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Latest NewsEmployment lawHR practiceHolidays and holiday payBank holidays

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

by Personnel Today 26 May 2023
by Personnel Today 26 May 2023 Bank holiday traffic on the M5. Photo: Mr Standfast / Alamy
Bank holiday traffic on the M5. Photo: Mr Standfast / Alamy

What is the legal position when an extra bank holiday is granted, for example to celebrate the King’s coronation? Are employees entitled to extra pay for working on bank holidays? What does an employer do if an employee refuses to work on a bank holiday? How should bank holidays be managed for part-time employees? Public holidays can raise a myriad of issues for employers – we explain how to deal with some of the most common.

There are normally eight bank holidays a year in England and Wales, nine in Scotland, and 10 in Northern Ireland.

The Working Time Regulations 1998 do not differentiate between bank holidays and other days and do not prevent employers from including them in the 5.6-week minimum annual leave entitlement.

Some employers grant their employees more annual leave than that set by the Working Time Regulations 1998.

1. King’s coronation: additional bank holiday

The government granted an additional public holiday on Monday 8 May 2023 to celebrate King Charles’ coronation, which takes place two days earlier. However, an employer’s workforce did not automatically have the right to take the day off work. 

Employers need to look at how they approach the additional bank holiday. This is determined to some extent by the wording in employees’ contracts of employment. For example, where the contract entitles employees to take leave on “all bank and public holidays”, the employer will be required to grant the extra day as leave.

Even if the employer is not contractually obliged to grant the extra day as leave, it may choose to do so as a goodwill gesture to employees, particularly given the historical significance of the event.

Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday 19 September 2022 was designated a public holiday which, together with the extra bank holiday granted for the Platinum Jubilee in June, meant 2022 had two additional bank holidays.

Bank holidays in 2023

Mon 2 Jan 2023
Tue 3 Jan 2023 (Scotland only)
Fri 17 Mar 2023 (NI only)
Fri 7 Apr 2023
Mon 10 Apr 2023 (except Scotland)
Mon 1 May 2023
Mon 8 May 2023 (King’s coronation)
Mon 29 May 2023 

Wed 12 Jul 2023 (NI only)
Mon 7 Aug 2023 (Scotland only)
Mon 28 Aug 2023 (except Scotland)
Wed 30 Nov 2023 (Scotland only)
Mon 25 Dec 2023
Tue 26 Dec 2023

Bank holidays in 2024

Mon 1 Jan 2024
Tue 2 Jan 2024 (Scotland only)
Mon 18 Mar 2024 (NI only)
Fri 29 Mar 2024
Mon 1 Apr 2024 (except Scotland)
Mon 6 May 2024
Mon 27 May 2024 
Fri 12 Jul 2024 (NI only)
Mon 5 Aug 2024 (Scotland only)
Mon 26 Aug 2024 (except Scotland)
Mon 2 Dec 2024 (Scotland only)
Wed 25 Dec 2024
Thu 26 Dec 2024

What is an employee’s holiday entitlement if an extra bank holiday is granted one year?

If an employee’s contract states that their holiday entitlement is a certain number of days “plus eight bank holidays”, are they entitled to an extra bank holiday that is granted one year?

2. No automatic right to time off on bank holidays

There is no statutory right for employees to take bank holidays off work. Any right to time off depends on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.

If an employee does not have the contractual right to time off on public holidays but refuses to attend work, the employer can treat this as a disciplinary issue. The employer should comply with its own policy for managing disciplinary issues as well as the “Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures”.

If the contract provides that the employee is entitled to take bank holidays as annual leave, the employer cannot insist that the employee works and cannot take any form of disciplinary action. The employer could seek the employee’s written agreement to work on the bank holiday in return for a day in lieu to be taken at some other time, or it could consider increasing the payment for the day as an incentive.

Can employees be required to work on bank holidays?

How to deal with an employee who goes ahead with a holiday when annual leave has not been authorised


3. No statutory right to extra pay for working on bank holidays

There is no statutory right to extra pay, for example time and a half or double time, when an employee works on a bank holiday. Any right to extra pay depends on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.

Employers should stipulate the rate of pay for working on a public holiday in their written terms and conditions of employment. There is no right for employees to be paid a higher rate than normal for working on a bank holiday, unless this is provided for in the contract.

In the absence of anything in writing, an employee’s rights relating to public holidays depend either on what has been verbally agreed or on custom and practice. For example, if employees have been paid an enhanced rate for working public holidays in the past, it may be that this has become a contractual entitlement.

Is an employee who is required to work on bank holidays entitled to extra pay?

If an employee is on sickness absence during a bank holiday, are they entitled to be paid or to receive additional time off in lieu?


4. Part-time employees need special bank holiday arrangements

Because most bank holidays fall on a Monday or Friday, part-time employees who do not work on these days could be entitled to proportionately fewer days off compared with full-time employees, depending on shift patterns and annual leave arrangements within the organisation.

Holiday policy

Employers can head off many potential annual leave issues, including those around bank holidays, by having a clear and concise holiday policy.

Employers must ensure that all employees have at least the statutory minimum annual leave entitlement and that part-time employees are not treated less favourably than full-time employees. To avoid a complaint of less favourable treatment, many employers provide part-time employees with a pro-rated public holiday entitlement.

