Free Annual Leave Tracker for UK Small Business

This free annual leave tracker is designed for UK small businesses that want a simple way to log holidays, work out remaining entitlement and keep everything in one place — without signing up for software or sharing employee data with a third party.

Start by setting your holiday year. Enter the From and To dates at the top of the page. Most UK businesses use either the calendar year (1 January – 31 December) or a rolling year tied to the employee's start date. Once set, the tracker only counts holidays that fall inside that period, so you can carry on using it year after year.

Next, click Add Staff and enter each employee's name, role, department, contracted hours per week, days worked per week and their annual entitlement in hours. The tracker uses those numbers to work out a daily rate, so someone on 30 hours across 3 days gets a different daily deduction to someone on 40 hours across 5 days. This matters for part-time staff — the most common source of holiday calculation errors.

Then select the staff member, choose whether the holiday is a Full Day, Half Day or Block Booking, pick the dates and submit. If the dates clash with an existing holiday the tracker warns you. If the request exceeds their remaining entitlement it warns you again. Manager approval is a single click — the remaining balance updates automatically.

Finally, when you need a record, click Download CSV. You'll get a file with every request, its hours, status and reason, ready for payroll or your accountant.

Almost all UK workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year. For a full-time employee working 5 days a week, that is 28 days. This is the statutory minimum — an employer can offer more but not less.

Bank holidays may be included in the 28-day minimum or given in addition, depending on the contract. If they are included, a full-time employee has 20 days to book plus the 8 usual bank holidays. If they are in addition, the employee has 28 days to book plus bank holidays. There is no legal right to take bank holidays off — it depends entirely on the contract.

Part-time workers get the same 5.6 weeks, pro-rated. A 3-day-a-week employee gets 16.8 days (rounded up in practice to 17). This is where most businesses make mistakes — using the same daily rate for everyone instead of pro-rating by contracted days. The tracker handles this automatically: enter the employee's contracted hours and days per week, and their daily rate is calculated correctly.

Carryover is not a legal right in the UK. An employer may allow it in their contract or by agreement, but they don't have to. If you do allow carryover, note that the 4 weeks' minimum required by the Working Time Regulations cannot be replaced by payment in lieu — except on termination.

For the most up-to-date statutory figures, always check GOV.UK's holiday entitlement guidance. This tracker is a calculation aid, not legal advice.

Holiday admin is one of those jobs that eats time quietly. A single annual leave tracker removes most of the repetitive work and helps you stay on the right side of employment law.

• Avoid calculation errors. Statutory entitlement, part-time pro-rating and carryover rules are easy to get wrong in a spreadsheet. The tracker does the maths for you.
• Prevent clashes. When two team members book the same week off, the tracker flags the overlap before it becomes a problem.
• Stop over-entitlement. Requests that exceed the remaining balance are rejected before they're approved, so you don't end up paying back holiday after someone has left.
• Keep payroll clean. Export to CSV and hand the file to your accountant — no more "how many days did Jane take in March" emails.
• Show a clear audit trail. Every request has a date, a reason and an approval. That's useful evidence if an employee ever disputes their entitlement.
• Stay compliant. The Working Time Regulations require you to keep records that show workers are getting their statutory leave. A tracker is the simplest way to demonstrate that.