Friday 3 June 2022: Who’s entitled to the extra bank holiday?

To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, bank holidays in the UK will be slightly different than normal in 2022, with one extra bank holiday day available. But when is the extra bank holiday and who’s entitled to it?

 

When is the extra bank holiday?

In 2022, in celebration of the Queen’s 70^th anniversary as monarch, the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May is being moved to Thursday 2 June 2022. There will also be an additional bank holiday on Friday 3 June, creating a four-day weekend.

 

Do employees have an automatic right to this bank holiday?

Employees don’t have an automatic statutory right to paid time off on a bank holiday. It depends on what’s set out in their employment contract.

 

What wording means the employee does have the right to the additional holiday?

If the contract states that the employee has the right to a certain amount of holiday plus bank holidays – but without any further details – then they would automatically have a right to this additional bank holiday.

 

What wording means the employee doesn’t have the right to the additional holiday?

If the contract does have a specific amount of holiday stated in it, then the employee isn’t automatically entitled to the additional bank holiday. For example, the contract could say that the employee is entitled to:

• simply 5.6 weeks and with no right to take bank holidays; or
• eight bank holidays (in England) as well as a specified number of days’ holiday – i.e., the usual number of bank holidays; or
• bank holidays, but these days are specified – i.e., the usual eight bank holidays are listed and set out in writing

If the usual bank holidays are listed and set out in writing, the Spring Bank Holiday is likely to be included. So, it’s worth noting that (depending on the wording) employees will be likely to be entitled to take Thursday 2 June off as the substituted Spring Bank Holiday.

 

What if the contract states that the employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks “inclusive of any bank holidays”?

If the contract states that the employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks “inclusive of any bank holidays” – and those days aren’t specified – then they’ll be entitled to be off on 3 June 2022, but this will have to come out of their holiday entitlement.

 

If the employee doesn’t have the right to the additional bank holiday, what are my options as an employer?

If the employee doesn’t have the right to 3 June 2022 as an extra day’s holiday, it’s your decision as an employer what to do.

It’s important to consider what the impact on staff morale could be, not just whether employees are legally entitled to the holiday. After a very difficult couple of years, it’s likely that there will be a national push to celebrate not just the Queen’s 70 years, but also the hope for life resembling some form of new ‘normal’ this year.

Employees are also likely to be entitled to take Thursday 2 June off as the substituted Spring Bank Holiday – so bringing them back for one day on the Friday could potentially cause some ill-feeling and damage morale.

So, your options include:

• Informing employees that you’ve decided to give an extra day’s holiday on 3 June 2022 as a gesture of goodwill, but including a comment that this doesn’t create a right to any future additional bank holidays.
• Informing employees that you’ll be closing the business over this four-day weekend and making them aware now that they’ll be taking a day from their holiday entitlement to cover 3 June 2022. It would be a good idea to serve this notice at the start of the relevant holiday year – January 2022, for many businesses. But, of course, requiring an employee to take a day’s holiday actually only needs two days’ notice.
• Informing employees that the premises will be open but if employees want to take the day off, they can apply through the usual holiday process and the company won’t enforce the usual capacity rules. This way, any employee can take the day off as annual leave if they want to.
• Informing employees that, for specified business reasons, the usual holiday process and rules on capacity will have to apply to this bank holiday.

 

Any questions?

If you’re a Citation client and have any questions about this or any other compliance matters, please contact our 24/7 advice line on 0345 844 4848.

And if you’re not a client and would like to find out more about how we could support you with this and all of your business’ HR and Health & Safety compliance needs, please get in touch using the form on this page or by calling 0345 844 1111.