Holiday, hours and breaks for restaurant staff ​

Almost everyone who works for you is entitled to paid holiday, a limit on their working week and rest breaks, whether full-time, part-time or on a zero-hours contract, and since 2024 there are special rules for staff whose hours change every week. This guide covers adult staff in a restaurant, café, pub or takeaway; under-18s have stricter limits, in our guide to young workers. The Working Time Regulations 1998 extend to Great Britain only; in Northern Ireland, check the rules there.

How much holiday: 5.6 weeks ​

• Full-time. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year. For someone on a 5-day week, that is at least 28 days.
• The 28-day cap. Statutory paid holiday is limited to 28 days, so staff working 6 days a week are still only entitled to 28 days.
• Part-time. Regular part-time staff get 5.6 weeks too, in fewer days: on 3 days a week, at least 16.8 days (3 × 5.6).
• Bank holidays can be counted as part of the 5.6 weeks; see below.

Starting mid-year. Tell staff their leave year when they start; if the contract sets none, it starts on their first day. A new starter gets only the share of leave for what is left of the year, and in the first year you can let it build up at one twelfth a month: GOV.UK’s example is 2.5 days for January (28 ÷ 12 = 2.33, rounded up to the nearest half day).

Leaving. Paying instead of leave is allowed only when someone leaves, and untaken leave must be paid even after dismissal for gross misconduct. Leave taken beyond what they built up can come out of final pay only if agreed beforehand in writing.

Irregular hours and part-year staff: 12.07% ​

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, two groups of workers build up holiday as they work, instead of getting a fixed number of days:

• Irregular-hours workers: under their contract, their paid hours in each pay period are wholly or mostly variable. The government’s example is a hospitality worker on a zero-hours contract; fixed hours on a rotating pattern are not irregular.
• Part-year workers: they 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.

They build up holiday on the last day of each pay period, at 12.07% of the hours worked in that period, up to 28 days a year. A fraction under 30 minutes counts as zero, and 30 minutes or more as a full hour. The 12.07% comes from 5.6 weeks of leave divided by the 46.4 weeks left to work in a year.

Rolled-up holiday pay. For these workers only (never regular-hours staff), you can instead pay a 12.07% uplift on all pay for the work, at the same time as that pay, shown as a separate amount on each payslip. They then get no pay when they take time off, so make sure they still take it. Check the contract and tell staff first; the uplift is on top of at least the minimum wage.

A worked example. A kitchen porter on a zero-hours contract is paid weekly at £13 an hour and works 30 hours one week.

If you do not use rolled-up pay, you pay the 4 hours when they are taken, worked out from the 52-week average below.

Holiday pay: what a week’s pay means ​

• Regular hours, fixed pay: their normal week’s pay.
• Regular shifts or variable pay: an average over the previous 52 weeks.
• Irregular-hours and part-year workers: their average pay from the previous 52 weeks, counting only weeks in which they were paid. All their leave is paid at the normal rate.

The 52 weeks. A week usually runs Sunday to Saturday. Skip weeks with no pay or spent off sick or on statutory leave, and count back further instead, but no more than 104 weeks. A newer starter is averaged over the complete weeks you have.

What counts. For regular-hours staff, at least 4 of the 5.6 weeks must be paid at the ‘normal’ rate, which must include commission, payments for length of service, seniority or qualifications, and overtime paid regularly in the 52 weeks before. Whether a bonus counts depends on the bonus. The other 1.6 weeks can be paid at the ‘basic’ rate, which still reflects premium-rate shifts they would have worked. Many employers pay all 5.6 weeks at the normal rate.

Booking, refusing and fixing holiday dates ​

• Staff asking. Unless the contract says otherwise, notice is at least twice as long as the leave plus 1 day: 3 days’ notice for 1 day off.
• Refusing or cancelling. You can refuse or cancel leave with notice of as long as the leave plus 1 day: 11 days for a 10-day request. You can refuse a particular time, but never refuse leave altogether.
• Telling staff when to take it. You can make staff take leave, for example if you close over Christmas, and restrict it at busy times, with notice of at least twice the leave: 10 days’ notice for 5 days. You cannot make a sick worker take leave instead.
• Use it or lose it. Unless you give staff a reasonable chance to take leave and tell them untaken leave will be lost, they can carry it forward.

