If you are working out how to convert a part time salary to hourly rate in the UK, the short answer is simple: divide the salary you will actually be paid by the hours you will actually work in a year. A part-time salary is almost always quoted as a pro-rata figure, which means it is a slice of a full-time salary, cut down in proportion to your hours. Once you know the full-time salary and the full-time weekly hours behind that slice, the hourly rate falls out in one division — and it is usually the same hourly rate as the full-time job.
That last point surprises a lot of people. Working part time does not normally mean a lower hourly rate. If a full-time job pays £30,000 for a 37.5-hour week and you do the same job three days a week, you should expect £18,000 a year, which works out at exactly the same £15.38 an hour. The annual figure is smaller because you work fewer hours, not because each hour is worth less.
How to Convert a Part Time Salary to Hourly Rate in the UK
There are two ways to do this conversion, and both should give you the same answer. Use whichever one matches the figures you have been given.
Method 1: from the pro-rata salary. Take your actual annual salary (the pro-rata figure) and divide it by your actual annual hours. Annual hours are your weekly hours multiplied by 52.
Hourly rate = pro-rata salary ÷ (weekly hours × 52)
Method 2: from the full-time salary. Take the full-time equivalent (FTE) salary and divide it by the full-time annual hours. This is useful when an advert only gives the full-time figure, or when you want to compare two jobs with different weekly hours.
Hourly rate = FTE salary ÷ (full-time weekly hours × 52)
Both methods use 52 weeks because a salaried job pays you for the whole year, including paid holiday. Do not divide by 46.4 weeks (52 minus the 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday): that is for hourly-paid work with unpaid holiday, and it would overstate the hourly rate here.
To convert a part-time salary into an hourly rate without doing the maths by hand, try our salary to hourly calculator: enter the salary and your weekly hours and it gives you the hourly equivalent straight away. The worked examples below show exactly what it is doing, so you can trust the result and spot it if something looks wrong.
Worked Examples: Part-Time Salary to Hourly Rate in the UK
Example 1: £30,000 full-time salary, 37.5-hour week
This is the most common pattern in office and professional jobs: five days of 7.5 hours.
| Your pattern | Weekly hours | Pro-rata salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time, 5 days | 37.5 | £30,000 | £15.38 |
| Part time, 4 days | 30 | £24,000 | £15.38 |
| Part time, 3 days | 22.5 | £18,000 | £15.38 |
| Part time, 2 days | 15 | £12,000 | £15.38 |
The working for the three-day pattern is: 22.5 hours divided by 37.5 hours is 0.6, and 0.6 times £30,000 is £18,000. Then £18,000 divided by 1,170 annual hours (22.5 × 52) is £15.38 an hour. Every row lands on the same hourly rate, because pro-rata pay is designed to work that way: the same job, the same hourly value, fewer hours.
Your monthly pay on the three-day pattern is £18,000 divided by 12, which is £1,500 a month before tax and National Insurance. That monthly figure is the one to use when you budget, not the £30,000 headline, which you will not receive.
Example 2: £36,000 full-time salary, 40-hour week
A 40-hour week is common in retail, warehousing and many operational roles: five days of 8 hours.
| Your pattern | Weekly hours | Pro-rata salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time, 5 days | 40 | £36,000 | £17.31 |
| Part time, 4 days | 32 | £28,800 | £17.31 |
| Part time, 3 days | 24 | £21,600 | £17.31 |
| Part time, 2 days | 16 | £14,400 | £17.31 |
Here the three-day worker does 24 hours, not 22.5, because a “day” is 8 hours in this job rather than 7.5. That is why days alone are never enough information: always convert days into hours before you compare two jobs.
Example 3: checking an advert that only gives the part-time figure
Suppose an advert says “£19,500 per annum, 3 days a week” but does not say what full time is. You cannot check the hourly rate until you ask two questions: how many hours is a full day, and how many hours is the full-time week? If full time is 37.5 hours, three days is 22.5 hours, and £19,500 divided by 1,170 hours is £16.67 an hour. If full time is 40 hours, three days is 24 hours, and £19,500 divided by 1,248 hours is £15.63 an hour. Same advert, same part-time salary, more than £1 an hour apart — which is over £1,200 a year on a three-day pattern. Never accept a part-time salary figure without the full-time hours behind it.
FTE Salary vs Pro-Rata Salary: Reading a Job Advert
Job adverts use these two figures in different ways, and mixing them up is the most common pro-rata mistake.
A full-time equivalent (FTE) salary is what the job would pay if you did it full time. An advert that says “£30,000 FTE” or “£30,000 pro rata” with a part-time pattern means the full-time job is worth £30,000, and you will be paid a proportion of it. On a three-day week at 37.5 full-time hours, that proportion is 60%, so you receive £18,000.
