What Is 12.07% Holiday Pay?

12.07% is the rate at which irregular-hours and part-year workers build up paid holiday, and the uplift that can be paid to them as rolled-up holiday pay. The free holiday pay calculator works out both. The figure comes from the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks' leave as a share of the other 46.4 weeks of the year: 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%.

It applies only to irregular-hours and part-year workers, and only for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. An irregular-hours worker is one whose paid hours in each pay period are wholly or mostly variable; a part-year worker is one who has periods of at least a week in the year when they are not required to work and are not paid. The rules were inserted into the Working Time Regulations 1998 by The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1426).

There are two ways the rate is used:

• Accrual (regulation 15B). On the last day of each pay period, the worker accrues leave equal to 12.07% of the hours they worked in that period, up to 28 days in a leave year. Under regulation 15B(5) a fraction of an hour is rounded: under 30 minutes counts as zero, 30 minutes or more as a full hour. The worker is then paid when they take the leave.
• Rolled-up holiday pay (regulation 16A). Instead, the employer may pay holiday pay as a 12.07% uplift on pay for work done, paid at the same time as that pay. The payslip must show the amount of holiday pay separately.

For every other worker, and for leave years that began before 1 April 2024, holiday pay is paid for leave when it is taken, under regulation 16; the rolled-up option in regulation 16A does not apply to them. Since 6 April 2026, a new regulation 16B has also required employers to keep adequate holiday records for six years.

The rules apply in England, Wales and Scotland. Gov.uk's holiday entitlement guide covers irregular-hours and part-year workers in plain English.