Additional Bank Holidays: What To Do

With us well into the 'Bank Holiday Season', you, as employers, might be aware that we have an additional bank holiday to consider this year. 

You will recall last year, our Prime Minister proclaimed a bank holiday in honour of the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. The bank holiday will fall on Monday 8th May 2023, following the Coronation on Saturday 6th May 2023.

With the date fast approaching, we want to highlight whether you have to grant the additional bank holiday on Monday 8th May 2023 to your employees.  

Like the additional bank holidays last year, it will depend on the employee's contract wording as to whether you will need to award them to your employees.  

For example:   

• If the contract states that the employee's holiday entitlement is XX number of days "plus bank and public holidays", and does not stipulate which bank holidays are included, then they will be entitled to the additional day off as paid leave in addition to their annual leave and bank holiday entitlement. 

This is because you are already tied into granting the extra day, as it will form a statutory bank holiday. 

• If the employee's entitlement is expressed as a certain number of days "plus the statutory eight bank holidays" or their contract states exactly which bank holidays are included, you are not automatically forced to allocate a 9th bank holiday day.  

Suppose the employee's contract does not automatically award the employee the additional bank holiday. 

In that case, it is at the company's discretion whether you grant employees the additional day and ask them to take the day as annual leave or a day of unpaid leave. You can also offer employees the option to work the day if they do not wish to book annual or unpaid leave.

There is a broader impact in that if your employee contracts do not provide for the additional day to be covered in entitlement and you are considering whether to grant employees this day, I would be mindful that employees of different companies could be afforded this additional bank holiday. 

If employees are not granted the additional bank holiday, this could affect morale and impact how your employees or prospective employees perceive your company in these challenging times. 

If an employee calls in sick over the bank holiday weekend, the sickness should be treated in line with their contract of employment and absence policy. 

If this occurs, please contact a member of our HR Team to discuss the individual circumstances. 

If you would like to speak to #oneoftheteam regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact your designated Advisor. Alternatively, you can call 01427 420 403 or email hr@skaltd.co.uk