# Is rolled-up holiday pay legal for casual bar staff? The 12.07% rule, who it covers and one payslip worked

> Rolled-up holiday pay is lawful for irregular hours and part-year workers at 12.07% of pay, shown on the payslip. Who qualifies, and one December payslip.

- Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/hospitality/rolled-up-holiday-pay-legal-casual-bar-staff-12-07-percent/
- Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/)
- Section: Restaurants, pubs and small hotels, Staff, rotas and tips
- Published 2 October 2026
- Key fact: Rolled-up holiday pay has been lawful for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, but only for irregular hours and part-year workers: it is a 12.07% uplift on all pay for work done, paid at the same time and shown on the payslip, so a casual on £12.71 an hour who earns £940.54 in December 2026 gets £113.52 of holiday pay with it and accrues 8 hours of leave.
- Sources: Working Time Regulations 1998, regulations 15B, 15F and 16A, on legislation.gov.uk; Department for Business and Trade, Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024 (GOV.UK, updated 1 April 2024); GOV.UK, National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates; all read 2 October 2026.

Yes, for some staff. Regulation 16A of the Working Time Regulations 1998 lets an employer pay holiday pay as a 12.07% uplift on a worker's pay for work done, in leave years that began on or after 1 April 2024. It applies only to irregular hours workers and part-year workers. For anyone on fixed hours, holiday pay is still due when the leave is taken.

The regulations cover England, Wales and Scotland.

## Who counts

Regulation 15F defines the two groups by what the contract says.

- An **irregular hours worker** is one whose paid hours in each pay period are, under the terms of the contract, wholly or mostly variable.
- A **part-year worker** is required to work only part of the year, with periods of at least a week in which they are not required to work and are not paid.

| Member of staff | What the contract says | Rolled-up holiday pay |
|---|---|---|
| Casual bar worker on a zero-hours contract | Hours offered week by week | Allowed |
| Student taken on for the summer and for December | No work and no pay in term time | Allowed |
| Part-time waiter on a two-week rotating rota | 15 hours one week, 20 the next | Not allowed |
| Salaried chef | Fixed hours all year | Not allowed |

The third row is the government guidance's own example. A worker whose contracted hours are fixed is not an irregular hours worker because the shifts rotate. The guidance also says a casual or zero-hours contract can qualify, and it encourages employers to make working patterns clear in the contract, since that is what the test reads.

## Where 12.07% comes from

Every worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of leave. Take 5.6 from the 52 weeks of the year and 46.4 are worked: 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%.

The percentage does two jobs.

- **Leave.** Under regulation 15B the worker accrues leave on the last day of each pay period, at 12.07% of the hours worked in it. A fraction under 30 minutes is dropped, and 30 minutes or more counts as an hour. No more than 28 days can accrue in a leave year.
- **Pay.** Under regulation 16A the holiday pay for that leave may be paid as a 12.07% uplift on the worker's remuneration for work done. The guidance says to work it out on total pay in the pay period, whatever the hourly rates were.

## The conditions

1. The worker is an irregular hours worker or a part-year worker under the contract.
2. The holiday pay is paid at the same time as the pay for the work.
3. The payslip shows the amount of holiday pay for the period. Regulation 16A requires that of any itemised pay statement.
4. The uplift sits on top of the basic rate. The guidance says the normal pay must itself be at the National Minimum Wage or above, so £12.71 an hour "including holiday pay" underpays a worker aged 21 or over.
5. Staff are told before it starts, and the contract is checked. The guidance warns that the change may be a variation of the contract.

The worker still takes the leave. Regulation 15B says it may not be replaced by a payment in lieu except when the employment ends. The days off are unpaid when they come, because the pay for them has already gone out.

## One payslip, worked

A casual bar worker aged 22 is paid monthly at the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour. In December 2026 she works 70 hours. Eight of them fall on Monday 28 December, a bank holiday, which her contract pays at time and a half.

| Line | Sum | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Basic hours | 62 × £12.71 | £788.02 |
| Bank holiday hours | 8 × £19.065 | £152.52 |
| Pay for work done | £788.02 + £152.52 | £940.54 |
| Rolled-up holiday pay | £940.54 × 12.07% | £113.52 |
| Gross pay | £940.54 + £113.52 | £1,054.06 |

Leave accrued in the month: 70 × 12.07% = 8.449 hours. The fraction is under 30 minutes, so she accrues 8 hours.

The check: her average for the month is £940.54 ÷ 70 = £13.44 an hour, and 8.449 hours at that average is £113.52. The holiday pay matches the leave before rounding.

Our [Christmas and New Year guide](https://aeolookup.com/hospitality/christmas-new-year-2026-pub-restaurant-bank-holidays-notices-deposits/) explains why the bank holiday is on 28 December in 2026 and how to read a contract's bank holiday clause.

## If she is off sick or on family leave

Leave keeps accruing during sick leave and statutory leave such as maternity leave. Regulation 16A says a worker who was on rolled-up pay is then paid holiday pay in each pay period of the absence, at the average she received per pay period over the 52 weeks before it began, or over the shorter time she has been paid this way.

## The other method

Rolled-up pay is a choice, not a duty. An employer can pay holiday when it is taken instead, at the worker's average pay over the last 52 weeks in which they were paid. Weeks with no pay are left out, and the look-back stops at 104 weeks. Over a year it comes to much the same money. It takes more record-keeping, and it suits a venue that wants staff to see pay arrive in the week they are off.

## Where owners go wrong

- **Using it for fixed-hours staff.** Regulation 16A discharges the employer only for leave under regulation 15B, which is the leave of irregular hours and part-year workers. On our reading, a rolled-up payment to anyone else does not settle the holiday pay due when they take leave.
- **Hiding it in the rate.** An hourly rate "inclusive of holiday pay", with no separate line, fails the payslip condition.
- **Leaving it out of the budget.** The uplift is a real cost on every casual hour: £12.71 becomes £14.24. Our [rota cost calculator](https://aeolookup.com/hospitality/rota-cost-calculator-hospitality-employer-ni/) adds it to employer National Insurance and pension.
- **Never giving the time off.** Keep the count of hours accrued and put the leave on the rota. The rest rules in our [pub and bar staff rota template](https://aeolookup.com/hospitality/bar-staff-rota-template-rest-breaks-clopen/) are separate and still apply.

## What to do this week

1. Sort every contract into the four rows of the table.
2. Write to casual and seasonal staff with the start date and the 12.07% rate.
3. Add a holiday pay line to the payslip, worked on total pay for the period.
4. Record leave accrued at each pay day, in whole hours.
5. Put the wording in the contract for new casuals. Our [new starter checklist](https://aeolookup.com/hospitality/new-starter-checklist-restaurant-pub-staff/) lists the rest of the first-day paperwork.

Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) can set up an AI assistant that drafts the weekly rota with its all-in cost, holiday accrual included, for a manager to approve.

This is general information, not legal advice.

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General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.