Holiday pay
What it really means
The pay you still receive while on annual leave. Even zero-hours and agency workers build up holiday pay based on the hours they work. It should not be rolled into your hourly rate without being shown separately.
Context, tips & common mistakes
Holiday pay must reflect your normal earnings, not a bare minimum: if you regularly work overtime or earn commission, those should feed into the rate, a point established in law that many payrolls still get wrong. In casual and agency work the common abuses are simple non-payment, or 'rolled-up' arrangements where a supplement in the hourly rate is said to cover holiday — the rules on when that is allowed have specific conditions, so if your payslip never shows a distinct holiday line, ask in writing how your holiday pay works.
Keep an eye on accrual when your hours vary: entitlement builds with hours worked, so quiet months earn less leave than busy ones. On leaving, accrued untaken holiday must be paid out, and it is one of the most commonly 'forgotten' items in final payslips — check yours and query omissions promptly, with ACAS as the free next step.