Bank Holidays: Questions British Workers Ask Too Late — Epoche B1
There are about eight bank holidays a year in England and Wales, and not one of them is automatically a paid day off on top of your holiday allowance. The questions below come up every December. Is a bank holiday a legal day off work? No. The 1971 Act that governs them lists days on which banks and financial markets close. It does not order the rest of the country to stop, and it gives no worker a right to be at home. How much paid leave am I actually entitled to? Under the working time rules, a worker in the United Kingdom gets 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave, which is 28 days for someone working a five-day week. An employer is allowed to count the bank holidays inside that 28, and many do. So who gets Boxing Day off? Whoever their contract says. Two people in the same street, on the same pay, can have opposite answers. Why are shops, trains and hospitals open? Because nothing closes them. The holiday affects banking, not shopping or nursing. Extra pay for working the day is a matter of contract or custom, not of law. What does 'a day in lieu' mean? When Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday is declared instead, so the number of holidays stays the same. What should I check before I plan anything? Your written terms. Look for wording such as '28 days including bank holidays' or '20 days plus bank holidays'. The difference between those two lines is more than a week of your life each year. The calendar tells you what the banks are doing. Only the contract tells you what you are doing. References Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, c. 80. The Stationery Office, London. The Working Time Regulations 1998, SI 1998/1833. The Stationery Office, London. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2023). Holiday Entitlement and Pay. Acas, London.