NHS Annual Leave Entitlement Explained

Annual leave is one of the more confusing parts of an NHS contract to explain simply, because it isn't a single flat number — it depends on how long you've worked in the NHS, how many hours you're contracted to work each week, and sometimes on the specific policy your trust has adopted locally. This guide walks through how the system is generally understood to work conceptually, where genuine confusion commonly arises (particularly for part-time staff and new starters), and points you to a calculator that will do the pro-rata maths for your own numbers.

The service-tiered system, conceptually

Section 13 of the NHS Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook sets out annual leave as a tiered entitlement: staff earlier in their NHS career get a base number of days, and that base rises at set length-of-service milestones. The figures most commonly cited for a full-time (37.5 hours a week) member of staff are:

Length of NHS service	Commonly-cited base annual leave (full-time)
Under 5 years	27 days
5 to 10 years	29 days
10 or more years	33 days

On top of whichever base figure applies, most staff also receive a separate bank/public holiday entitlement, commonly cited as around 8 days a year for full-time staff, which is either added to your total or taken as the actual bank holiday date off (or time off in lieu, if you're rostered to work it) depending on how your trust and rota handle it.

How part-time leave is actually calculated

This is the point that trips up the most people, because the intuitive assumption — "I work three days a week, so I must get three-fifths of the full-time day count" — isn't quite how it's generally applied, and can under- or overstate your real entitlement depending on your specific working pattern.

The more accurate way to think about it is that your entitlement is pro-rated against a full-time 37.5-hour week, based on your contracted hours, and then the result is expressed in whatever unit (days or hours) makes sense for how you actually work. For someone with a simple, even working pattern (say, three full 7.5-hour days a week), pro-rating by hours and pro-rating by days tend to land close to the same place. But for anyone with a less even pattern — several short shifts, an irregular rota, or hours that don't divide neatly into whole days — calculating in hours rather than days is the more reliable approach, because a "day" simply isn't a fixed, comparable unit once your daily hours vary.

Concretely: take the full-time base-day figure for your service tier, multiply it by your pro-rata fraction (your contracted weekly hours divided by 37.5), and you get your pro-rated base days. Do the same with the bank holiday figure if it's added separately. The NHS Annual Leave Calculator does exactly this calculation for you — enter your years of service and contracted hours, and it shows both the pro-rated day figure and the equivalent in hours.

Why the day-count alone isn't always the fairest comparison

Because part-time staff often work shifts of a different length to their full-time colleagues (a short shift, a long shift, or a mix), comparing entitlement purely in "days" can be misleading. Someone contracted to four 5-hour shifts a week and someone contracted to two long 12-hour shifts a week might both be working roughly the same total weekly hours, but a leave policy expressed only in "days" could treat them quite differently depending on how a "day" is defined for each of them locally. This is exactly why many trusts, and the calculator on this site, express the result in hours as well as days — it's a genuinely more useful figure for anyone whose working pattern isn't a simple, even number of full days each week.

Your NHS leave year probably doesn't run on your anniversary

A surprisingly common point of confusion for new starters is assuming their annual leave entitlement resets on the anniversary of their start date, the way some non-NHS employers handle it. In practice, most NHS trusts run their annual leave year on a fixed 1 April to 31 March cycle, the same for every member of staff regardless of when they individually joined — this is commonly the case, though it's worth checking your own trust's specific policy rather than assuming it applies everywhere, since local variations do exist.

This matters most in your first year. If you join partway through a trust's leave year (say, in November, with the leave year running to the following March), your entitlement for that first partial year is normally pro-rated for the months remaining, not the full annual figure — so it's worth asking your line manager or HR exactly how many days you're entitled to before your first full leave year begins, rather than assuming the full-year number applies straight away.

What "years of service" generally means for leave purposes

Moving up a service tier generally depends on continuous NHS service, which in many cases can include time spent with a previous NHS employer if your employment transferred without a disqualifying break in service — often referred to as maintaining "continuous service" when moving between NHS trusts. The specific rules for what counts, and what constitutes a disqualifying break, can vary and are set out in your trust's policy and the wider NHS terms, so if you've moved between NHS employers and are unsure whether your prior service counts towards your leave tier, it's worth checking directly with your new trust's HR team rather than assuming either way.

Requesting leave, and what happens to it when you leave your trust

Knowing your entitlement is only half the picture — how you actually book it, and what happens to any of it you haven't used if you move on, matter just as much in practice.

• • Notice and approval aren't automatic — leave requests are generally subject to manager approval based on service needs, and busy periods (bank holidays, known seasonal pressures, or several colleagues requesting the same dates) can mean a request is refused or asked to be rescheduled, so book ahead where you can rather than assuming late requests will be approved
• • You can usually book in hours as well as whole days — particularly useful if your shift lengths vary, since booking a single long shift off as 'one day' can understate the actual leave it uses compared to a short one; the same hours-based logic that makes part-time pro-rating fairer applies here too
• • Unused leave is generally paid out, not lost, when you leave — if you resign or move to a different trust, you're normally entitled to be paid in lieu for any annual leave accrued but not yet taken by your last day, calculated pro-rata for the part of the leave year you worked (and, conversely, an amount may be deducted if you've taken more than you'd accrued)
• • NHS annual leave sits above the UK statutory floor — even the entry-level tier is designed to exceed the minimum paid leave every UK employee is legally guaranteed under the Working Time Regulations, which is a useful baseline to know if you're ever comparing an NHS role against a job outside the health service. See our NHS Working Time Rules guide for how those wider protections work alongside your leave entitlement.

