Variable hours employees accrue annual leave instead of being paid in lieu of leave. This can be calculated retrospectively based on the number of hours worked by an employee over a finite period of time and taking this as a proportion of an equivalent full time annual leave entitlement for a position on the same job evaluation grade and length of continuous service. To do this line managers need to keep up-to-date and accurate records of the on-going number of hours claimed by their employees and over what precise time periods.
Annual leave for variable hours
Examine over the contract period completed to date the total time (in hours) the employee has worked. Annual leave allocation for support staff, for example, with less than 3 years continuous service is 25 days per annum which is 185 hours plus 13 bank holidays and concessionary days which is 96 hours. The total leave allocation in hours for a full time employee working 52 weeks per year is 185 hours + 96 hours = 281 hours. This means for each hour of work performed a person will accrue 281/52weeks/37 hours = 0.1460498 hours of annual leave which is 8.8 minutes of annual leave for each hour worked.
| Up to 3 years service | 3 to 5 years service | 6 to 8 years service | 9 or more years service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual leave in hours | 185 | 192 | 200 | 207 |
| Bank holidays and concessionary days in hours | 96 | 96 | 96 | 96 |
| Total annual leave, bank holidays and concessionary days in hours | 281 | 288 | 296 | 303 |
| Proportion of hours accrued as leave for each hour worked | 0.146 | 0.150 | 0.154 | 0.157 |
| No of minutes accrued for each hour worked | 8.8 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 9.4 |
- Up to 3 years continuous service: Multiply 8.8 by the number of hours worked to find out how many minutes of leave have been accrued.
- 3 to 5 years continuous service: Multiply 9.0 by the number of hours worked to find out how many minutes of leave have been accrued.
- 6 to 8 years continuous service: Multiply 9.2 by the number of hours worked to find out how many minutes of leave have been earned.
- 9 or more years continuous service: Multiply 9.4 by the number of hours worked to find out how many minutes of leave have been accrued.
A Student Ambassador works 12 weeks of the forthcoming semester. And during that time, does 150 hours work. This SA then asks for leave with pay over Christmas and wants to know how much they have.
Leave accrued per hour * no. of hours worked = leave entitlement.
8.8 minutes * 150 = 1320 minutes = 22 hours leave.
A Support Worker has worked part way through the semester and worked over 6 weeks; and during that time they have worked a lot less than was originally intended (only 25 hours). This person then informs you that they want to know if they have accrued any paid leave at all as they’d like to attend an event.
Leave accrued per hour * no. of hours worked = leave entitlement.
8.8 minutes * 25 = 220 minutes = 3.66 hours leave.
A Student Ambassador was given a seven and a half month fixed term, variable hours contract over the academic year which equates to 33 weeks. This person has worked 330 hours. They ask to use all the leave they have accrued to pay for their summer holiday and want to know how much they have.
Leave accrued per hour * no. of hours worked = leave entitlement.
8.8 minutes * 330 = 2904 minutes = 48.4 hours leave.
N.B. the length of the contract and the number of weeks do not influence the calculation, all you need to know is how many hours have been worked.
In the Excel spreadsheet annual leave calculation for variable hours staff, the above examples with formulas have been provided to enable line managers to enter the requisite data to calculate variable hours entitlements at any point in time
Leave should only be taken once it has been accrued to ensure that employees are not in the position of taking more leave than they have accrued. When taking leave the employee must submit their usual claim form for the hours they wish to claim and the line manager would approve and submit in the usual way
Updated September 2025