Workplace

The typical UK employer advertises up to 27 days of annual leave

The holiday league table: annual leave offered on 6,364 UK employers' careers pages, by region and sector.

Data to 28 October 2026
James Costello
By James Costello, Founder · last updated 28 October 2026

Across 6,364 UK employers that state their annual leave on their careers pages, the typical (median) employer advertises up to 27 days, taking the most generous figure each states. Employers rarely say whether that includes bank holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays (about 33 in England and Wales) is a common offer, while 28 days including them is the legal minimum for a full-time worker.

Of employers that state their holiday or offer unlimited leave, 1.3% offer unlimited holiday.

By region

Employers in Scotland offer the most (30 days); at 25 days, those in the North East are among the least generous.

  1. Scotland: 30 days
  2. West Midlands: 28 days
  3. Wales: 28 days
  4. Northern Ireland: 28 days
  5. North West: 27 days
  6. South East: 26 days
  7. South West: 26 days
  8. Yorkshire and The Humber: 26 days
  9. London: 25 days
  10. East of England: 25 days
  11. East Midlands: 25 days
  12. North East: 25 days

By sector

  1. Health & social care: 28 days
  2. Hospitality & food service: 28 days
  3. Education: 28 days
  4. Transport & storage: 28 days
  5. Arts, entertainment & recreation: 28 days
  6. Agriculture, forestry & fishing: 28 days
  7. Public administration & defence: 28 days
  8. Other services: 27 days
  9. Real estate: 27 days
  10. Wholesale & retail: 26 days

How we measured it

We read the holiday entitlement stated on UK employers' own careers pages. Some employers quote leave including bank holidays and some excluding them; we take the figure as stated. Where a page gives more than one figure, such as leave that rises with service, we take the highest. The figure is the median across employers.

Holiday is the benefit every employer has, so it is the cleanest like-for-like comparison there is — and the spread is wider than most people expect.
— James Costello, Founder, ProdReady Recruitment
Headline
27 days

The median UK employer that states its holiday allowance offers up to 27 days of annual leave, taking the most generous figure it states (n=6,364 employers); 1.3% of employers that state a figure or offer unlimited holiday offer unlimited holiday.

Sample: 6,364 employers · source: UK employers' careers pages · data to 28 October 2026

By region (registered office)

RegionFigureSample (employers)In words
Scotland 30 days 265 Scotland: a median of up to 30 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=265 employers).
Northern Ireland 28 days 59 Northern Ireland: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=59 employers).
Wales 28 days 133 Wales: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=133 employers).
West Midlands 28 days 406 West Midlands: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=406 employers).
North West 27 days 572 North West: a median of up to 27 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=572 employers).
South East 26 days 796 South East: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=796 employers).
South West 26 days 515 South West: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=515 employers).
Yorkshire and The Humber 26 days 375 Yorkshire and The Humber: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=375 employers).
East Midlands 25 days 283 East Midlands: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=283 employers).
East of England 25 days 451 East of England: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=451 employers).
London 25 days 916 London: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=916 employers).
North East 25 days 126 North East: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=126 employers).

By sector

SectorFigureSample (employers)In words
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 28 days 65 Agriculture, forestry & fishing: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=65 employers).
Transport & storage 28 days 194 Transport & storage: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=194 employers).
Hospitality & food service 28 days 307 Hospitality & food service: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=307 employers).
Public administration & defence 28 days 53 Public administration & defence: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=53 employers).
Education 28 days 266 Education: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=266 employers).
Health & social care 28 days 802 Health & social care: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=802 employers).
Arts, entertainment & recreation 28 days 122 Arts, entertainment & recreation: a median of up to 28 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=122 employers).
Real estate 27 days 161 Real estate: a median of up to 27 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=161 employers).
Other services 27 days 387 Other services: a median of up to 27 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=387 employers).
Construction 26 days 486 Construction: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=486 employers).
Wholesale & retail 26 days 500 Wholesale & retail: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=500 employers).
Administrative & support services 26 days 345 Administrative & support services: a median of up to 26 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=345 employers).
Manufacturing 25 days 582 Manufacturing: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=582 employers).
Energy supply 25 days 55 Energy supply: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=55 employers).
Water, sewerage & waste 25 days 53 Water, sewerage & waste: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=53 employers).
Information & communication 25 days 682 Information & communication: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=682 employers).
Finance & insurance 25 days 330 Finance & insurance: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=330 employers).
Professional, scientific & technical 25 days 942 Professional, scientific & technical: a median of up to 25 days' annual leave, the most generous figure each employer states (n=942 employers).

About the author

James Costello
James Costello
Founder, ProdReady Recruitment

The research is produced by the founder of ProdReady Recruitment, a UK AI recruitment business. Every figure on this page is computed from UK employers' careers pages, and the text-reading measures are checked by hand against real pages.

LinkedIn

Download the data

Free under CC BY 4.0 — use it with attribution. Every row carries the figure, its sample and the data-to date.

CSV for this story All findings (CSV)

Use the chart

The typical UK employer advertises up to 27 days of annual leave

Free to publish under CC BY 4.0, with a credit and a link to this page.

Download PNG

Cite this

Free to quote with a credit and a link.

James Costello (2026). Holiday league table. ProdReady Recruitment. Data to 28 October 2026. https://ProdReadyRecruitment.com/research/holiday_league

Need a custom cut?

Journalists and analysts can ask for a breakdown by sector, city, region or language, or the underlying table.

Ask us

Related research