1. Irregular-hours workers: 12.07% accrual restored
Before April 2024 (post-Harpur Trust): irregular-hours and part-year workers were entitled to a flat 5.6 weeks' holiday calculated against their average earnings, regardless of how few weeks they actually worked. Term-time-only school staff could effectively earn more pro-rata holiday than equivalent full-year workers.
After April 2024: these workers accrue at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period. The percentage comes from 5.6 / 46.4 (i.e. 5.6 weeks of holiday out of 46.4 working weeks per year). This is the same formula that applied before the 2022 Supreme Court judgement.
Example: a zero-hours worker logs 60 hours in May 2026. Accrued holiday = 60 × 0.1207 = 7.24 hours.
2. Rolled-up holiday pay legalised for irregular-hours workers
Rolled-up holiday pay means the employer adds 12.07%to the worker's hourly rate as a continuous holiday-pay supplement, rather than paying holiday pay separately when the worker takes leave. The worker still gets the same amount overall but the cash flows differently.
The European Court ruled this unlawful in 2006 because workers might not actually take holiday if they were paid for it continuously. The April 2024 reform legalised it again, but only for irregular-hours and part-year workers. Regular fixed-hours employees cannot have rolled-up holiday pay.
Three conditions for valid rolled-up holiday pay:
- The 12.07% must be itemised separately on the payslip (not folded silently into the headline rate)
- It must apply to the irregular-hours portion of work only
- The worker must still be allowed to take their accrued holiday (i.e. unpaid time off)
3. Definition of “a week's pay” clarified
For workers with variable pay (overtime, commission, shift premiums, performance pay), the regulations now formally codify what must be included in holiday pay calculations. This was previously case-law-led (Bear Scotland 2014 on overtime, British Gas v Lock 2014 on commission). The 2024 reform consolidates these into the regulations:
- Regular overtime that is “intrinsically linked” to the contract
- Commission that would normally have been earned
- Payments for professional or personal status (long-service bonuses, etc)
- Other payments that have been paid regularly in the previous 52 weeks
The reference period for averaging variable pay is 52 weeks (can extend to 104 if there are weeks of no work to skip).