Working 24 hours a week is one of the most common part-time patterns in the UK — three full 8-hour days, or four 6-hour days, or a spread of shorter shifts across the week. But the payslip rarely shows a simple hourly rate multiplied by 24. Instead, most employers advertise a full-time equivalent (FTE) salary and pay you a pro rata share of it. Understanding how a pro rata salary calculator for 24 hours a week works lets you check your pay before you accept a job, spot an error on your payslip, and compare two part-time offers fairly.
If you want the quick route, use the free pro rata salary calculator on our homepage: enter the full-time salary and your 24 hours, and it returns your annual, monthly, and hourly pro rata figures. The rest of this guide explains the maths behind it, so you can verify any result by hand.
How pro rata pay for 24 hours a week is calculated
Pro rata pay is simply the full-time salary scaled down by the fraction of full-time hours you work. The formula is:
Pro rata salary = full-time salary × (your weekly hours ÷ full-time weekly hours)
The part most people get wrong is the full-time weekly hours. There is no single UK standard: 37.5 hours is common in the public sector, healthcare, and many office roles, while 40 hours is common in retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. Your contract states your employer’s full-time week, and that figure — not a national average — is the one your pay is based on. Always check it before doing the maths.
Worked example 1: £30,000 FTE on a 37.5-hour week
Take a role advertised at £30,000 full-time, where full-time means 37.5 hours a week. Working 24 hours a week, you work 24 ÷ 37.5 = 0.64 of full time, or 64% FTE.
| Figure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Pro rata annual salary | £30,000 × 0.64 | £19,200 |
| Pro rata monthly pay (gross) | £19,200 ÷ 12 | £1,600 |
| Hourly rate | £30,000 ÷ (37.5 × 52) | £15.38 per hour |
| Weekly pay (gross) | £15.38 × 24 | £369.23 |
Notice that the hourly rate is identical for full-time and part-time staff in the same role. That is the point of pro rata: part-time workers must not be paid a lower hourly rate simply for working fewer hours. If your hourly rate comes out lower than a full-time colleague’s, that is worth raising.
Worked example 2: the same salary on a 40-hour week
Change only the full-time week to 40 hours and the picture shifts. Now 24 hours is 24 ÷ 40 = 0.60 of full time, or 60% FTE.
| Figure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Pro rata annual salary | £30,000 × 0.60 | £18,000 |
| Pro rata monthly pay (gross) | £18,000 ÷ 12 | £1,500 |
| Hourly rate | £30,000 ÷ (40 × 52) | £14.42 per hour |
The same headline salary, the same 24 hours, but £1,200 a year less — purely because the employer’s full-time week is longer. This is why comparing part-time jobs by headline FTE salary alone is misleading. Always compare the hourly rate, or run both offers through the same calculator with each employer’s own full-time hours.
More examples at common UK salaries
The table below shows pro rata annual pay for 24 hours a week at a range of full-time salaries, on both common full-time weeks. All figures are gross, before tax, National Insurance, and pension deductions.
| Full-time salary | 37.5-hour week (64% FTE) | 40-hour week (60% FTE) |
|---|---|---|
| £24,000 | £15,360 | £14,400 |
| £27,000 | £17,280 | £16,200 |
| £30,000 | £19,200 | £18,000 |
| £35,000 | £22,400 | £21,000 |
| £40,000 | £25,600 | £24,000 |
| £45,000 | £28,800 | £27,000 |
Holiday entitlement for 24 hours a week
Holiday is also pro rata. The statutory minimum in the UK is 5.6 weeks a year for a full-time worker, which includes bank holidays where the employer counts them. For a 24-hour worker, the entitlement is 5.6 weeks × 24 hours = 134.4 hours a year, usually rounded to 134.5 hours. If your employer gives full-time staff 25 days plus bank holidays (33 days on a 7.5-hour day = 247.5 hours), your equivalent is 33 days scaled by your fraction: on a 37.5-hour week, 0.64 × 247.5 = 158.4 hours.
The key point is that holiday should be calculated in hours, not days, when your working pattern is not a standard five-day week. A worker doing three 8-hour days who is given “20 days” of holiday on a five-day basis would be short-changed; the hours calculation protects you. If your contract states holiday in days, ask payroll to confirm the hours equivalent in writing.
