NHS annual leave entitlement by length of service

A full-time NHS employee on Agenda for Change terms gets 27 days of annual leave on appointment, 29 days after five years’ service and 33 days after ten years, plus 8 general public holidays on top. That is 35 days a year at the start and 41 at the top, before any local arrangements are applied. The figures are in Section 13 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, which employers in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all work from.

The numbers

Length of service	Annual leave	General public holidays
On appointment	27 days	8 days
After five years	29 days	8 days
After ten years	33 days	8 days

These entitlements are for full-time staff on standard hours. Part-time staff get the same entitlement pro rata. For public holidays, a part-timer’s entitlement must be no less than the pro rata share, rounded up to the nearest half day.

The four nations differ in places. NHS Wales staff get one extra day on appointment, from the 2021/22 leave year. In Northern Ireland the entitlement also includes the two extra-statutory days, but there are ten general public holidays rather than eight. Scotland has its own version of the handbook, so check it if you work there.

What counts as service

Service means reckonable service. Continuous previous service with any NHS employer counts towards annual leave, so moving from one trust to another does not send you back to 27 days. When you come back to the NHS after a gap, previous NHS service counts towards your leave, and the handbook sets no time limit on that. Employers can also choose to count relevant time with employers outside the NHS, including abroad. That is a discretion, so it is worth asking at the job offer stage. The guide to reckonable service and sick pay covers how the same service rules work for sickness.

Public holidays

The 8 days are for the general public holidays. If you work on one, or are on call, you are entitled to equivalent time off in lieu at plain time rates, as well as the pay for the duty. Local partners can agree to roll some or all public holidays into annual leave, so your contract may show a single larger total.

Part-time staff add their public holiday entitlement to their annual leave. If a public holiday falls on a day you would normally work, you take it as annual leave. The part-time holiday guide has the general arithmetic.

Shift workers and hours

Where staff work standard shifts other than 7.5 hours (excluding meal breaks), leave is calculated on an hourly basis. This stops anyone on non-standard shifts getting more or less leave than colleagues on standard days.

Take a full-time employee on appointment. Twenty-seven days at 7.5 hours is 202.5 hours of annual leave. If your shifts are 12 hours long, the leave is counted against those hours, so a day off costs you 12 hours from the pot instead of 7.5. Your trust’s leave system or HR can convert this into shifts. The NHS shift patterns guide explains how long days and rotas fit into a working week.

Pay while you are on leave

Pay during annual leave includes the supplements you regularly receive: recruitment and retention premia, payments for work outside normal hours and high cost area supplements. It is worked out on what you would have received had you been at work.

For staff with regular hours, the handbook says to look at the previous three months at work, or any other reference period agreed locally. For staff with irregular hours, the reference period is the last 52 weeks, and employers can look back no further than the previous 104 weeks from the date the leave begins. If your enhanced pay has dropped since you started taking leave, compare a payslip against this rule.

Leave in other circumstances

Staff on paid or unpaid maternity, adoption or shared parental leave keep their Section 13 entitlement. Leave also keeps building up while you are off sick, which the guide to annual leave and sick leave in the NHS covers in detail.

For the legal minimum, almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday, which is 28 days for a five-day week. Employers can include bank holidays in that. NHS entitlements are well above it, and the part that sits above 28 days is a contractual benefit rather than a statutory one. That matters for carrying leave over, which is covered in the NHS annual leave carry-over guide.

What to check

• Your contract or statement of main terms, for the leave year dates and whether public holidays are rolled into your total.
• Your service date on the leave record, including any earlier NHS service that should count.
• Whether the hourly calculation has been applied if you work shifts other than 7.5 hours.
• That your holiday pay includes the supplements you normally receive.
• The version of the handbook for your country, if you work in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

For a dispute that HR cannot settle, a trade union representative or ACAS can explain the next step.