A pro-rata salary is what you will actually be paid. An advert that says “£18,000 per annum (pro rata)” for a three-day role means £18,000 is your real annual pay, and the full-time equivalent behind it is £30,000. The wording varies, so read the sentence twice and, if it is not clear, ask the employer: “Is that the actual salary I will be paid, or the full-time equivalent?”
There is one more wording trap. Some adverts quote an hourly rate alongside a pro-rata salary, and the two do not always agree, usually because the employer used a different number of working weeks. If the advert’s hourly rate is higher than your own division gives, check whether they divided by 46.4 weeks instead of 52. The salary method in this guide — annual salary divided by weekly hours times 52 — is the one that matches what will actually land in your bank account over the year.
Why Your Hourly Rate Does Not Drop When You Go Part Time
Under UK law, part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time workers just because they work part time. GOV.UK’s guidance on part-time workers’ rights states this plainly: part-time workers should get the same treatment for pay rates, pension opportunities and benefits, holidays, and training, with some benefits applied pro rata, in proportion to hours worked. GOV.UK gives the example of a £1,000 bonus for a full-time worker becoming £500 for someone working half the hours. The same principle applies to salary: half the hours, half the salary, the same hourly rate.
That protection has limits worth knowing. An employer can treat a part-time worker differently if it can show a good, objective reason, and some benefits genuinely do not divide neatly. But the basic hourly rate for the same job is the clearest case of all: if a full-time colleague doing the same work earns £15.38 an hour and you earn less per hour for the same role, ask why, in writing. There may be a genuine explanation, such as a different grade or different duties, but “because you are part time” is not one.
It is also worth knowing that part-time work has no fixed legal definition in the UK. GOV.UK notes that a part-time worker is simply someone who works fewer hours than a full-time worker, and that a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week. Our guide to how many hours is full time in the UK explains why that matters: “full time” means whatever the employer’s full-time week is. Always compare hours, not labels.
Part-Time Holiday Pay: The 5.6 Weeks Rule
Holiday is where part-time pay confuses people most, because the number of days is smaller but the number of weeks is exactly the same. Almost all workers in the UK are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For someone working five days a week, that is 28 days. For a part-time worker, GOV.UK’s holiday entitlement guidance says the same 5.6 weeks applies, but it amounts to fewer days: someone working three days a week gets at least 16.8 days a year (3 × 5.6).
| Days worked per week | Minimum holiday (days) |
|---|---|
| 5 | 28 |
| 4 | 22.4 |
| 3 | 16.8 |
| 2 | 11.2 |
| 1 | 5.6 |
If your hours vary from day to day, it is cleaner to work in hours: multiply your weekly hours by 5.6. A 22.5-hour week gives 126 hours of holiday a year; a 30-hour week gives 168 hours. Employers often round part days up to the nearest half day or full day, so 16.8 days may appear in your contract as 17 days — rounding up is fine, rounding down below the minimum is not.
Bank holidays sit inside that total unless your contract says otherwise: an employer can include bank holidays as part of the statutory 28 days (or its pro-rata equivalent). For a three-day worker the bank-holiday share is 4.8 days (three fifths of 8). If bank holidays fall on days you do not normally work, your employer should still give you the pro-rata benefit of them, for example through extra days off — check how your contract handles this before you assume a bank holiday Monday is simply lost. To work out what your leave is worth in money terms, use our holiday pay calculator, and if your pattern is irregular rather than fixed, our holiday leave accrual calculator covers how leave builds up hour by hour.
Tax, National Insurance and Pensions on a Part-Time Salary
Tax does not punish part-time work: the Personal Allowance is the same £12,570 a year whether you work two days a week or five, so a larger share of a part-time salary falls inside the tax-free band. Take the three-day pattern from Example 1, a pro-rata salary of £18,000, for an employee on the standard 1257L tax code with no pension, student loan or salary sacrifice. Taxable pay is £18,000 minus £12,570, which is £5,430. Income Tax at 20% is £1,086, and employee National Insurance at 8% on the same £5,430 is £434.40. Take-home pay is £18,000 minus £1,086 minus £434.40, which is £16,479.60 a year, or about £1,373 a month.
Compare that with the full-time £30,000 salary: taxable pay is £17,430, Income Tax is £3,486, National Insurance is £1,394.40, and take-home pay is £25,119.60 a year, or about £2,093 a month. The part-time worker keeps about 91.6% of gross pay, while the full-time worker keeps about 83.7%, because the tax-free allowance covers a bigger slice of the smaller salary. To check your own figure, including pension and student loan if you have them, use our annual salary calculator.
