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Notice periods & holiday entitlement, explained

The legal floor your contract can improve on, but never fall below.

Your contract can promise more than the statutory minimum notice period or holiday entitlement — but it can never legally promise less. Here's the floor those figures sit on.

Statutory minimum notice

Once you've worked at least one month, your employer must give at least one week's notice. That rises by one additional week for each complete year of service from your second year onward, capped at a maximum of 12 weeks — reached after 12 years of service. Your contract might specify a longer notice period, and if it does, the longer figure applies; but it can never specify a shorter one than the statutory minimum.

Statutory minimum holiday

Full-time workers are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year — commonly 28 days for someone working five days a week, since 5.6 weeks × 5 days = 28. Crucially, 28 days is also the cap: even someone working six or seven days a week is only entitled to the statutory minimum of 28 days, not 5.6 weeks of their longer working pattern.

Part-time holiday is pro-rated, not fixed

Part-time workers get 5.6 weeks of their own working pattern, not a flat number of days. Someone working three days a week is entitled to 5.6 × 3 = 16.8 days, not 28. This is one of the most common sources of confusion for part-time and irregular-hours workers.

Bank holidays can count towards the minimum

There's no separate statutory right to bank holidays off — employers can include bank holidays as part of your 5.6-week statutory entitlement, or offer them on top, depending on your contract.