Identify the working and pay pattern
| Pattern to confirm | Records to collect | Do not assume |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed hours and fixed pay | Contract, normal weekly pay and leave record | That contractual leave beyond the statutory minimum uses the same terms |
| Fixed hours and variable pay | Complete paid-week and variable-payment history | That every payment or every week belongs in the reference |
| Irregular hours | Leave-year start, pay periods, hours and relevant pay | That rolled-up pay is available outside its limited conditions |
| Part-year work | Contracted working periods, leave year and relevant pay | That a full-year or fixed-hours method can be copied |
Stop if a required branch fact is missing
- Confirm that Great Britain guidance, not Northern Ireland guidance, applies.
- Confirm whether hours and pay are fixed, variable, irregular or part-year under the contract.
- Identify the leave-year start before relying on the post-April-2024 methods.
- Collect enough paid-week and payment-component records for the official method.
- Ask payroll or qualified support to resolve status, entitlement, missing records or a disputed payment.
Use a calculator only after the rule is established
Holiday Pay Using Your Rule accepts user-entered hours, factor interpretation and rule terms. It deliberately does not select the legally applicable factor or decide whether the chosen method is allowed.
Paid Time Off Value answers a different question: the gross scenario value of entered paid days on an annual schedule. It is not a statutory holiday-pay calculation.
Frequently asked questions
- Can one holiday-pay rule be applied across the whole UK?
- Not from this article. Its captured dependency is Great Britain-only, and Northern Ireland must be checked against its separate official guidance.
- Will the Wage101 calculator choose a 52-week or rolled-up method?
- No. The user must establish the applicable rule and inputs first. The calculator only applies the entered rule terms.
Sources checked
- Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024 — Department for Business and Trade (accessed 2026-08-01): Great Britain worker-pattern, leave-year, reference-period and rolled-up-method boundaries.
- Calculating holiday pay — Acas (accessed 2026-08-01): Great Britain guidance on working patterns, pay composition and calculation routing.