Get notified if annual leave entitlement changes

Section 13 of the AfC Handbook doesn't change often, but if the tiers or thresholds are ever renegotiated, we'll email you the moment it's confirmed.

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Frequently asked questions

Does annual leave entitlement include bank holidays, or is it separate? +

They're two separate figures that are usually added together to give you a total. Your base annual leave scales with length of service, while your bank/public holiday entitlement (commonly cited as around 8 days a year for full-time staff) sits on top of it. Some rotas and staff handbooks present a single combined number, so if your total looks different from the base-days figure alone, it's likely because bank holidays are already folded in — check your specific trust's wording, or your payslip/rota system, if you're unsure which way yours is presented.

How does part-time work affect my leave? +

Your leave is pro-rated against a full-time 37.5-hour week, not simply cut by a flat number of days. Because a 'day' is worth fewer hours for someone contracted to fewer hours a week, trusts generally calculate part-time entitlement either in hours directly, or by applying your pro-rata fraction (your contracted hours divided by 37.5) to both the base days and the bank holiday days, then converting the result into whatever unit your rota uses. See the worked example further down this page, or use the calculator to see your own figures.

When does the NHS annual leave year start? +

Most NHS trusts run the annual leave year from 1 April to 31 March — not the calendar year (January to December) and not the anniversary of your own start date. This is commonly the case but not universal, so it's worth confirming with your own trust, especially if you're a new starter trying to work out how much leave you'll actually get before your first April rolls around.

What happens to my leave entitlement in my first year, if I start partway through? +

If your trust's leave year runs April to March and you start partway through it, your first year's entitlement is normally pro-rated for the number of months remaining in that leave year, rather than you receiving a full year's allowance immediately. The exact calculation method (whether it's done in whole months, weeks, or calendar days from your start date) can vary by trust, so check with your line manager or HR when you start if the figure you've been given isn't clear.

Does my entitlement keep rising indefinitely the longer I stay? +

No — the commonly-cited tiers top out at the highest bracket (often described as reached at 10 years' service), after which entitlement typically stays flat rather than continuing to increase with further years. Some trusts have historically offered additional local arrangements beyond the national tiers, but these are the exception rather than the rule, so don't assume extra increments beyond the top tier without checking.

Can I carry annual leave over into the next leave year? +

Most trusts allow only a limited amount of carry-over into the next leave year, often subject to manager approval and sometimes capped at a specific number of days, with the rest expected to be used within the leave year it was accrued. Policies on this vary noticeably between trusts, so check your local annual leave policy well before the leave year ends if you're planning on carrying days forward.

Can I request unpaid leave if I've used up my paid annual leave allowance? +

In some circumstances, yes — many trusts will consider a request for a period of unpaid leave once your paid annual leave allowance is exhausted, particularly for something like an extended family visit or a specific personal circumstance, but it's discretionary rather than a guaranteed right, and approval depends on service needs and your manager's agreement. If you're considering it, raise it as early as possible and check your trust's specific policy on unpaid leave requests, since the process and how far in advance you need to ask can vary.

What happens to my unused annual leave if I resign or move to a different trust? +

You're generally entitled to be paid in lieu for any annual leave you've accrued but not yet taken by your last working day, calculated on a pro-rata basis for the proportion of the leave year you've worked. If you've taken more leave than you'd accrued by that point, your trust may correspondingly deduct the excess from your final pay. The exact calculation method is set out in your trust's policy, so ask payroll or HR for a breakdown if the figure on your final payslip isn't clear.

Is there a minimum amount of leave I have to take, or can I save it all up? +

No — you can't simply bank your entire annual leave allowance and skip taking time off; there's generally an expectation, reflecting UK working time law, that leave is taken within the leave year it's accrued (subject to the limited carry-over most trusts allow), rather than treated as optional or convertible to extra pay while you're still employed. Trusts will typically encourage, and sometimes require, staff to book leave throughout the year rather than leaving it all until the final weeks of the leave year.

Can my trust refuse my annual leave request? +

Yes, in principle — annual leave requests are generally subject to manager approval based on service needs, so a request can be refused or asked to be rescheduled, particularly around known busy periods (bank holidays, winter pressures, or when several colleagues have already booked the same dates). Trusts don't have unlimited discretion, though — reasonable notice for a refusal, and fair, consistent application of any local rules about how many staff can be off at once, are generally expected. If a refusal feels unreasonable or inconsistent, it's worth raising it with your manager directly, or with your union rep if you're a member.