A pro rata salary is a full-time salary scaled to the share of full time you work: full-time salary × (your hours ÷ full-time hours). The same idea works for days a week, for term-time contracts and for starting or leaving part way through the year. The calculator below does all four, and works back from your pay to the full-time salary.
The figures are before tax. To see what you’d keep after income tax and National Insurance, put the pro rata salary into the take-home pay calculator.
How pro rata pay is worked out
| Situation | Pro rata salary |
|---|---|
| Fewer hours a week | full-time salary × (your hours ÷ full-time hours) |
| Fewer days a week | full-time salary × (your days ÷ full-time days) |
| Term-time only | full-time salary × (your hours ÷ full-time hours) × (paid weeks ÷ weeks in a full year) |
| Starting or leaving part way through a year | annual salary × (days employed ÷ days in the year) |
| Back to the full-time salary | your pay × (full-time hours ÷ your hours) |
Your contract sets the full-time hours the calculation uses, so check it rather than assuming a figure.
Part-time hours. A job pays £36,000 full time for 37.5 hours a week, and you work 25 hours. Your pro rata salary is £36,000 × (25 ÷ 37.5) = £24,000 a year, or £2,000 a month.
Part-time salary table
Each figure is the full-time salary × your hours ÷ 37.5, to the nearest pound. The share of full time is in brackets.
| Full-time salary | 15 hours (0.40) | 18.75 hours (0.50) | 22.5 hours (0.60) | 25 hours (0.67) | 30 hours (0.80) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £10,000 | £12,500 | £15,000 | £16,667 | £20,000 |
| £30,000 | £12,000 | £15,000 | £18,000 | £20,000 | £24,000 |
| £35,000 | £14,000 | £17,500 | £21,000 | £23,333 | £28,000 |
| £40,000 | £16,000 | £20,000 | £24,000 | £26,667 | £32,000 |
| £45,000 | £18,000 | £22,500 | £27,000 | £30,000 | £36,000 |
| £50,000 | £20,000 | £25,000 | £30,000 | £33,333 | £40,000 |
If your contract counts days, the share is your days ÷ 5:
| Full-time salary | 1 day (0.20) | 2 days (0.40) | 3 days (0.60) | 4 days (0.80) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £20,000 |
| £30,000 | £6,000 | £12,000 | £18,000 | £24,000 |
| £35,000 | £7,000 | £14,000 | £21,000 | £28,000 |
| £40,000 | £8,000 | £16,000 | £24,000 | £32,000 |
| £45,000 | £9,000 | £18,000 | £27,000 | £36,000 |
| £50,000 | £10,000 | £20,000 | £30,000 | £40,000 |
Term-time pay
A term-time pro rata salary is worked out on the weeks you work plus your paid holiday. Your contract or payslip should say how many paid weeks it uses. Since leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, part-year workers (those with a stretch of at least a week in the leave year when they don’t work and aren’t paid) build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work, up to 5.6 weeks a year. Your employer can give more.
Leave the calculator’s paid holiday box blank to use that legal minimum, or enter your contract’s figure.
Term-time worker. A school administrator works 37.5 hours a week for 39 weeks a year, in a job that pays £28,000 full time. The legal minimum holiday is 39 × 12.07% = 4.7073 weeks (about 4.71), so they’re paid for 43.7073 weeks. Pay is £28,000 × 43.7073 ÷ 52 = £23,535 a year, or £1,961 a month. Paying only for the 39 weeks worked (£28,000 × 39 ÷ 52 = £21,000) would leave out the paid holiday.
Starting or leaving part way through the year
If you start or leave during the year, you’re paid for the part of the year you’re employed. The calculator counts calendar days, including your first and last day, and divides by 365. Some employers count working days or whole months instead, so the result can differ by a few pounds; your contract or offer letter says which.
Mid-year starter. You start on 1 August 2026 on a salary of £42,000, and the year you’re asking about ends on 5 April 2027. That is 248 days, so you’re paid £42,000 × 248 ÷ 365 = £28,537. Counted in whole months instead (8 of 12), it would be £28,000.
Holiday works the same way: a worker who starts part way through a leave year gets the part of the year’s leave for the time that’s left. On gov.uk’s example, part days are rounded up to the nearest half day.
Holiday entitlement pro rata
Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, and the legal limit is 28 days. For a regular part-time worker that is 5.6 of their own working weeks. An employer can count bank holidays as part of it, and can give more than the minimum.
| Days a week | Statutory minimum holiday (days) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5.6 |
| 2 | 11.2 |
| 3 | 16.8 |
| 4 | 22.4 |
| 5 | 28.0 |
| 6 | 28 (the limit) |
Irregular-hours and part-year workers build up 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period instead. Your rights as a part-time worker go further than holiday; see part-time worker rights.
The minimum wage still applies
If you’re entitled to the minimum wage, a pro rata salary can’t take your pay below it for the hours you work. From April 2026 the minimum hourly rate is £12.71 at 21 and over (the National Living Wage), £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8.00 under 18. To check roughly, divide your yearly pay by the basic hours your contract says you work in a year; the calculator shows an hourly rate for the hours and term-time modes. GOV.UK’s guidance on the minimum wage for salaried workers gives the exact method, and the minimum wage guides cover the rates.
Tax on a pro rata salary
Your pro rata salary is taxed like any other pay. The Personal Allowance of £12,570 for 2026/27 isn’t reduced because you work part time, so a larger share of a smaller salary is tax-free. See the take-home pay calculator, the take-home pay by salary table and the take-home pay guides for the figures after tax. To turn an hourly rate into a salary, use the hourly to salary calculator.