What a Prorated Salary for Leaving Mid-Month Means
When you leave a job part-way through a month, your final pay covers only the days up to and including your last working day, not the whole month. That amount is your prorated salary for leaving mid-month. In the UK, employers usually calculate it the same way they calculate a mid-month start: by dividing your monthly salary by the number of days in the month, or by the number of working days, and multiplying by the days you worked. The method, and the details around holiday, notice and deductions, determine exactly what lands in your final payslip.
This guide explains both calculation methods, shows worked examples, and covers the final-pay items that most leavers miss: accrued but untaken holiday, holiday taken in excess, pension and National Insurance in a part-month, and what to do if the final figure looks wrong. Use it alongside our free pro rata salary calculator to check your own numbers.
The Two Main Calculation Methods
As with joining mid-month, most UK employers use either the calendar-day method or the working-day method. Under the calendar-day method, your monthly salary is divided by the number of calendar days in the month, then multiplied by the number of calendar days from the first of the month to your last working day, inclusive. Under the working-day method, your monthly salary is divided by the number of working days in the month, then multiplied by the number of working days you actually worked.
The choice of method is set by your contract or your employer’s payroll practice, and it should be consistent: an employer that uses calendar days for joiners should normally use calendar days for leavers. If you joined and left in different months, the two calculations may use different month lengths, so do not expect them to be mirror images. A leaving calculation in a 31-day month will give a smaller daily rate than one in a 28-day month, even on the same salary.
Your last working day is the key date, not your last day of employment if the two differ. If you are on garden leave, your employment may continue after your last working day, and you are normally paid in full for the garden leave period. If you leave during a notice period and take holiday during it, those holiday days are paid as normal working days. The calculation starts from your contractual terms, so read the leaving and notice clauses before you estimate a figure.
Worked Example: Leaving on the 15th
Take an employee leaving on a £30,000 annual salary on 15 April. The monthly salary is £2,500. April has 30 calendar days, and from 1 April to 15 April inclusive is 15 calendar days. Using the calendar-day method: £2,500 divided by 30, multiplied by 15, equals £1,250, exactly half the month.
Using the working-day method, April has 22 working days, and from 1 April to 15 April there are 11 working days in a typical year, depending on where weekends fall. The calculation is £2,500 divided by 22, multiplied by 11, which also equals £1,250 in this neat case. As with joining, the methods often agree when the split is roughly half the month, and diverge when weekends fall unevenly or when the leaving date is near the start or end of the month.
Take a less neat date. Leaving on the 10th of a 31-day month on £36,000: the monthly salary is £3,000, and the calendar-day calculation is £3,000 divided by 31, multiplied by 10, which equals £967.74. Leaving on the 25th of a 31-day month on the same salary: £3,000 divided by 31, multiplied by 25, which equals £2,419.35. In both cases, count your last working day itself. Leaving on the 10th means you are paid for the 10th, not up to the 9th.
Worked Examples at Different Salaries
The table below uses the calendar-day method for leaving on the 20th of a 30-day month, where 20 of 30 days, or two thirds of the month, are worked. The prorated pay is two thirds of the monthly salary in each case.
Annual salary £24,000: monthly £2,000, prorated for 20 of 30 days £1,333.33. Annual salary £30,000: monthly £2,500, prorated £1,666.67. Annual salary £36,000: monthly £3,000, prorated £2,000. Annual salary £45,000: monthly £3,750, prorated £2,500. Annual salary £60,000: monthly £5,000, prorated £3,333.33. If you leave on a different date, scale by the days worked divided by the days in the month, using the same method your employer uses.
For part-time leavers, apply the FTE fraction first. A full-time equivalent salary of £30,000 at 0.8 FTE gives a part-time annual salary of £24,000, or £2,000 a month. Leaving on 15 April, with 15 of 30 calendar days worked, the final basic pay is £2,000 divided by 30, multiplied by 15, which equals £1,000. As with joining, the common error is to apply the mid-month fraction to the full-time salary and forget the part-time fraction, which would overstate the figure by 25 percent in this example.
Holiday Pay in Your Final Payslip
Holiday is usually the largest adjustment in a final payslip, and it is where most disputes arise. Your holiday entitlement accrues as you work through the holiday year. If you leave part-way through the year, you are entitled to a pro-rated share of the annual entitlement, based on the proportion of the year you worked. Untaken accrued holiday is normally paid in your final payslip, and holiday taken in excess of what you had accrued by your leaving date is normally deducted.
