Annual leave
Paid time away from work, including the statutory holiday entitlement most UK workers receive.
What is annual leave?
Annual leave is paid time off work. Almost all UK workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid statutory leave each year, with the calculation depending on their working arrangement.
Bank holidays can be included within that statutory entitlement; they are not automatically an extra allowance.
What matters
Start with the rule
Annual leave is paid time off work. Almost all UK workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid statutory leave each year, with the calculation depending on their working arrangement.
Write down the decision
Keep the policy, dates, calculation inputs and decision together so another person can understand what happened.
Check the current source
Irregular-hours, part-year, starter and leaver calculations need the current GOV.UK method.
A practical checklist
For a small team, a short repeatable process beats an impressive policy nobody follows.
- State the leave year
- Record the worker's actual pattern
- Separate statutory and extra contractual leave
- Explain bank-holiday treatment
- Record carry-over and adjustments
Where software helps — and where it does not
HollyHR can keep the relevant people record, dates, documents, leave and working pattern in one place. It cannot decide a legal, medical or employee-relations question for you.
Irregular-hours, part-year, starter and leaver calculations need the current GOV.UK method.
Check the source, not just our summary
Rules and product pages change. These are the first-party references behind this page.
Questions people ask
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary for UK small teams. Check the linked official guidance and take qualified advice for a specific or disputed case.
Why keep the source with the calculation?
Rates and rules change. Recording the inputs, date and source makes the answer reviewable instead of becoming an unexplained number in a spreadsheet.
Can HollyHR track this?
HollyHR can hold the underlying employee, working-pattern, leave and document records. It does not present itself as a legal-advice engine.
Proper HR, without the big-system palaver.
HollyHR is free for up to 10 active people. We're onboarding early-access teams one at a time.
Keep reading: Manage annual leave · Time off · Holiday calculator guide