Holiday pay ― legal points

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Sarah Bradford
Employment Tax
Guidance

Holiday pay ― legal points

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Sarah Bradford
Employment Tax
Guidance
imgtext

The right to be paid for holidays is a statutory entitlement and there may also be a further contractual entitlement. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year (which can include bank holidays). Self-employed workers have no statutory leave entitlement.

ACAS provides guidance on all elements of holiday, sickness and leave.

Statutory holiday pay

The Working Time Regulations 1998 entitle a worker to be paid:

  1. •

    during his statutory holiday, entitlement of 5.6 weeks a year

  2. •

    in lieu of any statutory holiday entitlement accrued but unused on termination of his employment

This does not prevent an employer offering a more generous annual paid leave entitlement as part of a contract of employment.

Calculating statutory holiday pay

During any period of statutory holiday, a worker is entitled to be paid at the rate of a week’s pay for each week of holiday.

The Employment Rights Act sets out the method of calculating a week’s pay except that references to ‘employee’ in the ERA 1996 should be read as ‘worker’ and

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
TAKE A FREE TRIAL NOW
Sarah Bradford
Sarah Bradford linkedinicon twittericon

Director at Writetax Ltd

Sarah Bradford BA(Hons), ACA, CTA (Fellow) is the director of Writetax Ltd, a company providing tax technical writing services on tax and National Insurance, and also of its sister company, Writetax Consultancy Services Ltd. Sarah writes widely on tax and National Insurance and is the author of several books.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Tolley+™
  • 30 Mar 2026 11:08

Home/ Tolley Tax Guidance/ Employment Tax / Legal aspects of employment

Popular Articles

Trusts and Inheritance Tax

Settlor-interested trusts

Settlor-interested trustsWhat is a settlor-interested trust?A settlor-interested trust is one where the person who created the trust, the settlor, has kept for himself some or all of the benefits attaching to the property which he has given away. A straightforward example is where a settlor

14 Jul 2020 13:38 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
Value Added Tax

Reverse charge ― buying in services from outside the UK

Reverse charge ― buying in services from outside the UKThis guidance note covers the reverse charge that applies to services that have been bought in from outside the UK. For an overview of VAT and international services more broadly, see the International services ― overview guidance note. For

15 Dec 2020 14:02 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
Corporation Tax

Corporate interest restriction ― administrative aspects

Corporate interest restriction ― administrative aspectsThe corporate interest restriction (CIR) regime has some specific administrative rules in addition to the general administrative requirements for corporation tax returns. This guidance note does not include commentary on provisions that are

14 Jul 2020 11:19 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more