Pro Rata Holiday Allowance Calculator
Understanding Pro Rata Holiday Entitlement
Calculating holiday allowance for part-time workers ensures fairness and compliance with employment laws. "Pro rata" effectively means "in proportion." If an employee works half the hours of a full-time equivalent, they are generally entitled to half the amount of holiday leave.
How the Calculation Works
The standard formula used to calculate pro rata holiday entitlement is relatively straightforward. It calculates the ratio of days worked compared to a full-time week and applies that to the annual entitlement.
The Formula:
For example, if a full-time employee works 5 days a week and gets 28 days of leave, a part-time employee working 3 days a week would calculate their leave as: (3 ÷ 5) × 28 = 16.8 days.
Part-Year Employment
If an employee starts or leaves a job part-way through the company's leave year, their entitlement is further calculated based on the proportion of the year they have been employed. Our calculator above handles this via the "Months Employed" dropdown.
Typically, leave accrues at a rate of 1/12th of the annual entitlement for each month worked. This is crucial for new starters to ensure they don't receive a full year's allocation for only a few months of work.
Rounding Holiday Days
Calculations often result in decimal figures (e.g., 16.8 days). While laws vary by country, employers generally cannot round down entitlement if it puts the employee below the statutory minimum. It is best practice to round up to the nearest half-day or full day to ease administration and ensure compliance.
Bank Holidays
It is important to check if the "Full-Time Annual Entitlement" includes public/bank holidays. In many jurisdictions (like the UK), the statutory minimum (often 28 days) includes these public holidays. Part-time workers are entitled to a pro-rata share of bank holidays, even if they do not normally work on the days those holidays fall.