For example, if your annual entitlement is 25 days plus bank holidays, and you leave after six months of a twelve-month holiday year, you have accrued about 12.5 days plus the bank holidays that fell in that period, depending on your employer’s policy. If you took 10 days, you are owed about 2.5 days’ pay. If you took 15 days, you owe about 2.5 days’ pay back, and it will be deducted from your final pay, subject to your contract allowing the deduction. Always ask for a holiday statement with your final payslip, showing entitlement, taken and balance, so you can check the adjustment.
Bank holidays need care. If your contract says your entitlement is “25 days plus bank holidays”, bank holidays that fell before you left are included, and those after you left are not. If your contract says “28 days including bank holidays”, the calculation is slightly different, because bank holidays are part of the 28, not on top of it. Either way, the total should be pro-rated to your leaving date, not paid in full for the whole year.
Notice, Garden Leave and Payment in Lieu
If you work your notice period, you are paid normally for each month or part-month in that period, using the same prorated method for the final part-month. If you are paid in lieu of notice, known as PILON, you receive a lump sum for the notice period instead of working it. PILON is normally taxable and subject to National Insurance, and since April 2018, the post-employment notice pay rules mean that the basic pay element of a termination payment is treated as earnings, even if it is labelled as compensation.
Garden leave is different from PILON: you remain employed, you are paid your normal salary, and you continue to accrue holiday and pension, even though you are not working. Your final prorated month, in that case, is the month in which your employment actually ends, not the month you stopped working. If you are unsure which arrangement applies to you, check your contract’s notice and garden leave clauses, and ask for written confirmation of your last day of employment, which is the date payroll will use.
Redundancy pay, if it applies, is separate from your final salary and is not prorated by the day. Statutory redundancy pay is based on age, length of service and weekly pay, capped by statute, and contractual redundancy pay follows your contract. Do not mix a redundancy figure into a prorated salary calculation, or you will double-count or understate one of them.
Tax, National Insurance and Pension in the Final Month
Income tax in your final month is calculated on a cumulative basis through PAYE, so if you have earned less than a full year’s salary because you left early, you may have overpaid tax in earlier months, and the final payslip may include a tax refund. Conversely, if you receive a large final payment including holiday and PILON, the tax in that month may be higher than usual, and any overpayment will be corrected when you start a new job or through a year-end reconciliation.
National Insurance is calculated per pay period, so a part-month’s National Insurance is based on that month’s earnings alone. A small final month may fall below the primary threshold and attract no National Insurance, while a large final month including holiday pay may attract more. Pension contributions follow the same period logic: they are a percentage of pensionable pay in the final period, so a part-month gives a part-month’s contribution, unless your scheme has a different rule for leavers.
Other deductions in a final payslip can include season ticket loans, salary sacrifice arrangements, and any overpayment recovery. Employers can only deduct amounts that your contract or a prior written agreement allows, and they must show each deduction on the payslip. If a deduction appears that you do not recognise, query it before accepting the final figure, because correcting a final payslip after the P45 has been issued is slower, though still possible.
Checking Your Final Payslip and What to Do If It Is Wrong
When your final payslip arrives, check four things in order. First, the basic pay: does it match your own prorated calculation, using the right monthly salary, the right day count and the right method? Second, the holiday adjustment: does the holiday statement show the correct entitlement, taken and balance to your leaving date? Third, the deductions: is each deduction one you recognise and that your contract allows? Fourth, the leaving date and the P45: does the P45 show the correct leaving date and the correct total pay and tax for the year to date?
If any figure is wrong, raise it with payroll in writing, with your own calculation attached, and keep a copy. Most errors are method or day-count errors and are corrected quickly. If the error is not corrected, you can raise a grievance, and in the last resort, an unlawful deduction claim must be brought within three months less one day of the deduction, so do not let a dispute drift. In practice, a clear, polite, written query with the arithmetic shown resolves the large majority of final-pay queries.
Other date-based calculations: joining mid-month · partial month · start and end dates · days worked · daily rate · starting mid-year · notice pay · redundancy pay
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get paid for the whole month if I leave on the 2nd? No. You are paid only up to your last working day, plus any accrued holiday owed. Leaving on the 2nd of a 30-day month on £30,000 gives basic pay of £2,500 divided by 30, multiplied by 2, which is £166.67, before holiday adjustments.
Can my employer deduct holiday I took in excess? Yes, if your contract allows it, which most do. The deduction should be shown on the payslip and based on a correct holiday statement to your leaving date.
When should I receive my final pay and P45? Final pay is normally on your usual payday for the final period, or the next payday after leaving if payroll cut-off has passed. The P45 should follow promptly after the final pay is processed, and you will need it for your next job’s tax code.
What if I leave mid-month and start a new job the same month? Each employer pays you separately for the periods you worked for them. Your new employer’s first month will itself be prorated for joining mid-month, so the two part-months together will not equal a full month’s pay from either job alone.