Holiday pay: reference period (weeks)

The number of past weeks a week's pay for holiday purposes is averaged over, counting back from the first day of the leave.

52weeks

Corroborated Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 2020-04-06

Checked against its sources: statute verified 2026-09-21·guidance verified 2026-09-09

Scope: 52 weeks in place of the twelve Employment Rights Act 1996 ss.221(3), 222(3) and (4), 223(2) and 224(2) and (3) would otherwise count, for every holiday-pay calculation under regulation 16 — the base rule. For the regulation 16(3ZA) payment types on regulation 13 and 15B leave, regulation 16(3ZD) states the same 52 weeks as the "relevant period" ending with the last complete week before the calculation date, with weeks in which no remuneration was payable or the worker was on sick or statutory leave discounted and earlier weeks brought in (reg 16(3ZE) and (3ZF)), back to a 104-week backstop (reg 16(3ZG)) that mirrors sub-paragraph (f)(i). The identically-numbered 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave and the 52 weeks shared parental leave regulation 6 starts from are different figures in different instruments.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1378/made (SI 2018/1378 reg 10(3)(b): in regulation 16(3) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, "after sub-paragraph (d) insert- (e) subject to the exception in sub-paragraph (f)(ii), as if in sections 221(3), 222(3) and (4), 223(2) and 224(2) and (3) references to twelve were references to- (i) in the case of a worker who on the calculation date has been employed by their employer for less than 52 complete weeks, the number of complete weeks for which the worker has been employed, or (ii) in any other case, 52"; in force 6 April 2020, reg 1)

retrieved 2026-09-15

Source B · Official guidancehttps://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay (under "Calculating average hourly or weekly rate": "Take the average rate over the last 52 weeks", with "A 'week' usually runs from Sunday to Saturday")

retrieved 2026-09-09

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
52	2020-04-06	—	Corroborated	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1378/made (SI 2018/1378 reg 10(3)(b): in regulation 16(3) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, "after sub-paragraph (d) insert- (e) subject to the exception in sub-paragraph (f)(ii), as if in sections 221(3), 222(3) and (4), 223(2) and 224(2) and (3) references to twelve were references to- (i) in the case of a worker who on the calculation date has been employed by their employer for less than 52 complete weeks, the number of complete weeks for which the worker has been employed, or (ii) in any other case, 52"; in force 6 April 2020, reg 1) retrieved 2026-09-15 Official guidance: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay (under "Calculating average hourly or weekly rate": "Take the average rate over the last 52 weeks", with "A 'week' usually runs from Sunday to Saturday") retrieved 2026-09-09

Receipt

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Figure ID: employment.working_time.holiday_reference_period_weeks
Name in the API: Holiday pay: the reference period for a week's pay (weeks)
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·weeks·GB·corroborated
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:92e1b524b225c68d6d6476a5796ecc3323b794148e80898282a80c32cc16ae98
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:ceba7e70817bdfc810889fc2a4247185502e7f6d9592076470e37f07010bd92d; Official guidance: sha256:994fe08336d531cc8135d0560bde3cbcc59fb00387d633261ed40a22455446b3
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.working_time.holiday_reference_period_weeks"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.holiday_reference_period_weeks · current only: /v1/figures/employment.working_time.holiday_reference_period_weeks/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014): SI 2018/1378 reg 10(3)(b) INSERTED regulation 16(3)(e) and (f) whole, so there is no value-level substitution for NF-1 to re-derive and the inserted sub-paragraphs carry no provision ids in the amender's own document. The evidence is the pair: the 1998 Regulations' current view and SI 2018/1378 as made, both hashed and recomputed at Gate 2. Pinned (D20) to regulation 16(3)(e), the smallest provision the probe can name that carries both tokens: the modification clause is (e)'s own text and the 52 is its item (ii), which the current view numbers regulation 16(3)(e)(ii) but which sits below the sub-paragraph grain the probe pins; the two locator tokens tell its 52 from (e)(i)'s "less than 52 complete weeks" beside it. RE-PINNED 2026-09-15 from regulation 16(3ZD) at 1 January 2024 (SI 2023/1426): s.224 was never amended — WTR reg 16(3)(e) carries the 52 — and (3ZD) is the "relevant period" for the reg 16(3ZA) payment types only, so the base 52-week averaging has stood in (e)(ii) since 6 April 2020 and the archived current view carries no later note on it. A provision move for the SAME concept, the 52-week reference period, so the id is kept under ADR-0012's identity rule (a definition change is a new id; a better citation for an unchanged definition is not). ONE value only: the twelve weeks before 6 April 2020 were the Act's own and are not this instrument's history.