Do Nannies Get Holiday Pay in the UK?

Short answer: yes, nannies do get holiday pay

In the UK, nannies are classed as employees, not casual babysitters. That means they have the same legal right to paid annual leave as most other workers.

By law, almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year – and that includes nannies, whether they’re full-time or part-time.

So if you employ a nanny, holiday pay is not a “nice-to-have”. It’s a legal requirement.

How much holiday is a nanny entitled to?

The legal minimum is 5.6 weeks of paid leave per year.

What that looks like in days depends on how many days a week your nanny works:

• 5 days a week → 28 days’ paid holiday (5.6 × 5)

• 4 days a week → 22.4 days’ paid holiday

• 3 days a week → 16.8 days’ paid holiday

This is called “pro-rata” holiday. Part-time nannies get the same 5.6 weeks, just scaled to their working pattern.

You can always offer more than this in the contract, but you can’t offer less.

Does that include bank holidays?

Yes, your nanny’s 5.6 weeks’ entitlement can include bank holidays – if you choose.

You’ve got two common options:

• 28 days including bank holidays

• 20 days plus 8 bank holidays

There’s no automatic legal right for a nanny to have bank holidays off, or to be paid extra for working them. Whether they are off, and whether they get “double time”, is a matter of what’s written in the contract.

How is holiday pay calculated?

When a nanny takes holiday, they should be paid as if they were working normally that week.

• For fixed hours, it’s simple: one day of holiday = their normal day of pay.

• For irregular hours, holiday pay is based on their average weekly pay over the previous paid weeks (usually up to 52).

Holiday pay should show clearly on the payslip, just like normal pay.

Who gets to choose the holiday dates?

Legally, the employer can decide when holiday is taken, as long as the nanny gets their full entitlement.

In the nanny world though, there’s a common “done thing”:

• Half of the nanny’s holiday is chosen by the family (often to match family trips).

• Half is chosen by the nanny.

This keeps things fair and avoids last-minute surprises. Whatever you agree, put it in the contract so everyone is clear.

What if the family goes away but still employs the nanny?

If you take extra time off and don’t need your nanny, you generally still have to pay them – unless you have agreed, in advance, that this will be unpaid leave or taken from their holiday entitlement.

A nanny is usually on a continuous contract, not “only paid when the children are here”. Clear communication and planning are key to avoiding tension.

When a nanny leaves: unused holiday

If your nanny leaves and still has unused accrued holiday:

• You must pay it in lieu in their final pay.

• If they’ve taken more holiday than they’ve accrued, you can usually deduct the excess from their final salary, if the contract allows.

Again, this is much easier if their holiday accrual and usage have been tracked properly.

How Hirelo makes holiday pay easy

The rules themselves aren’t too complicated – but keeping track of them on a spreadsheet quickly gets messy, especially with part-time or changing hours.

With Hirelo, parents can:

• Set the correct holiday entitlement for their nanny from day one.

• Automatically calculate and track accrual.

• Make sure holiday pay is included correctly on each payslip.

• See at a glance how much holiday a nanny has taken and what’s left.

So yes, nannies do get holiday pay in the UK – and with the right system, it becomes one less thing to stress about.