What this tracks
Enter your total annual leave allowance, how many days you have already taken, and the start of your leave year, and get a plain running total of what is left — and, once you know your remaining working days for the year, roughly how many you could take per month if you spread the rest out evenly. It is the calculation most people currently do in a spreadsheet or by counting on a calendar, done in one field.
Why 'leave year' matters, not just 'calendar year'
Many employers run their leave year from a date other than 1 January — the employee's start anniversary, or a company-wide date like 1 April or 1 July. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a leave tracker gives a misleading answer: entering leave taken since 1 January when your employer's leave year actually starts in April will overcount or undercount by however many days fell in the gap. Check your contract or HR system for the actual leave year start before relying on the running total.
Policies that change what 'days remaining' really means
| Policy | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Use-it-or-lose-it | Unused days above zero are forfeited at the leave year end — remaining balance matters more as the deadline nears |
| Carryover with a cap | Some unused days roll into the next year, up to a limit — check the cap before assuming everything carries over |
| Unlimited carryover | Rare, but means the running total genuinely accumulates year over year |
| Payout on leaving | Unused days may be paid out at termination in some jurisdictions and companies — relevant if you're planning a departure |
| Pro-rated for new starters | A partial first year typically earns a fraction of the full allowance, not the whole amount |
None of these are universal — they vary by country, by employer, and sometimes by contract type within the same company. The running total this calculator gives you is only as meaningful as the policy behind it, so it is worth confirming which of these applies before treating "days remaining" as days you are guaranteed to be able to use.
Spreading the rest of the year evenly
Dividing the days remaining by the months left in the leave year gives a simple pacing guide — useful for spotting, early enough to do something about it, whether you are on track to use your full allowance or heading toward a use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture near the year end. It is a planning heuristic, not a requirement: plenty of people reasonably take leave in a lump rather than spread evenly, especially around a specific holiday or trip.