Calculators → Pro rata salary
Pro rata salary calculator
A job advertised at "£30,000 pro rata" does not pay £30,000. Enter the full-time figure and your own hours to see what the post actually pays you — and what holiday you are owed.
Your result
| Period | Full-time post | You |
|---|---|---|
| Per year | — | — |
| Per month | — | — |
| Per week worked | — | — |
| Per hour | — | — |
Holiday entitlement uses the UK statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks, capped at 28 days. Your employer may offer more — check your contract. See GOV.UK holiday entitlement.
How pro rata pay is worked out
Pro rata means "in proportion". Divide your weekly hours by the full-time hours for the post to get your fraction, then apply that fraction to the advertised salary. Twenty-two and a half hours against a 37.5-hour week is 0.6, so a £30,000 post pays £18,000.
If you are also paid for fewer weeks than the full-time post — term-time or seasonal work — a second fraction applies on top. Thirty-nine weeks out of 52 is 0.75, and the two fractions multiply together rather than adding.
The useful check is the hourly rate. Scaling pay and hours by the same number leaves the hourly rate untouched, so yours should match a full-timer's on the same grade exactly. If it does not, the salary has not been pro rated properly, and that is worth raising.
Holiday is the part people lose out on
Statutory holiday in the UK is 5.6 weeks a year, and crucially it is measured in weeks, not days. Your entitlement is 5.6 multiplied by the days you work each week: five days gives the familiar 28 days, four days gives 22.4, three days gives 16.8.
This is where part-time staff are most often short-changed, usually by an employer halving a five-day worker's 28 days into 14 for someone working two and a half days rather than calculating 5.6 × 2.5 = 14 properly, or by simply offering "pro rata of 20 days" while ignoring the statutory floor. The entitlement is also capped at 28 days, so working a six-day week does not earn you more.
Part days are normal and legal. An entitlement of 16.8 days cannot be rounded down — employers may round up, but never down.
Frequently asked questions
What does pro rata actually mean on a job advert?
It means the salary quoted is the full-time equivalent, and you will be paid the share of it that matches your hours. A post advertised at £30,000 pro rata for 22.5 hours against a 37.5-hour full-time week pays £18,000, because 22.5 divided by 37.5 is 0.6. The advertised number is never what a part-time holder of the post receives.
How is pro rata holiday entitlement calculated in the UK?
Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, and the weeks stay the same however many days you work. Multiply 5.6 by the number of days you work each week: five days gives 28 days, three days gives 16.8 days. The entitlement is capped at 28 days, so working six or seven days a week does not increase it.
Is my pro rata hourly rate the same as a full-timer's?
It should be, and that is the point of pro rata. Because both the salary and the hours are scaled by the same fraction, the hourly rate is unchanged. If your calculated hourly rate comes out below a full-time colleague's on the same grade, the salary has not been scaled properly and it is worth querying.
How does term-time only working affect the figure?
Two reductions apply, one for hours and one for weeks. A term-time post is pro rated for the hours you work each week and again for the weeks of the year you are paid across, so someone working 30 hours over 39 weeks against a 37.5-hour, 52-week post receives 0.8 × 0.75, which is 60 per cent of the full-time salary. Pay is then usually spread evenly over twelve months.