Holiday
Holiday pay when leaving: paying out untaken leave
Leave you have earned and not taken turns into money on your last day. The calculator applies the statutory formula to your own leave year.
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When employment ends part way through a leave year, the employer must pay for statutory leave that has been earned but not taken. Regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 sets the formula (A × B) − C, unless a relevant agreement such as the contract sets another sum: A is the year’s statutory entitlement (5.6 weeks, 28 days at most), B the proportion of the leave year that has passed by the termination date, and C the leave already taken. A full-time employee with a calendar leave year who leaves on 30 October 2026 after taking 14 days has 23.24 days accrued and 9.24 to be paid: at £600 a week that is £1,109 gross. This payment in lieu is the only time statutory leave can be exchanged for money, it is due whatever the reason for leaving, including a dismissal for gross misconduct, and leave carried over from earlier years is paid as well.
Holiday pay due on your last payslip
£1,109
9.24 days × £120.00
| A: annual entitlement | 28.0 days |
| B: share of the leave year worked (1 January 2026 to 30 October 2026) | 83.0% |
| A × B: holiday accrued | 23.24 days |
| C: holiday taken | 14.0 days |
| (A × B) − C | 9.24 days |
Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 14, unless your contract sets another method. Payment in lieu is the only time statutory leave can be swapped for money, and it is owed even after a dismissal for gross misconduct.
The formula, line by line
Regulation 14(3) works in proportions, not in months. B is the share of the leave year that has expired by the termination date; the calculator counts it in days, including your last day. The example already filled in gives:
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| A: statutory entitlement for the year | 28.0 days |
| B: share of the year from 1 January 2026 to 30 October 2026 | 83.0 % |
| A × B: leave accrued | 23.24 days |
| C: leave taken | 14 days |
| (A × B) − C: days to pay | 9.24 days |
| Paid at a day’s pay of £120.00 | £1,109.26 |
A part-timer works the same way with a smaller A. On three days a week, a leave year starting 1 April 2026, a last day of 18 December 2026, six days taken and £330 a week, the formula leaves 6.06 days, or £666.51.
What a day is worth
The days are paid at the rate regulation 16 sets for holiday, which means a week’s pay divided by the days in your working week. If your pay varies, a week’s pay is the average of your last 52 paid weeks, with regular overtime and commission included; the holiday pay calculator finds that figure, and the final pay calculator adds the result to notice pay and any redundancy payment.
Contracts, extra days and Northern Ireland
A contract can set its own method for the payment in lieu, and it governs any contractual days above the statutory 5.6 weeks: some contracts pay them out, others do not. Enter extra days in the calculator only if yours does. In Northern Ireland the same right exists under the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016: nidirect says you have the right to be paid for any untaken statutory holiday you have accrued, and that money for leave taken in advance should not be taken from final pay unless agreed beforehand (nidirect).