NHS Holiday Entitlement Calculator

The NHS Holiday Entitlement Calculator converts Agenda for Change annual leave and public-holiday allowances into hours based on an employee’s contracted weekly hours. It supports full-time and part-time working patterns as well as employment covering only part of a leave year.

Select the full-time weekly standard applying to your contract, enter your contracted hours and choose the correct length-of-service category. The result separates annual-leave hours from public-holiday hours before showing the combined entitlement.

The output is an estimate. Your NHS employer’s leave year, rounding method, previous service, local arrangements and employment dates determine the entitlement recorded by HR or shown in your staff system.

What the NHS Holiday Entitlement Calculator Works Out

Agenda for Change annual-leave entitlement normally increases with completed NHS service:

• 27 days on appointment
• 29 days after five years’ service
• 33 days after ten years’ service

Public holidays are additional to this annual-leave allowance. The number applying in a particular leave year can vary, so the calculator allows you to enter the relevant full-time public-holiday entitlement.

For part-time employees, leave is more accurately recorded in hours. This avoids treating a person who works fewer or differently distributed hours as though every day off has the same value.

The calculator provides:

• Full-time equivalent percentage
• Full-time annual-leave allowance
• Pro-rata annual-leave hours
• Pro-rata public-holiday hours
• Annual-leave equivalent in working weeks
• Combined leave equivalent in working weeks
• Leave-year coverage percentage
• Combined annual-leave and public-holiday hours

Employees who first need to convert a full-time salary into reduced-hours pay can review the NHS Part-Time Salary Calculator.

How to Calculate NHS Holiday Entitlement

First, select the full-time weekly hours applying to your employment terms. The calculator includes a 36-hour option for the NHS Scotland 2026/27 working-week standard and a 37.5-hour option for other applicable Agenda for Change contracts.

Next, enter your contracted weekly hours. Part-time employees should enter their actual contracted hours rather than full-time hours or overtime.

Choose the annual-leave category matching your recognised NHS service:

• Under five years
• Five to under ten years
• Ten years or more

Enter the number of full-time public holidays applying to the relevant leave year. Public holidays are calculated separately because they are additional to the standard annual-leave allowance.

Finally, choose whether your employment covers the full leave year. If you select part year, enter the number of calendar days employed. The calculator applies that proportion after adjusting the full-time entitlement for your contracted hours.

The main full-time equivalent calculation is:

Contracted weekly hours ÷ full-time weekly hours

Annual leave in hours is calculated as:

Annual-leave days × contracted weekly hours ÷ 5

Public-holiday entitlement in hours is calculated as:

Public-holiday days × contracted weekly hours ÷ 5

For part-year employment, each result is multiplied by:

Calendar days employed ÷ 365

Worked Example Using the Calculator Values

The tested example uses:

• Full-time weekly hours: 36
• Contracted weekly hours: 30
• Length of service: Five to under ten years
• Annual-leave entitlement: 29 days
• Full-time public holidays: 8 days
• Employment coverage: Full leave year

The employee’s full-time equivalent proportion is:

30 ÷ 36 = 0.8333

Expressed as a percentage, this is 83.33% FTE.

Annual-leave hours are calculated from the employee’s contracted working week:

29 × 30 ÷ 5 = 174 hours

Public-holiday hours are calculated separately:

8 × 30 ÷ 5 = 48 hours

The combined entitlement is:

174 + 48 = 222 hours

The annual-leave allowance expressed in contracted working weeks is:

174 ÷ 30 = 5.80 weeks

When annual leave and public holidays are combined:

222 ÷ 30 = 7.40 weeks

The calculator therefore produces:

• FTE proportion: 83.33%
• Annual-leave hours: 174.00 hours
• Public-holiday hours: 48.00 hours
• Total entitlement: 222.00 hours
• Annual-leave equivalent: 5.80 weeks
• Combined leave equivalent: 7.40 weeks
• Leave-year coverage: 100.00%

The calculation keeps the underlying values unrounded and rounds displayed results to two decimal places.

Understanding Part-Time Leave and Public Holidays

A part-time employee does not automatically receive eight complete working days for eight public holidays. The full-time public-holiday allowance is converted into hours and adjusted according to the employee’s contracted weekly hours.

Those hours remain part of the employee’s overall entitlement even when a public holiday falls on a day they do not normally work. How many hours are deducted for an individual absence depends on the employee’s scheduled hours for that day and the employer’s recording arrangements.

For example, an employee who works longer shifts on fewer days may use more leave hours for one working day than someone whose weekly hours are spread evenly across five days. The calculator estimates the total allowance; it does not decide how HR should deduct hours for a particular shift.

A further adjustment is needed when employment covers only part of the leave year. For employees who start or finish during that period, the calculator works out entitlement according to the proportion of calendar days they were employed. As local payroll or HR teams may follow different recognised employment dates and rounding methods, confirm the final entitlement with the employer.

Employees assessing how paid time off may affect earnings can use the NHS Annual Leave Pay Calculator. If the purpose is to compare hourly, weekly or annual earnings, the NHS Wage Calculator deals with pay rather than leave entitlement.

The national service-based allowances are set out in the official NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. You can also browse other NHS salary calculators for pay, pension and working-pattern estimates.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do not enter overtime in the contracted-hours field. Leave entitlement is based on the contracted working pattern rather than occasional additional hours.

Select the full-time standard applying to your contract. Using 36 hours when the relevant full-time week is 37.5 hours, or vice versa, can produce an incorrect FTE percentage.

Do not combine annual-leave days and public holidays before entering the information. The calculator has separate fields so both components remain visible in the result.

Part-time staff should not treat a public-holiday allowance as a fixed number of their usual shifts. The allowance is first converted into hours and then used according to the applicable working pattern.

If employment covers only part of the leave year, select the part-year option. A full-year calculation would otherwise overstate the estimated entitlement.

FAQs

Q1: How much annual leave do NHS employees receive?
A: Under Agenda for Change, the standard full-time allowance is normally 27 days on appointment, 29 days after five years’ service and 33 days after ten years’ service. Public holidays are additional.

Q2: Can part-time NHS employees use this calculator?
A: Yes. Enter the full-time weekly standard and your actual contracted weekly hours. The calculator converts the applicable annual-leave and public-holiday allowances into pro-rata hours.

Q3: Are public holidays included in the annual-leave result?
A: They are calculated separately and then included in the combined total. This lets you see how much of the result comes from annual leave and how much comes from public holidays.

Q4: What happens when a public holiday falls on my normal day off?
A: A part-time employee’s public-holiday allowance is calculated proportionately in hours. The entitlement is not automatically lost because the public holiday falls on a non-working day, although the employer’s local recording process still applies.

Q5: Can I calculate entitlement when starting partway through the year?
A: Yes. Select the part-year option and enter the number of calendar days employed during the leave year. The calculator applies that proportion to the annual-leave and public-holiday hours.

Q6: Does the calculator include carried-over or purchased leave?
A: No. It does not include carried-over leave, purchased leave, local enhancements or adjustments connected with maternity leave, sickness absence or another individual arrangement. Additions or deductions should be confirmed with HR.

Q7: Why might my employer’s figure be different?
A: Differences may result from the employer’s leave-year dates, rounding policy, recognised previous service, working-day pattern, employment dates or local contractual arrangements.