Holiday entitlement and sick pay: the UK basics
7 minute read · Updated 2026-08-24
Holiday entitlement and statutory sick pay are the two things people most often find they have been getting wrong, usually because a contract or a payslip quietly does something different from the law. This is a plain English summary of the UK basics. It is general information rather than legal advice, and ACAS gives free guidance if your own situation is disputed.
How much holiday entitlement you get
Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per leave year. That includes agency workers, zero hours workers and most people on short term contracts, not just permanent employees. For someone working five days a week, 5.6 weeks equals 28 days. The statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days, so a six day week does not increase it, although your contract can be more generous.
Part time workers get the same 5.6 weeks pro rata. If you work three days a week, that is 16.8 days. Holiday builds up from your first day of work, including during a probation period, and you continue to accrue it while on sick leave and on maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
Bank holidays are not automatically extra
There is no automatic legal right to take bank holidays off, and no automatic right to extra pay for working one. An employer is allowed to count the eight bank holidays in England and Wales as part of your 5.6 weeks. So 28 days including bank holidays is the statutory minimum, whereas 28 days plus bank holidays is a better than minimum contract.
Check your contract wording, because this is where the difference between two similar looking offers usually sits. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different bank holiday dates, and Northern Ireland has ten, so a contract covering multiple nations should say which it means.
Irregular hours, zero hours and holiday pay
For irregular hours workers and part year workers, holiday now accrues at 12.07 per cent of the hours worked in each pay period, for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Employers may also pay rolled up holiday pay to those workers, which means an extra 12.07 per cent added to each payslip and shown as a separate line, rather than paying you when you take the time off.
If rolled up holiday pay applies to you, look for that separate line on the payslip. Umbrella company workers in particular should check it, because holiday pay is often included inside the assignment rate and it is your money, not the umbrella's. If your pay varies, holiday pay for statutory leave is generally calculated on an average of the previous 52 weeks in which you were paid, looking back up to 104 weeks to find them.
You normally cannot carry statutory holiday into the next leave year, and it cannot be paid in lieu except when you leave a job, when you must be paid for any accrued but untaken entitlement in your final pay. There are exceptions where you were unable to take leave because of sickness or family leave, and those rules are detailed, so check with ACAS if it affects you.
Statutory sick pay: who qualifies and how much
Statutory sick pay (SSP) is paid by your employer, not the government, for up to 28 weeks in a period of sickness. The rate is reviewed each April, so check the current figure on GOV.UK before relying on any number you read anywhere, including here.
Two things changed on 6 April 2026, and both of them matter most to the lowest paid. Sections 10 and 11 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force on that date.
- The three waiting days are gone. SSP is now paid from the first day of sickness. It used to start on the fourth qualifying day, which meant a short illness was worth nothing at all.
- The lower earnings limit test is gone. It used to exclude anybody earning under the limit, which was roughly £125 a week in 2025/26, and that is exactly the part-time and irregular-hours end of the workforce. Those workers are now entitled to SSP too.
What they get instead of nothing is the flat rate or 80 per cent of their normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. So somebody on very few hours is not paid more for being off than for working, and somebody on ordinary hours gets the flat rate as before.
If you were off sick before 6 April 2026, the old rules apply to that absence. Check GOV.UK or ACAS for the position on the date you were actually off rather than the position today.
Many employers offer contractual sick pay that is more generous, for example full pay for a number of weeks followed by half pay. That will be set out in your contract or staff handbook. If your employer offers nothing beyond SSP and you cannot get SSP, ask about Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.
Fit notes and telling your employer
You can self certify for the first seven calendar days of sickness, usually on the employer's own form. After seven days your employer can ask for a fit note, which can be issued by a GP, and also by nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists. A fit note may say you are not fit for work, or that you may be fit for work with adjustments such as altered hours, amended duties or a phased return, and it is worth discussing those adjustments rather than treating the note as all or nothing.
Follow your employer's absence reporting rules on timing and who to call, because a failure to report properly is a disciplinary issue in its own right even when the sickness is genuine. If your condition is long term and has a substantial effect on day to day activities, it may count as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, which brings a duty on the employer to consider reasonable adjustments.
If something looks wrong on your payslip
Start by asking in writing for a breakdown of how your holiday accrual or sick pay was calculated. Most problems turn out to be payroll errors rather than deliberate underpayment. If it is not resolved, ACAS offers free, impartial advice and an early conciliation service, and tribunal claims for unlawful deduction from wages generally have to be started within three months less one day, which is a strict deadline. For anything complex, take advice from ACAS, a union representative or a solicitor before that clock runs out.
Next step: read our guide to notice periods and references if you are thinking of moving on, browse current vacancies, or contact us if you need help using the site.