Part-time workers in the UK are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, pro-rated to their actual working days — not to a fraction based on a full-time equivalent. The Supreme Court confirmed this in Harpur Trust v Brazel [2022] UKSC 21, ruling that part-year workers (such as term-time-only staff) must receive the full 5.6 weeks, even if they work fewer than 46.4 weeks per year.
Before Brazel, many employers pro-rated holiday on the assumption that a worker who works fewer weeks should get proportionally less than 5.6 weeks. The Supreme Court said that was wrong. The calculation must start from 5.6 weeks and pro-rate by the number of working days in the week, not by the number of weeks worked.
Key Takeaways
- Every worker — including part-year and zero-hours — is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, per the Working Time Regulations 1998.
- Pro-rating applies to the days in the working week, not to the number of weeks worked — Harpur Trust v Brazel.
- For a part-timer working 3 days a week: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days, rounded up to 17.
- For a term-time-only worker working 39 weeks: the entitlement is still 5.6 weeks of their working pattern, not a fraction of 28.
The Formula: Working Days × 5.6, Then Round Up
The pro-rata calculation for part-time holiday entitlement follows a simple three-step process:
Step 1: Determine the number of days the employee works in a typical week.
Step 2: Multiply that number by 5.6.
Step 3: Round up to the nearest whole number (because the Working Time Regulations round fractions up).
| Working days per week | Calculation | Entitlement (days) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 × 5.6 = 5.6 | 6 |
| 2 | 2 × 5.6 = 11.2 | 12 |
| 3 | 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 | 17 |
| 4 | 4 × 5.6 = 22.4 | 23 |
| 5 | 5 × 5.6 = 28.0 | 28 |
This applies to all part-time patterns — whether the employee works fixed days each week, a variable pattern, or only during part of the year.
What Harpur Trust v Brazel Changed
Before the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling, many employers applied a different calculation to term-time-only workers. The approach was:
Actual weeks worked ÷ 46.4 × 28 = holiday entitlement
Under that method, a worker who worked 39 weeks per year (term time only) would receive 39 ÷ 46.4 × 28 = 23.5 days — fewer than the 5.6 weeks that a worker with a different pattern would receive.
The Supreme Court ruled this approach was wrong. The Working Time Regulations 1998 set 5.6 weeks as the statutory minimum for all workers. The word “weeks” in the Regulations refers to the worker’s own working week, not to calendar weeks in the year.
A worker who works 3 days a week for 39 weeks is entitled to 5.6 weeks × 3 days = 16.8 days (rounded to 17). The fact that the worker does not work for the remaining 13 weeks does not reduce the entitlement.
Why This Matters
The Brazel ruling means that some part-year workers receive more holiday than they would under the formula many employers were using. A term-time teacher who works 39 weeks gets 17 days, whereas under the old formula they would have received approximately 15. The difference is small for individual workers but significant in aggregate for schools and seasonal businesses.
The government considered but did not implement legislative changes to reverse the Brazel ruling. The 2024 holiday pay reforms introduced the 12.07% accrual method for irregular-hours and part-year workers, which partially addresses the same policy concern through a different mechanism — but the Brazel ruling remains good law for workers who fall outside the 12.07% categories.
Worked Example: Term-Time Administrator
Lisa works 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) as a school administrator. The school operates 39 weeks per year. Her contract says “20 days plus bank holidays.”
Under the Brazel approach:
- Working days per week: 3
- Entitlement: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8, rounded up to 17 days
- Plus bank holidays: 8 (or the pro-rated equivalent if some fall on non-working days)
- Total: 17 days of chosen leave
Under the old (incorrect) formula:
- 39 ÷ 46.4 × 28 = 23.5 → 24 days, then pro-rated to 3/5 = 14.4 → 15 days
The Brazel method gives Lisa 2 more days of leave than the old formula.
The 12.07% Accrual for Irregular-Hours Workers
For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours workers and part-year workers accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period. This is the government’s answer to the Brazel problem for genuinely irregular workers.
The 12.07% method calculates:
5.6 weeks ÷ 46.4 working weeks = 12.07%
A zero-hours worker who works 500 hours in a year accrues 500 × 0.1207 = 60.35 hours of holiday.
The 12.07% method and the Brazel method can produce different results. Which one applies depends on whether the worker falls into the “irregular hours” or “part-year worker” categories defined in the 2024 reforms. Workers with a fixed part-time pattern (like Lisa above) may fall under the standard 5.6-week rules, not the 12.07% method.
How Bank Holidays Interact with Part-Time Entitlement
If the contract states “28 days inclusive of bank holidays,” the bank holidays come out of the 28-day total. For a part-timer working 3 days a week, that is 17 days inclusive of bank holidays — meaning 17 − (bank holidays that fall on their working days) = the days they can choose.
If a bank holiday falls on a day the part-timer does not work, the position depends on the contract:
- “Inclusive of bank holidays” — the bank holiday still counts inside the 17 days, even though the employee was not going to work that day anyway.
- “Plus bank holidays” — the employee gets the bank holiday as a day off even though they would not have worked, effectively adding it to their total.
This is one area where part-timers can be disadvantaged by an “inclusive” wording. The GOV.UK pro-rata calculator handles this for common patterns.
Common Employer Mistakes
The most frequent errors in part-time holiday calculations:
- Using the full-time 28-day figure directly. A part-timer working 3 days does not get 28 days — they get 17.
- Applying the old Brazel formula. The Supreme Court ruling is binding. Do not use the “actual weeks ÷ 46.4” approach.
- Forgetting to round up. The Working Time Regulations round fractions up to the next whole number. 16.8 becomes 17, not 16.
- Mixing up the 12.07% method with the standard pro-rata. Which method applies depends on the worker’s category under the 2024 reforms.
How Leave Balance Helps
Leave Balance calculates part-time holiday entitlement automatically, applying the correct method per worker category — standard pro-rata for fixed part-time patterns, 12.07% for irregular-hours workers. The system rounds fractions up, accounts for bank holidays on non-working days, and flags when a contract’s “inclusive” wording creates a disadvantage for part-timers.
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