A new petition has been launched calling on the UK government to increase the minimum annual holiday entitlement for full-time workers from 28 days to 30 days, including bank holidays.
The proposal has been submitted through the UK Parliament’s petitions website and argues that additional leave could benefit workers’ mental health while also encouraging consumer spending. The petition remains open until October 14, 2026.
The campaign comes as current UK employment law guarantees most workers 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave each year. For many full-time employees working a five-day week, that entitlement amounts to 28 days, although employers can choose to provide more than the legal minimum.
Petition Seeks Two Additional Days of Annual Leave
The petition was launched by Steve Dixon and calls on the Labour government to make it mandatory for employers to provide an extra two days of annual leave each year. The proposal would increase the minimum entitlement for full-time workers to 30 days, including bank holidays.
According to the petition text published on the UK Parliament website, the change would “help with public spending as everyone tends to spend more on their day off.” The petition also argues that additional leave could support the mental health of full-time workers by giving them “an extra 2 days off work when needed.”
The petition system requires 10,000 signatures before the government is obliged to issue a formal response. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, the proposal will be considered for debate in Parliament.
At present, UK law provides almost all workers with a statutory annual leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks. According to government guidance, workers on a standard five-day schedule must receive at least 28 days of paid leave each year.
Employers are free to offer more generous holiday packages, but the legal minimum remains capped at 28 days. Any change to that baseline would require government action and, potentially, legislative reform.
Current Rules Vary Depending on Working Patterns
The government’s holiday entitlement guidance states that part-time workers are also entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid leave, although the total number of days is lower because it is calculated according to the number of days worked each week.
For example, according to the government’s published guidance, an employee who works three days per week is entitled to at least 16.8 days of annual leave each year, calculated by multiplying three working days by 5.6 weeks.
Workers with irregular hours or part-year contracts are also entitled to statutory leave, although their entitlement is accrued based on hours worked rather than being allocated as a fixed number of days. Government rules state that these workers build up leave at a rate linked to their working hours during each pay period.
The guidance also makes clear that bank holidays do not have to be granted as paid leave. Employers may choose to include bank holidays within a worker’s statutory annual leave entitlement rather than offering them as additional days off.
Another existing restriction applies to employees who work more than five days a week. According to the government website, statutory paid holiday entitlement is limited to 28 days, meaning workers on six-day schedules are not automatically entitled to more paid leave than those working five days.
The petition’s proposal would raise that statutory minimum from 28 to 30 days for full-time workers if adopted. For now, it remains part of the parliamentary petitions process while signatures continue to be collected.