Working hours: the 48-hour week ​

• The limit. No more than 48 hours a week on average, normally over 17 weeks. One long week is fine if the average stays within the limit.
• What counts. Paid overtime, unpaid overtime you ask for, training and time on call at the workplace. Breaks, holiday and travel to and from a fixed workplace do not.
• Opting out. A worker over 18 can agree to work more. It must be voluntary and in writing; you can ask, but they cannot be sacked or treated unfairly for refusing. Keep a record of who has opted out.
• Cancelling. They can cancel at any time, even if the opt-out is in their contract, with at least 7 days’ written notice (up to 3 months if the agreement says so).

Night workers. Staff who regularly work at least 3 hours between 11pm and 6am (or another agreed 7-hour period including midnight to 5am) are night workers. They must not work more than an average of 8 hours in 24, normally over 17 weeks, and cannot opt out of that limit. Offer a free health assessment before someone starts night work and regularly after; they do not have to accept. If a doctor links health problems to night work, move them to day work where possible.

Rest breaks ​

• When. You can set the time, but it must be one break somewhere in the middle of the shift, not at the start or end, and staff can spend it away from where they work. If you call them back early, it is not a rest break.
• Pay. Breaks do not have to be paid; it depends on the contract.
• Shift and split-shift staff who cannot get daily or weekly rest between shifts may be entitled to compensatory rest of the same length instead.

Records ​

• Working time: records showing you keep to the 48-hour and night-work limits and offer health assessments, kept for 2 years, and an up-to-date list of who has opted out.
• Holiday: since 6 April 2026, records showing staff got the leave and holiday pay they are due, kept for 6 years: per Acas, holiday taken and carried over, holiday pay and what it includes, and any payment in lieu. Payroll or a spreadsheet is fine; without records you may be fined.

Bank holidays ​

In GOV.UK’s words, “Your employer does not have to give you paid leave on bank or public holidays.” You can include them in the 5.6 weeks or give them on top, and whether staff work them is up to you. If you close, staff can be made to use leave for a bank holiday on a day they usually work, with a contract term or notice, but not for one on a day they do not work. Staff who work bank holidays still get their full 5.6 weeks off.

A short checklist ​

• A leave year set and given to every new starter.
• 5.6 weeks for everyone, capped at 28 days, pro rata for regular part-timers.
• Irregular-hours and part-year staff building up 12.07% of hours worked.
• Rolled-up holiday pay, if used, shown separately on every payslip.
• Holiday pay with commission and regular overtime, over 52 paid weeks.
• Written opt-outs for anyone over 48 hours; health checks for night workers.
• 20-minute breaks, 11 hours between shifts and a weekly day off on the rota.
• Holiday records kept for 6 years and working time records for 2.

Sources ​

• GOV.UK, Holiday entitlement: 5.6 weeks, the 28-day cap, part-time leave, bank holidays, the leave year, starting part way through a year, the 12.07% accrual and rounding, how a week’s pay is worked out, the normal rate, rolled-up holiday pay, holiday records from 6 April 2026, notice for booking and refusing leave, telling staff when to take it, payment in lieu and deductions from final pay.
• Department for Business and Trade, Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024, updated 1 April 2024: the definitions and hospitality example, leave years from 1 April 2024, where 12.07% comes from, what normal and basic pay include, rolled-up holiday pay on payslips, the 52-week reference period and 104-week limit, payment in lieu.
• legislation.gov.uk, The Working Time Regulations 1998, version from 1 October 2026, as amended by the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023: extent to Great Britain only (regulation 1), the 48-hour limit and opt-out (regulations 4 and 5), night work and health assessments (regulations 6 and 7), working time records for two years (regulation 9), daily and weekly rest and rest breaks (regulations 10 to 12), notice for leave (regulation 15), the 12.07% accrual and 28-day cap (regulation 15B), the definitions (regulation 15F), rolled-up holiday pay and payslips (regulation 16A) and holiday records for six years (regulation 16B).
• legislation.gov.uk, The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, regulation 3(8): section 35 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, the duty to keep records relating to annual leave, in force from 6 April 2026.
• GOV.UK, Rest breaks at work: the three types of break, when breaks are taken, pay for breaks, compensatory rest.
• GOV.UK, Maximum weekly working hours: the 17-week average, what counts as work, opting out and cancelling an opt-out.
• GOV.UK, Night working hours: who is a night worker, the 8-hour limit, health assessments, records.
• GOV.UK, UK bank holidays: no obligation to give paid leave on bank holidays.
• Acas, Holiday entitlement, last updated 1 October 2026: asking for and taking holiday, bank holidays and Christmas, calculating holiday pay and keeping records; and Rolled-up holiday pay, last updated 22 April 2026: a separate payment on the payslip, no pay when the holiday is taken.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your own staff, use the government’s holiday entitlement calculator or call the Acas helpline.