While there may be no arrangement that will have entirely fair results for all employees whatever their working pattern, one option is to calculate pro-rated bank holiday entitlement according to the number of hours that the part-time employee works, irrespective of whether or not they work on the days on which public holidays fall.

If a part-time or shift-working employee is not scheduled to work on a bank holiday, are they entitled to an additional day’s holiday?

If an employer provides for pro rata bank holiday entitlement for part-time employees, how should it calculate this?


5. Consistency key for employers when considering holiday requests

If an employee is required to work on bank holidays under the terms of their contract of employment, the employee cannot refuse to work.

However, the employer should refuse holiday requests only where there is a good business reason to do so. If it does not, and treats employees inconsistently, it runs the risk of a discrimination claim, should an employee consider that their holiday request has been refused for reasons connected with a protected characteristic such as age, religion or race.

Employers can refuse holiday requested by giving a counter notice, for example if the timing would cause serious inconvenience because it is an especially busy time a time of year or other employees have already been granted holiday. The counter notice must be at least equivalent to the number of days’ leave that the employee requested. Employers should always fully explain the reason for the refusal to the employee in a considerate way.

Letter declining holiday request

Can an employer refuse holiday requests during a particular period?


6. Look out for “20 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays” in contracts

Bank holidays and annual leave

How to manage bank holidays

Holiday and holiday pay

Good practice on bank holidays

This style of wording in contracts of employment can mean employees receiving more or fewer bank holidays than are required.

This is an issue where the employer has a holiday year that runs from April to March and the timing of Easter weekend is such that the employee could receive as many as 10 public holidays one holiday year or as few as six the next year.

The next time this will be an issue for contracts that use such wording will be in 2024, when Good Friday is 29 March and Easter Monday is 1 April. This means that the 2023/24 holiday year would have 10 public holidays and 2024/25 would only have seven.

This issue does not affect employers with an annual leave year running from 1 January to 31 December, as there are sufficient public holidays in this period. Employers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are unaffected by this issue because of the additional public holidays in those nations.

This article was first published in 2009 and last updated on 7 November 2022.

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Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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17 comments

Avatar
brenda 10 Mar 2015 - 8:28 pm

my employer said we need to use our own holidays for good friday and easter monday.this isbecause easter falls in march next year

Avatar
sonia 25 Mar 2015 - 7:59 pm

This information is wrong. ..check the uk gov website for more details

Avatar
Urmantrude 27 Mar 2015 - 11:44 am

How? Looks good to me

Avatar
kate 2 Apr 2015 - 9:27 am

Obviously you would be a tight employer….
I Get double pay and days holiday in Leiu if I work Bank holidays.

Avatar
JB 3 Apr 2015 - 3:24 pm

Is that in the terms of your contract?

Avatar
William 12 May 2015 - 9:51 am

My employer pays me time and a half for working bank holidays but takes a days holiday off me is this legal

Avatar
elliot 25 May 2015 - 5:16 pm

No its not unless your getting double pay plus the added half can’t make you use your holiday unless no one normally gets time and a half

Avatar
Schnitzer325ci . 25 May 2015 - 10:07 pm

No

Avatar
Jamie Hutt 28 May 2015 - 1:10 pm

Hi guys, I’ve just had the bank holiday weekend off, and I had the Tuesday off work aswell as an authorised absence due to Illness, is my employer entitled to refuse to pay me the bank holiday as I was absent on the Tuesday??

Avatar
Nina 9 Dec 2015 - 10:58 am

Is it legal to take my holidays day on christmas (only this day factory not work). Or, if i don’t book this day (on workin shift), company registered a sick. Therefore i ask U: have they right to force me do it?

Avatar
Sarah 26 Dec 2015 - 7:26 pm

Surely if not u would be just put down as unpaid leave for the day?

Avatar
Someone 17 Dec 2015 - 2:58 pm

In my contract I’ve not got any protected bank holiday so work them and at standard pay, but in newer contracts it does say that bank holidays are protected with either time off or double pay, I know that this is unfair but is there anything I can do about it?

Avatar
Garry55 24 Dec 2015 - 3:59 pm

I work full-time (35 hours a week, usually over 5 days) finished today (Xmas Eve) after working 35 hours since Monday – my pay packet only contained my usual weekly pay – should I have received pay for Xmas Day and Boxing day?

Avatar
Becky 30 Dec 2015 - 3:56 pm

Hi I’m a carer I worked Christmas Eve and Boxing Day all day 7-2130 I’m working New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day I have 2 children am I able to turn it down without trouble or is it normal

Avatar
markiemania 7 Jan 2016 - 7:23 am

My contract stipulates that I get double pay for a bank Holiday however the company I work for decided without consultation to pay who ever worked on 26th December the double pay and pay me single pay for the Bank holiday, Had they have consulted me I would have happily worked for time and a half and shared my premium with those who worked on the 26th But there was no consultation Is this legal. I would appreciate a fast reply as I have a grievance meeting about this subject very soon and I want to be armed with the facts. I am a union member and wanted to know whether I should also get my rep to attend. Thanks In advance.

Avatar
Ida Harries 8 Jan 2016 - 3:08 pm

As a client of a Care Agency do I have to pay more for care on December 24th after 3pm and Decenber 31st after 3pm.

How to Create a Yearly Digital Marketing Plan for Your Business 20 Apr 2017 - 10:41 pm

[…] example, you may want to tailor your content to coincide with holidays and other seasonal events, like the SuperBowl or an […]

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