NHS Annual Leave Calculator
Agenda for Change entitlement worked out properly: by length of service, converted to hours for part-time and shift staff, with bank holidays included the way trusts actually do it. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Updated August 2026 · NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook (Section 13)Count ALL previous NHS service. It aggregates across employers with no break limit for annual leave. Bank/agency locum work generally doesn’t count.
Full time is 37.5 hours (36 in Scotland from April 2026). Enter your contracted hours, not what you actually work.
If you work long shifts, we’ll show how many shifts your leave pot buys.
Your annual entitlement
How this was worked out
NHS annual leave entitlement: the bands
Under Section 13 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (Agenda for Change), leave scales with total NHS service:
| Length of NHS service | Annual leave | General public holidays | Full-time hours (England) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On appointment | 27 days | 8 days | 202.5 + 60 = 262.5 |
| After 5 years | 29 days | 8 days | 217.5 + 60 = 277.5 |
| After 10 years | 33 days | 8 days | 247.5 + 60 = 307.5 |
Three things people get wrong:
- Service means all NHS service, ever. Previous NHS employment aggregates for leave banding with no break-in-service limit (unlike sick pay). If you did 3 years at one trust, left the NHS for 2 years, and have done 3 years at another, you’re 1 year from the 29-day band, not 2.
- Doctors and dentists aren’t on AfC: consultants and resident doctors have separate terms with different leave. This calculator is for Agenda for Change staff: nurses, AHPs, healthcare scientists, admin, estates and support staff.
- The nations have diverged: see below.
Why your entitlement should be in hours
The handbook requires hours-based leave for anyone not working standard 7.5-hour days, and most trusts now run everyone’s leave in hours. The reason is fairness: if you work three 12.5-hour shifts a week and leave were counted in “days”, booking one shift off would cost the same as a colleague’s 7.5-hour day, giving you two-thirds more real time off. In hours it’s exact:
Part-time staff scale by contracted hours: leave = (your weekly hours ÷ 37.5) × the full-time figure, applied to both the annual leave and public holiday elements, then rounded up to the nearest half hour.
Bank holidays: the combined pot
Full-timers get 8 general public holidays (60 hours) on top of annual leave. For part-time staff, trusts add a pro-rata share of public holiday hours to the leave pot, and you then book any bank holiday you’d normally have worked out of the pot. Work 30 hours a week? Your share is 30/37.5 × 60 = 48 hours. If a bank holiday falls on a day you don’t work, nothing is deducted. If you’re required to work a public holiday, you keep the hours (plus enhanced pay under Section 2 rates).
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- England: 27/29/33 days + 8 public holidays; 37.5-hour week (figures above).
- Scotland: same day-bands, but the working week reduced to 36 hours from 1 April 2026 (pay protected), so a full-time day is 7.2 hours: 27 days = 194.4 hours, public holidays = 57.6 hours.
- Wales: an extra day, giving 28/30/34 days + 8 public holidays under the One Wales contract (37.5-hour week). Some trusts may still apply the extra day at appointment only, so check your contract.
- Northern Ireland: 27/29/33 days but 10 public holidays (adds St Patrick’s Day and 12 July) = 75 hours full-time.
Mid-year starters, band changes and other wrinkles
- Leave year: usually 1 April – 31 March, but it’s set locally, so check your trust.
- Starting mid-year: trusts pro-rate either by complete weeks remaining (÷52) or by months (÷12), plus the public holidays actually left in the year. Example (weeks method): 25 hours/week joining in late August with 31 weeks left → 31/52 × 135 = 80.5 hours + 4 remaining bank holidays × 5 hours = 100.5 hours.
- Hitting 5 or 10 years mid-year: the uplift applies from your anniversary date, and trusts calculate the year in two parts, pro-rata before and after.
- Changing hours mid-year: same split-year approach on old and new hours.
- Buying or selling leave: not in the national handbook, but many trusts run local salary-sacrifice schemes, typically up to one contractual week either way.
Ready reckoner: leave in hours (England, incl. public holidays)
| Contracted hours/week | Under 5 years | 5–10 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37.5 (full time) | 262.5 | 277.5 | 307.5 |
| 34 | 238.5 | 252 | 279 |
| 30 | 210 | 222 | 246 |
| 25 | 175 | 185 | 205 |
| 22.5 | 157.5 | 166.5 | 184.5 |
| 20 | 140 | 148 | 164 |
| 15 | 105 | 111 | 123 |
Values: (weekly hours ÷ 5) × band days for annual leave, plus (weekly hours ÷ 5) × 8 for public holidays, rounded up to the nearest half hour, the standard trust method. Your trust’s own tables take precedence.
Frequently asked questions
How much annual leave do NHS staff get?
Does service at a previous trust count?
I work 12-hour shifts. How many shifts’ holiday do I get?
What happens when I hit 5 years part-way through the leave year?
Do part-time NHS staff get bank holidays?
Is this calculator right for doctors?
Which leave year does the NHS use?
Why is Scotland different?
Sources
Based on: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (Sections 12–13, v60 Jan 2026); NHS Employers public holidays & TOIL guidance; STAC (Scotland) annual leave guidance; trust annual leave policies for local conventions. Local trust policy takes precedence. This tool is guidance, not advice. Entitlement figures checked against AfC Handbook v60, August 2026.
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