Part-Year Workers: Holiday Entitlement

Who counts as a part-year worker

A part-year worker is employed under a contract that covers the whole year but works only part of it — term-time staff, seasonal employees retained between seasons, and similar arrangements. It is different from a part-time worker, who works fewer hours each week throughout the year.

The distinction matters because part-year workers were the group at the centre of Harpur Trust v Brazel (2022), where the Supreme Court confirmed that a term-time worker's holiday should not be reduced simply because she did not work every week of the year.

What Harpur Trust decided

The Court held that the 12.07% method then in common use understated the entitlement of part-year workers, because it was applied to hours worked while the worker remained employed across the year. The correct approach was 5.6 weeks of the worker's normal week, without pro-rating for the weeks not worked.

In practice that meant some term-time workers were entitled to more holiday than their employer had been giving them.

What changed in April 2024

The April 2024 reforms reversed part of that position for part-year and irregular-hours workers, permitting accrual at 12.07% of hours worked and allowing rolled-up holiday pay for those groups. The change was intended to simplify administration after Harpur Trust.

So the current position depends on when the leave was accrued: leave accrued before April 2024 should be assessed under the Harpur Trust approach, and leave accrued afterwards under the 2024 rules. Where a dispute spans both, the periods are treated separately.

Calculating entitlement now

For a term-time worker with a stable weekly pattern during term, entitlement is 5.6 weeks of that normal week. For one whose hours vary, accrual at 12.07% of hours worked applies.

Worked example: a term-time worker averaging 35 hours a week during 39 term weeks, employed all year, accrues 12.07% of the hours actually worked. If instead their normal week is fixed at 35 hours, 5.6 weeks is 196 hours — compare both and use the method that applies to the period.

What to check

Ask for the calculation method in writing, including whether it is based on a normal week or on accrued hours, and which period it covers. If you have worked term-time for years and holiday has always been calculated as a percentage of pay, the pre-April 2024 period may have been underpaid.

Worked example: a term-time worker

A teaching assistant works 35 hours a week across 39 term weeks, employed on a contract that runs all year. Hours actually worked: 1,365. Under the post-April-2024 accrual method, holiday is 12.07% of that — 164.8 hours, worth £2,307 at £14 an hour.

Under the Harpur Trust approach that applied to earlier periods, the entitlement was 5.6 weeks of the normal week: 5.6 × 35 = 196 hours. That gap — 31 hours, roughly £436 in this example — is why the pre-2024 method mattered, and why holiday accrued before April 2024 should be checked on the older basis.

What evidence to gather

A part-year holiday claim turns on documents rather than argument:

• The contract, showing it covers the whole year rather than term weeks only
• Payslips showing holiday paid, and the periods they cover
• Term dates and any rota showing weeks worked
• The employer's holiday policy, including how the percentage or weeks were calculated

With those four, the calculation can be reconstructed for each leave year and the pre- and post-April-2024 periods separated. Without them, disputes tend to stall on what was actually worked.

Part-Year Workers: Holiday Entitlement — FAQs

Do term-time workers get full holiday?

They get 5.6 weeks of their normal week. Harpur Trust confirmed that not working every week of the year does not reduce it.

Does 12.07% apply to part-year workers?

Yes, for leave accrued from April 2024. Earlier periods fall under the Harpur Trust approach.

Is a part-year worker the same as part-time?

No. Part-time means fewer hours each week; part-year means working only part of the year under a longer contract.

Can my employer pay rolled-up holiday pay?

Yes, for part-year and irregular-hours workers since April 2024, with the holiday element shown separately.

Related guides

• Variable Hours and Holiday Accrual
• The 12.07% Rule Explained
• Rolled-Up Holiday Pay

Work out your own figure with the holiday entitlement calculator or check what you should be paid with the holiday pay calculator.

Review and sources

Reviewed October 2026 against the Working Time Regulations 1998, GOV.UK holiday entitlement guidance and ACAS. Figures are the statutory minimum in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; contractual terms may be more generous. Not legal advice — see the editorial policy and contact page.