UK HR Term
12.07% method
The 12.07% method is the formula used in the UK to calculate accrued holiday for workers with irregular hours or part-year contracts. The figure represents 5.6 weeks of leave divided by the remaining 46.4 weeks of the year (5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%).
In plain English
Workers without a regular weekly pattern — zero-hours staff, casual workers, term-time-only employees — can't have their holiday calculated as a fixed number of days per year. The 12.07% method gives them an equivalent: for every hour they work, they accrue 12.07% of an hour as paid leave.
Where the figure comes from
UK workers get 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday per year. That leaves 46.4 weeks of working time. The ratio 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 0.1207, or 12.07%. So holiday accrues at 12.07% of working hours.
A worked example
A casual worker did 80 hours in May:
80 × 12.07% = 9.66 hours of paid leave accrued in May
When they take leave, those hours are paid at their average hourly rate, calculated using a 52-week reference period.
Brought back in April 2024
The method was thrown into doubt by the Supreme Court's Harpur Trust v Brazel ruling (2022), which said part-year workers (such as term-time-only staff) were entitled to a full 5.6 weeks rather than a pro-rated portion. This created an anomaly where a 25-week-a-year worker got the same paid leave as a 52-week-a-year worker.
The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2023 reinstated the 12.07% method for irregular-hours and part-year workers from 1 April 2024 onwards. For most casual and zero-hours arrangements it's once again the standard approach.