NHS annual leave

The entitlement

Section 13 of the handbook sets annual leave by length of NHS service, in three steps. General public holidays are shown separately and are in addition to the annual leave figure, not part of it.

Figures above from: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, Section 13, Table 6. Effective from 2026-04-01. This site is not affiliated with the NHS, NHS Employers or the NHS Business Services Authority.

So a new starter has 27 days plus 8 public holidays, and someone with 10 years of service has 33 days plus the same 8. Service counts across NHS employers, not just your current one.

Part-time and non-standard shifts

Part-time staff get a pro-rata public holiday entitlement, rounded up to the nearest half day, added to their annual leave — and they take public holidays they would normally have worked as annual leave.

Where shifts are not the standard length, entitlement is calculated in hours rather than days. A 37.5-hour week over long shifts otherwise gives more or less leave than the same week over standard ones, which is what the hours basis exists to prevent.

What you are paid while on leave

Pay during annual leave includes regularly paid supplements — recruitment and retention premia, payments for work outside normal hours, and high cost area supplements. It is calculated on the basis of what you would have received had you been at work. For staff with regular hours the reference period is the previous three months; for irregular hours it is the last 52 weeks worked.

Note the contrast with unsocial hours: HCAS is included in annual-leave pay and excluded from the unsocial-hours base. The two rules point opposite ways and both are in the same handbook.