What your monthly payslip should show
Most salaried part-time staff are paid in twelve equal monthly instalments: annual pro rata salary divided by 12. In our first example, that is £1,600 gross a month, every month, including months with bank holidays — bank holidays are already accounted for in the annual figure, not deducted separately, unless your contract says otherwise.
Your payslip should show the gross pay, then deductions: income tax (through PAYE), employee National Insurance, and pension contributions if you are enrolled. Because a £19,200 salary sits below the higher-rate threshold, income tax is charged at the basic rate on earnings above the personal allowance. The exact take-home figure depends on your tax code and pension scheme, but the gross figure is the one to check first: if the gross monthly pay does not match annual pro rata salary ÷ 12, query it before worrying about the deductions.
Hourly-paid workers: a simpler check
If you are paid by the hour rather than on a salary, the check is even simpler: hourly rate × 24 hours × 52 weeks ÷ 12 = monthly gross pay. For example, at £13.50 an hour, 24 hours a week gives £13.50 × 24 = £324 a week, or £1,404 a month on average. Note that months are not all the same length, so an hourly-paid worker’s monthly pay will vary with the number of shifts actually worked, unlike a salaried worker’s fixed monthly figure.
Also check the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. From April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour, and lower rates apply to younger workers. Your pro rata hourly rate must never fall below the rate for your age group, however the salary is expressed.
Changing hours: what happens to your pay
If you move from 24 hours to a different pattern, your pay scales by the same fraction. Moving from 24 to 30 hours on a 37.5-hour week takes you from 64% to 80% FTE — a 25% pay rise on the same hourly rate. Moving the other way, from full-time to 24 hours, cuts pay to 64% (or 60% on a 40-hour week), but your hourly rate, pension accrual rate, and holiday accrual rate all stay proportional. One thing that does not automatically scale is any fixed allowance, such as a car allowance: check whether your contract says it is pro rata or paid in full, because practice varies.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most common error is dividing the FTE salary by 5 days and multiplying by the number of days you work, when your days are not the same length as full-time days. Three 8-hour days on a 37.5-hour (7.5-hour day) week is not “3/5 of full time” — it is 24 ÷ 37.5 = 64%, not 60%. The second error is using the wrong full-time week: assuming 40 hours when your employer uses 37.5 understates your pay by over 6%. The third is forgetting that overtime is usually paid only above the full-time weekly hours, not above your part-time hours — check your contract, because some employers pay overtime above your contracted hours instead.
Other working patterns: 20 hours a week · 30 hours a week · 37.5-hour week · 40-hour week · 2 days a week · 3 days a week · 4 days a week · 37.5 vs 40 hours · part-time hours tables · pro rata hours · days vs hours · examples by days per week
Frequently asked questions
Is 24 hours a week classed as part-time in the UK? Yes. There is no legal definition of part-time hours, but anyone working fewer hours than a comparable full-time worker is part-time, and part-time workers have the right not to be treated less favourably than full-time colleagues on a pro rata basis.
Do I get the same hourly rate as full-time staff? You should. Pro rata means your pay, holiday, and most benefits scale in proportion to your hours, with the hourly rate unchanged. If your hourly rate is lower, ask for the calculation in writing.
Does a 24-hour week affect my pension? Your pension contributions and your employer’s contributions are usually calculated as a percentage of your actual (pro rata) pay, so they scale down with your hours. Your state pension, however, depends on National Insurance qualifying years, not hours, so part-time work still builds qualifying years as long as you earn above the lower earnings limit.
The bottom line
A pro rata salary for 24 hours a week is the full-time salary multiplied by 24 divided by the employer’s full-time weekly hours — 64% on a 37.5-hour week, 60% on a 40-hour week. On a £30,000 FTE salary, that is £19,200 or £18,000 a year respectively, before deductions. Check the full-time week in your contract, confirm the hourly rate matches full-time colleagues, and make sure holiday is calculated in hours. Run the numbers through our free calculator before you sign, and you will never have to guess what your part-time pay should be.