Guide
Zero-Hours Holiday Entitlement
You are a worker, so you accrue holiday from your first shift — even if your hours are never guaranteed.
You are entitled from day one
A zero-hours contract does not remove holiday rights. If you are a worker — which almost all zero-hours staff are — you accrue statutory holiday from your first day, based on the hours you actually work. The fact that your hours are not guaranteed changes the method of calculation, not the existence of the right.
Entitlement is 5.6 weeks of your normal working week. For someone with no fixed pattern, that is calculated by accrual as hours are worked.
The 12.07% accrual method
Since April 2024, irregular-hours workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked. The figure comes from 5.6 weeks of leave across the 46.4 weeks actually worked in a year: 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%.
In practice: if you work 100 hours in a month, you accrue 12.07 hours of holiday. If you take an eight-hour shift as holiday, eight of those hours are used. Accrual should be tracked in hours, not rounded to whole days.
- 100 hours worked → 12.07 hours accrued
- 20 hours worked → 2.41 hours accrued
- Eight-hour holiday → 8 hours deducted from the balance
Rolled-up pay since April 2024
Employers may now add 12.07% to each payslip instead of paying you when you take leave — but only for irregular-hours and part-year workers. For anyone with regular hours, rolled-up holiday pay remains unlawful.
Where it is used, the holiday element must be shown separately on your payslip. If your payslip shows a single gross figure with no holiday line, you cannot verify the payment, and the arrangement is unlikely to be compliant.
When regular hours stop being "irregular"
If you work the same shifts every week for long enough, the arrangement is no longer genuinely irregular. At that point the 12.07% method can understate your entitlement, because a regular worker should get 5.6 weeks of their actual normal week rather than a percentage of hours.
This is a common source of underpayment: a worker treated as casual while working a stable 30-hour week for years. If that describes you, ask for your entitlement to be calculated on your normal weekly hours instead.
What to check on your payslip
Look for a holiday accrual figure that increases with hours worked, and for a separate holiday line if rolled-up pay is being used. If holiday has never appeared, or appears frozen, ask in writing for your accrual balance and the method used.
How holiday is booked and paid
Holiday is requested in the normal way and should be recorded even where pay is rolled up. An employer can refuse a request by giving notice at least twice as long as the leave requested — two days' notice for a one-day request — but it cannot refuse indefinitely and then treat the leave as lost.
When holiday is taken, pay should reflect what you would have earned for the hours of leave at your normal rate. If rolled-up pay is in use, you have already been paid the holiday element, so taking the time off does not generate a second payment — but the leave must still be deducted from your balance, otherwise the arrangement has quietly converted paid leave into unpaid time off.
Worked example across a year
Suppose you work 900 hours across the year at £12.50 an hour:
- Holiday accrued: 900 × 12.07% = 108.6 hours
- Value at £12.50: £1,357.88
- Equal to roughly 13.5 eight-hour shifts of paid leave
Check the balance quarterly rather than annually. Accrual that stops increasing, or a balance that resets to zero at the end of the leave year without the leave being taken, is the pattern to challenge.
Zero-Hours Holiday Entitlement — FAQs
Do zero-hours workers get paid holiday?
Yes. You accrue statutory holiday from your first shift, based on hours actually worked.
Can my employer include holiday pay in my hourly rate?
Only for irregular-hours and part-year workers since April 2024, and it must be shown separately on your payslip.
What if I never take holiday?
Accrued statutory holiday should be paid on termination. It cannot simply be lost while you remain employed.
Is 12.07% always correct?
No. It applies to genuinely irregular hours. If you work a regular weekly pattern, 5.6 weeks of that pattern is the correct basis.
Related guides
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.