One of the reasons for using Indirect is so that references *don't* change.
As you have only two conditions, one solution would be:

=countif('18 jan'!b10:h10,"hols")+countif('25 jan'!b10:h10,"hols")

Regards,
Fred.

"Pootle" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have employee time sheets with a list of names with formulas attached to
adjacent cells to count holidays and sick. I want to know if there is a
way
to insert a row so I could add a new name but also so the formula follows
the
name.

The formula I have is:

=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(INDIRECT("'"&{"18 jan","25 jan"}&"'!b10:h10"),"hols"))

So I need the b10:h10 to move down automatically to b11:h11.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.