How much holiday am I entitled to if I work 3 days a week?

16.8 days a year, or 3 days × 5.6 weeks. That is the statutory minimum and already includes a pro-rata share of bank holidays (4.8 days in England and Wales). Employers commonly round it up to 17 days.

Do I get bank holidays working 3 days a week?

Yes, a pro-rata share, whichever days you work: 3/5 × 8 = 4.8 days in England and Wales. It is usually added to your leave pot, and bank holidays falling on days you would have worked are deducted from it.

What if I start mid-year working 3 days a week?

You get a proportion: with half the leave year left it is 16.8 × 6/12 = 8.4 days, rounded up to 8.5 in your first year of employment.

How Much Holiday If I Work 3 Days a Week?

16.8 days a year. That’s the UK statutory minimum for a 3-day week (3 × 5.6 weeks), and it already includes your pro-rata share of bank holidays. Most employers round it up to 17 days.

Updated August 2026 · based on gov.uk and ACAS guidance

Days worked per week

Where do you work?

What does a full-timer get at your workplace?

Full-time bookable days, excluding bank holidays

Your annual entitlement

How this was worked out

The working, step by step

Every UK worker gets 5.6 weeks of statutory paid holiday a year.
For you, a “week” is 3 working days, so: 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days.
Statutory entitlement can be rounded up (commonly to 17) but never down.

That 16.8 days is the whole statutory pot. If your employer counts bank holidays within the entitlement, they come out of it; they aren’t extra by law.

Bank holidays on a 3-day week

You get a fair share of bank holidays whichever days you work, even if you never work a Monday, where most English bank holidays fall. The standard approach:

Your share: 3/5 × 8 = 4.8 days (England & Wales; 9 in Scotland most years, 10 in Northern Ireland).
A “split” presentation of the same total: 12 bookable days + 4.8 bank holiday days.
Bank holidays falling on days you’d normally work (say you work Monday to Wednesday) are deducted from your pot; ones on your non-working days cost you nothing.

If your workplace gives more than the minimum

Where full-timers get, say, 25 days plus bank holidays (33 in total), your pro-rata share is 3/5 × 33 = 19.8 days. Use the calculator above with your employer’s package.

Starting mid-year

Join part-way through the leave year and you get a proportion: with six months left it’s 16.8 × 6/12 = 8.4 days, rounded up to 8.5 in your first year of employment. For exact start-date maths, use the full holiday entitlement calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Is 16.8 days with or without bank holidays?

It’s the total statutory minimum. Bank holidays aren’t a separate legal right. If your employer counts them in the entitlement, your 4.8-day pro-rata share comes out of the 16.8. Only workplaces offering above-statutory packages change the total.

Can my employer round 16.8 down?

No, statutory entitlement can never be rounded down. Rounding up to 17 is fine and common; in your first year of a job, rounding accrued part-days up to the half day is actually required.

My 3 days are different lengths. Does that change anything?

The day count stays 16.8, but days become unfair units: a day off on your long day is worth more than on your short day. Ask for the entitlement in hours instead: your weekly hours × 5.6, with each day off costing its actual hours.

Does it matter which 3 days I work?

Not for the total: 16.8 days either way. It only affects how many bank holidays fall on your working days and are deducted from your pot: work Monday to Wednesday and more of the Monday bank holidays will land on workdays than if you worked later in the week.

I’m term-time only on 3 days a week. Same answer?

No. Term-time-only and other part-year workers accrue leave at 12.07% of hours actually worked (rules from April 2024) rather than a fixed annual figure. Use the 12.07% holiday pay calculator.

Based on gov.uk holiday entitlement guidance and ACAS. Statutory figures checked August 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.

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