Irregular Hours Holiday Pay
For workers whose hours vary week to week, paid leave accrues at the statutory 12.07% rate on every hour worked.
Mid-year joiner, leaver, or above-statutory entitlement
Your entitlement
28 days(210 hours)
Annual entitlement. Statutory minimum is 28 days.
5 days per week × 5.6 weeks (statutory minimum) = 28 days per year Your contract treats bank holidays as part of this total — book them as you would any other day off.
Who counts as irregular-hours
Under the 2024 regulations, an irregular-hours worker is someone whose paid hours under their contract are “wholly or mostly variable” from one pay period to the next. That covers the large majority of zero-hours contracts, casual workers, bank workers, and agency staff with no guaranteed minimum.
Borderline cases (workers with a contractual minimum but lots of additional variable hours on top, for example) are awkward in practice and may benefit from legal advice. The safer default is to treat anyone with a fixed weekly pattern as regular and apply 12.07% only where the pattern is genuinely unpredictable.
Two ways the holiday pay can land
Once the accrual rate is established, payment of the holiday can be structured in two lawful ways:
- Pay on taking leave. Worker accumulates a running balance of hours; when they take time off, they are paid the equivalent hours at their normal rate.
- Rolled-up pay. 12.07% of basic pay is added to each payslip and itemised separately. The worker still takes time off but no further payment is made.
Frequently asked questions
Who counts as an irregular-hours worker?+
Anyone whose paid hours are wholly or mostly variable from one week to the next under their contract. This includes most zero-hours workers, casual workers, and shift workers without a fixed pattern.
How is the accrual added up?+
Each pay period, multiply the hours worked by 0.1207. The result is hours of paid holiday accrued for that period. Total it up over the leave year for the worker's running balance.
Can rolled-up holiday pay replace booked time off?+
Yes for irregular-hours and part-year workers, post-April 2024. The 12.07% uplift is paid on each payslip and the worker takes time off without further payment. The uplift must be itemised separately on the payslip.
What if I work some regular hours and some irregular hours?+
Mixed working patterns are common but legally awkward. The safer default is to treat the worker as regular if they have a contractual normal pattern, and only fall back to 12.07% accrual when hours are genuinely unpredictable. Take advice if in doubt.