Agency worker holiday pay: 12.07% accrual explained

If you're an agency worker on variable hours, your holiday pay accrues at 12.07% of every hour you work. Here's where that number comes from and how to make sure you get every day owed.

Where 12.07% comes from

UK statute gives every worker 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year. Compared to the 46.4 working weeks in a year, that's 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 0.1207 — hence 12.07%. Every hour you work earns you 4.35 minutes of paid holiday.

How long to earn a week off

• A 40-hour week = 40 × 12.07% = 4.83 hours of accrued holiday per week.
• To earn a full 40-hour week of holiday: 40 ÷ 4.83 ≈ 8.3 working weeks.
• Or in hours: 331 hours worked = 1 week off, fully paid.

Two ways agencies pay it

• Accrued — banked as hours; you request time off and get paid when you take it.
• Rolled-up — 12.07% added to every hourly payslip. From April 2024, this is legal again for irregular-hours workers, but the payslip must show the holiday element separately.

What changed in April 2026

The new record-keeping rules require agencies to itemise the holiday element on every payslip. If yours doesn't, you may be owed backdated pay. HMRC has been auditing this since summer 2026.

AWR — Agency Workers Regulations

After 12 continuous weeks at the same client, you're entitled to the same holiday allowance as a permanent employee doing the same job — which is often more than 5.6 weeks.