Employment Rights Checker UK 2026
Find out which statutory employment rights you are entitled to based on your employment type and length of service.
Your employment rights in the UK depend on several factors — most importantly whether you are an employee, a worker, or self-employed, and how long you have worked for your employer.
Some rights — such as protection against discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and the right to the National Minimum Wage — apply from day one. Others — such as unfair dismissal protection and statutory redundancy pay — only kick in after 2 years of continuous service.
Enter your details below and this tool will tell you which of the key statutory rights you are currently entitled to.
About You
How many weeks you have worked for this employer.
Average contracted hours.
Before tax and deductions.
Used to calculate redundancy pay bands.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an employee and a worker?
An employee works under a contract of employment and has the full range of employment rights. A worker has a more flexible arrangement — such as casual, zero-hours, or agency work — and has some rights (including the National Minimum Wage and paid holiday) but not all employee rights (such as unfair dismissal protection or statutory redundancy pay).
Which employment rights apply from day one?
Rights that apply from day one of employment include: the National Minimum Wage, paid holiday entitlement, Statutory Sick Pay, protection against unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, protection for whistleblowers, the right to be accompanied at disciplinary hearings, and automatically unfair dismissal rights (including dismissal related to pregnancy or protected disclosures).
When do I qualify for unfair dismissal protection?
You qualify for ordinary unfair dismissal protection after 2 years of continuous service with the same employer. Before 2 years, you can still claim automatically unfair dismissal if the reason for dismissal was pregnancy, whistleblowing, trade union membership, asserting a statutory right, or another automatically unfair reason.
Am I entitled to paid holiday as a zero-hours worker?
Yes. All workers — including those on zero-hours contracts — are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year, calculated on a pro-rata basis based on hours worked. Your employer must pay you at your normal rate of pay for holidays taken.
What rights do self-employed contractors have?
Genuinely self-employed contractors have very few statutory employment rights. They are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage, paid holiday, Statutory Sick Pay, unfair dismissal protection, or statutory redundancy pay. However, if your working arrangements mean you are actually an employee or worker in practice, you may be entitled to these rights regardless of how you are classified. This is known as employment status misclassification and can be challenged at tribunal.