% is added to every payment and shown separately on the payslip. When employment ends, any accrued but untaken holiday must be paid out in the final payslip.
Yes, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. Rolled-up holiday pay means adding 12.07% to every payment rather than paying separately when leave is taken. It is only lawful for irregular hours workers and part-year workers, not regular-hours staff. The holiday pay must be paid at the same time as their pay and shown on the payslip, and the worker still keeps the right to take the time off.
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular hours workers (including most zero hours workers) accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period, rounded to a whole hour. Previously, the 12.07% method was common in practice, but the Supreme Court ruled in Harpur Trust v Brazel (2022) that part-year workers' leave could not be pro-rated that way. The changes also allow rolled-up holiday pay for these workers. Part-year workers (like term-time-only staff) are also covered by these rules.
Yes. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, all workers — regardless of contract type — are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. For zero hours workers, this entitlement accrues proportionally based on hours actually worked, up to a maximum of 28 days in a leave year. There is no qualifying period; entitlement begins from day one. A worker cannot be denied holiday pay because they are on a zero hours contract.
When employment ends, all accrued but untaken holiday must be paid out. Calculate this as: total holiday hours accrued (hours worked × 12.07%) minus any holiday already taken. This payment in lieu of untaken holiday must appear in the final payslip. Failure to pay it is an unlawful deduction from wages.
If using rolled-up holiday pay, the total hourly rate paid must still equal or exceed the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for all hours worked — including after the 12.07% is added. The holiday pay element does not count towards NMW compliance for the hours worked; it is additional. So a worker paid the NMW must receive at least NMW plus 12.07% when rolled-up holiday pay is used.
Yes — employers can refuse holiday requests with proper notice, just as they can for any other worker. The employer must give as much notice as the leave requested, plus 1 day: 11 days' notice to refuse 10 days' leave, unless the contract says otherwise. However, employers cannot require zero hours workers never to take holiday, or make it so difficult in practice that leave cannot be taken. Workers retain the right to take their statutory holiday entitlement.
Employers should keep records of hours worked, holiday accrued, holiday taken and holiday pay. From 6 April 2026, employers must keep detailed records of annual leave and holiday pay for at least 6 years from the date they were made. Adequate records are critical — in tribunal claims, the tribunal may draw adverse inferences if the employer cannot produce records.
For irregular hours and part-year workers in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, yes: 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period is the method the law sets for how much leave they build up. It is not the right method for regular-hours part-time staff, whose 5.6 weeks are worked out pro rata on the days or hours they normally work. Holiday pay is a separate question: pay the leave at the worker's average pay over the last 52 paid weeks when they take it, or use rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07%.
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Book a DemoLast checked against GOV.UK: 2 October 2026
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