Your rights in a part-time job: a guide for UK students

The short version

Being a student does not change your employment rights in an ordinary part-time job. The rate you are paid is set by your age, holiday builds up as you work, and Statutory Sick Pay has been paid from the first day off since 6 April 2026, whatever you earn. Part-time staff must not be treated worse than full-time colleagues just because they work fewer hours. The sections below each stand on their own, so skip to the one you need.

Minimum wage from 1 April 2026

The legal minimum depends on your age, and it changes every year on 1 April, five days before the new tax year.

The apprentice rate applies if you are under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of your apprenticeship. After that you get the rate for your age. The top rate has applied from age 21 since April 2024; before that it started at 23.

Paid holiday, including on irregular hours

Almost everyone classed as a worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days. Genuinely self-employed gig work is the main exception. Work two days a week and that is 11.2 days.

If your hours change week to week, which is how most student jobs work, holiday builds up as you go. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 you earn 12.07% of the hours you work in each pay period, rounded to the nearest whole hour: under 30 minutes rounds down, 30 minutes or more rounds up. gov.uk's own example: 30 hours worked in a weekly pay period earns 3.621 hours of holiday, which becomes 4.

Your employer can instead pay your holiday pay as you go, called rolled-up holiday pay, at 12.07% of your pay. You still build up the leave and can still take it; the uplift is the pay for it. Your payslip must show the amount of holiday pay. If yours shows no holiday pay at all, ask your employer how your holiday is being paid. Work out yours with the holiday entitlement calculator.

Sick pay from your first day off

Three things changed on 6 April 2026, and they matter most to people on low or part-time hours:

• Statutory Sick Pay is paid from the first full day of sickness. The three unpaid waiting days are gone.
• There is no earnings threshold any more, so a few hours a week still qualifies.
• It is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings.

Pay pro rata to full-timers

Part-time staff have the right not to be treated less favourably than a comparable full-time colleague because they work part-time, unless the employer can justify it on objective grounds. In practice that means the same hourly rate, and benefits like holiday and bonuses scaled to your hours. The law calls this the pro rata principle, and it comes from regulation 5 of the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000. To turn a full-time salary into what you should get for your hours, use the pro rata salary calculator.

Payslips and written terms

You have a legal right to an itemised payslip on or before each payday. If your pay changes with the hours you work, it must show the total hours you are being paid for. That is the easiest way to check you are getting the right rate.

You should get the key terms of your job in writing on your first day: pay, hours, holiday and where you work. The wider written statement, covering things like training and pensions, must follow within two months.

Breaks, and the limits if you are under 18

Adults are entitled to a rest break of at least 20 minutes when they work more than six hours in a day. If you are under 18 the rules are tighter:

• a break of at least 30 minutes if you work more than four and a half hours
• no more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, counting every job you have together, and these hours cannot be averaged out

Zero-hours contracts

A zero-hours contract cannot stop you working for someone else. Any clause that tries to is unenforceable against you, and has been since May 2015. The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds a right to guaranteed hours and to reasonable notice of shifts, with payment if a shift is cancelled at short notice. These are planned for 2027 and are not in force yet; the government says the timing will be confirmed after consultation.

Notice when you leave, or are let go

Once you have worked somewhere for a month, you must give at least one week's notice to leave, and your employer must give you at least one week to end your job. From two years' service, the notice your employer owes is one week for each full year worked, up to 12 weeks. Your contract can give more, never less. Find your last day with the notice period calculator.

If something looks wrong

Most mistakes are payroll errors, so start by raising it with your manager or whoever runs payroll, with your payslip in hand. If that does not fix it, Acas gives free, impartial advice on workplace rights, and your students' union advice centre can help too. Employment tribunal claims have strict time limits, so keep a record of dates and do not wait.

The minimum wage, holiday, sick pay and notice figures here are also on the UK statutory rates page with their sources.