Pension contributions on a part-time salary are usually based on your actual (pro-rata) pay, not the full-time figure, and any employer bonus expressed as a cash amount is normally pro-rated too — a £1,000 full-time bonus becomes £600 on a three-day pattern, following the same proportion as your hours. Check the contract wording: “pro rata” should appear next to any benefit that is scaled, and anything that is not scaled should say so.
Overtime and Extra Hours for Part-Time Workers
Part-time workers sometimes assume that any hour beyond their own pattern counts as overtime. It does not, necessarily. GOV.UK notes that part-time workers may not get overtime pay until they have worked over the normal hours of a full-time worker. In practice, that means if you are contracted for 22.5 hours and the full-time week is 37.5, extra hours up to 37.5 are often paid at your normal hourly rate, and only hours beyond 37.5 attract an overtime premium — if your contract pays one at all. UK law sets no statutory overtime premium, so the rate for extra hours comes from your contract, and the legal floor is that your average pay must not fall below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage. From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices, as published by GOV.UK.
That rule cuts both ways. If you regularly pick up extra shifts, those hours are paid at your normal rate up to the full-time threshold, which is still real money — five extra hours a week at £15.38 is £76.90 a week, or about £4,000 over a year — but do not budget for an overtime premium on hours that are still inside the full-time week. If your contract does pay a premium, find out exactly where it starts: “overtime after 37.5 hours” and “overtime after your contracted hours” are very different deals for a part-time worker. If you want to price extra hours properly, our overtime pay calculator lets you test both versions.
Checking a Part-Time Offer: A Five-Step Checklist
- Get the full-time hours in writing. Ask for the full-time weekly hours and the full-time salary, not just the part-time figure.
- Do the division yourself. Pro-rata salary divided by (weekly hours × 52) gives the hourly rate. Compare it with the full-time hourly rate — they should match.
- Check the holiday wording. Confirm your days (or hours) of holiday, and whether bank holidays are inside or on top of that total.
- Ask when overtime starts. Is it after your contracted hours, or after the full-time week? Get the answer in the contract, not just in conversation.
- Run the take-home figure. Use the annual salary calculator linked above to see the monthly pay after tax and National Insurance, and compare it with your actual bills — not with the full-time headline figure.
If any of those answers is missing or does not add up, ask before you accept. A part-time salary is not complicated once you have the full-time hours behind it. If you are weighing a part-time offer against a full-time one, our comparison of salary vs hourly pay in the UK shows how holiday treatment and extra hours change the answer, and if you are starting from a monthly take-home target instead, our guide to the gross salary needed to take home £3,000 a month works the tax backwards from the figure you actually want.
The Bottom Line
A part-time salary is a proportion, not a different rate of pay. Find the full-time salary, find the full-time hours, and divide: pro-rata salary over weekly hours times 52 gives you the hourly rate, and that rate should match the full-time job. Check the holiday days, check where overtime starts, and run the take-home figure before you sign. Do those five checks and a pro-rata offer holds no surprises — the smaller annual figure is simply fewer hours at the same hourly value, which is exactly what fair part-time pay is supposed to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert a part time salary to hourly rate in the UK?
Divide your actual (pro-rata) annual salary by your annual hours: weekly hours × 52. For example, £18,000 for a 22.5-hour week is £18,000 ÷ 1,170 hours = £15.38 an hour. You can also divide the full-time salary by full-time annual hours; both methods give the same hourly rate.
Is a pro-rata salary lower than the full-time salary?
Yes, in annual terms, because you work fewer hours — but the hourly rate should be the same. A £30,000 full-time salary on a three-day pattern (22.5 of 37.5 hours) is £18,000 a year, and both work out at £15.38 an hour.
What does “£30,000 pro rata” mean in a job advert?
It usually means £30,000 is the full-time equivalent salary, and you will be paid a proportion of it based on your hours. On a three-day week at 37.5 full-time hours, that is 60%, or £18,000. If the advert is unclear, ask whether the figure is the actual salary or the full-time equivalent.
How much holiday do I get working part time?
You are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, pro rata: 16.8 days for a three-day week, 22.4 days for four days, 11.2 days for two days. If your hours vary by day, work in hours instead: weekly hours × 5.6.
Do part-time workers get paid overtime?
Not automatically. Many contracts only pay an overtime premium once you pass the full-time weekly hours, with extra hours up to that point paid at your normal rate. UK law sets no overtime premium, so check your contract for where overtime starts.
Does tax work differently for part-time workers?
No — the £12,570 Personal Allowance applies in full, so a larger share of a part-time salary is tax-free. A £18,000 salary gives take-home pay of about £16,480 a year (£1,373 a month) on the standard tax code, before pension or student loan deductions.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Part-time workers’ rights: https://www.gov.uk/part-time-worker-rights
- GOV.UK, Holiday entitlement: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights
- GOV.UK, National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
- GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances: https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates
