Jobs with most holidays revealed – and the one where you get UNLIMITED time off and get paid £65k

The Sun

15-05-2025

IMAGINE having all the time off that you want and getting paid an impressive salary.
We reveal the jobs where you can get unlimited holiday - and still get paid £65,000 a year.
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We worked with recruitment site Adzuna to crunch the data to reveal the jobs that are most likely to come with unlimited holiday allowances.
Software engineers, particularly those specialising in app development and programming, topped the list - and the roles come with average salary of £65,808.
It's not just software engineers cashing in on this perk, though.
Roles including data scientists, recruitment consultants and PR account directors also offer this attractive benefit.
The tech sector has long been a trailblazer when it comes to flexible working and employee perks, so it's not a surprise that there are lots of roles offering the benefit of unlimited holiday.
By offering extended time off, the industry aims to retain top talent in what is an incredibly competitive field.
Generous holiday allowances also help combat burnout from demanding workloads, fostering better well-being and boosting productivity.
Top tech firms such as Dropbox and Oracle are among those advertising UK-based positions with this attractive perk and recruitment giant Indeed has offered employees an "open paid time off" rule since 2016.
Unlimited holiday perks - the hidden danger
While applying for a job with unlimited holidays may seem attractive, it may not be everything that it seems, warn experts.
James Neave, head of data science at Adzuna, says that many workers often end up taking up less than they'd expect due to company culture.
And sometimes it can be the opposite.
CharlieHR - an HR software provider catering to small businesses - scrapped its unlimited holiday policy after three years, back in 2018.
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Without a set number of days, some team members weren't taking enough holiday, often feeling unsure about what was acceptable.
This led to burnout and anxiety, with people worrying about whether they were taking too much or too little.
The policy also created issues around fairness, with some staff able to afford more time off than others, and it caused tension when workloads weren't shared evenly.
Jobs with large holiday allowances
However, while unlimited holidays might sound too good to be true for most, don't despair.
There are still plenty of jobs offering a whopping 40 days of annual leave.
These roles are often found in sectors known for intensive working hours and critical skills shortages.
For example, IT field operations managers, who earn around £52,620, often get extra holiday.
Their job involves managing IT services outside a central office, often at customer locations or remote sites.
They oversee field technicians, organise schedules, and ensure IT services meet quality standards.
"I went from working 10 hours a day to having all the holiday I want and earning £200k a year"
By Emma Robertson
BECOMING self-employed is a great way to get better control over your holidays and working patterns.
Sales and marketing expert Ross Jenkins was working 10 hours a day and never getting time off while working for big tech firms.
But now he has all the holiday he wants and gets to enjoy more time with his son, Theo, aged three, and partner due to flexible working - and he earns £200,000 a year.
The 33-year-old from Kenilworth, was working abroad in 2014. Ross, who founded Digital Me, said: 'I was working 10 hours a day, six days a week - I barely had a life.'
Fed up, he took some time off to visit friends living in Barcelona before going to work in Ireland for a start-up.
He said: 'I loved their way of life. They worked when they needed to and they weren't tied to an office for hours on end, so we were all able to hang out and enjoy each other's company.'
Arriving in Ireland, Ross soon found out that they too expected him to work long hours and to be available on weekends with emails coming into his inbox day and night.
'Taking any kind of time off was impossible. I never went on holiday. My parents had to come and visit me, as there was no chance of being able to go home.'
Ross started to crave a more balanced life like his friends living in Spain, so after a year, he quit, packed his bags and headed there.
Without a plan, he rented a place, lived off his savings and slowly built up his freelance work.
'The companies I work for don't require me to be sat in an office from 9-5pm, so I can go to a co-working space at midday and work until 7pm.
'It suited me better and gave me more flexibility - but now it appeared I had too much time off and friends and family would ask me when I was going to get a proper job.'
Slowly, he built his business up and the father-of-one now has 15 people who work for him.
He is happy for them to take time off and to work from anywhere as long as the work gets done.
'Time is precious. I value the mornings I get to spend with my son before I start work in the afternoon or the time we get to travel together and I want that for the people who work with me.'
Travel consultants also get more than the average - and a salary of £37,519 a year.
This is because frequent travel is an important part of their job, helping them gain knowledge and expertise about the best hotels and destinations for their clients.
While commercial property solicitors can get as many as 40 days of holiday, with an average salary of £65,333.
James said: "Finance roles like this often offer generous holiday allowances as an incentive to offset a high-pressure environment and high turnover."
Worst jobs for holidays
British workers are legally entitled to a minimum of 28 days (5.6 weeks) of annual leave, including bank holidays.
But, that's on the basis of being in full-time employment and working at least five days a week.
If you work part-time, shifts, or project-based jobs, your holiday is less because it's based on the number of days or hours you work.
According to Adzuna data, the average annual leave for these workers is around 20 days per year.
For example, if you work three days a week part time, you're entitled to at least 16.8 days of holiday a year.
You work this out by multiplying the number of days you work by the statutory minimum (5.6 weeks).
So that's 3x5.6 which is equal to 16.8 days.
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The core strategy is to book blocks of leave around bank holidays, so you get extended periods off work while using fewer of your actual holiday days.
The Easter and Christmas periods usually offer the best opportunities.
For example, with Good Friday on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6, booking off April 7 to 10 gives you a 10 day holiday using only four holiday days.
Similarly, with the Early May Bank Holiday on May 4, taking May 5 to 8 off creates a nine day break for just four days of holiday.
The same applies to the Spring Bank Holiday on May 25, where booking May 26 to 29 off results in a 9 day holiday.
The Summer Bank Holiday on August 31 allows for a nine day break by taking September 1 to 4 off.
If Christmas Day is on a Friday, and New Year's Day the following year is on a Thursday, booking off the four days between Christmas and New Year's can give you a 10 day holiday.
For New Year's Day and other individual bank holidays, taking the surrounding days off can extend your weekend.
By using this strategy, 20 days of holiday could potentially give you 47 days off, which, combined with the eight bank holidays, totals 55 days off work.
For people who work irregular hours or only part of the year, holiday is earned as you work.
You build up 12.07% of the hours you work as holiday time.
For every hour you work, you earn a bit of holiday time – 12.07% of that hour.
So, if you were to work 30 hours and are paid weekly, you'll have earned four hours of leave (30×12.07÷100 = 3.621).
Workers can then take this leave from their next pay period.
Often roles such as care assistants, electricians and catering staff come with smaller holiday allowances.
This is because many of these jobs are on fixed contracts or paid by the hour, which makes it more expensive and difficult for employers to give extra holiday.
Your rights to holiday
WORKERS are entitled to take paid holiday, with each week of leave paid at their normal weekly pay rate explains Alicia Thonet, solicitor at Slater and Gordon.
From day one, all workers are entitled to paid holiday, no matter how long they've worked for their employer.
This applies to full-time, part-time, and zero-hours contract workers.
The amount of holiday they're entitled to depends on how many days or hours they work, though employers and workers can agree to extra leave beyond the legal minimum.
Workers also keep building up holiday during their probation period, sick leave, or parental leave.
Generally, workers are people who are personally required to do the job, don't have guaranteed hours, aren't obligated to accept work, and aren't working directly for a client or customer.
However, self-employed people usually don't qualify for paid holiday.
Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
For someone working five days a week, this works out to 28 days.
Even if you work more than five days a week, the holiday entitlement is capped at 28 days.
The 5.6 weeks include two parts - 4 weeks of basic annual leave (20 days for full-time workers) and an extra 1.6 weeks (8 days), which is meant to reflect public holidays in England and Wales.
However, there's no legal requirement to use these extra days specifically for public holidays - you can take them at other times instead.
If a worker starts or leaves their job partway through the holiday year, their holiday entitlement will be worked out on a pro-rata basis for that year.
The contract or employment details will usually explain when the holiday year begins and ends.
Employers can also offer extra paid holiday, but this will be outlined in the worker's contract and is usually called "contractual leave entitlement".
Your rights if your holiday is refused
Employers can refuse or cancel holiday requests, but they must give proper notice.
The notice has to be given at least as many calendar days before the holiday starts as the number of days they're refusing.
For example, if a worker asks for five days off and the employer wants to cancel four of those days, they need to let the worker know at least four days before the holiday is due to begin.
So, what can you do if your employer keeps turning down or cancelling your holiday requests?
Start by having an informal chat with your employer to see if you can sort things out.
If that doesn't work and the issue isn't resolved, you can raise a formal grievance by following the steps outlined in your employer's grievance procedure or employee handbook.
If the issue still isn't resolved, you have the right under the Working Time Regulations 1998 to take your employer to an Employment Tribunal.
You can make a claim if your employer:
Refuses to let you take the holiday you're entitled to or carry over unused leave.
Fails to pay you holiday pay, rolled-up holiday pay, or pay for unused holiday when your job ends.
Be aware that there are strict deadlines for making a claim - you usually need to do this within three months from when your requested holiday would have started.
This can be extended slightly if you've gone through ACAS early conciliation or, in rare cases, if it wasn't possible to file on time.
YOUR holiday entitlement is worked out by multiplying the number of days you work each week by 5.6.
For example, if you work three days a week, you'll get 16.8 days of holiday a year.
If you start or leave a job partway through the year, the calculation is different.
First, figure out your full annual entitlement, then divide it by 52 (weeks in a year).
Multiply that number by the weeks you've worked (if leaving) or have left to work (if starting).
For instance, if you work three days a week, your full entitlement is 16.8 days.
Dividing this by 52 gives 0.323, which you then multiply by the number of weeks worked or remaining.
If you've worked 14 weeks, this equals 4.5 days of holiday.
You can also calculate your holiday entitlement using the government's free holiday calculator at gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement.