The extra bank holiday 19/9/22 – what you need to know.
To mark the state funeral of the Queen, an additional bank holiday on Monday, 19 September has been announced. It’s likely that you’re already fielding questions from workers anxious to know whether this gives them an extra day’s paid leave or not. What can you tell them?
Full-time workers. An additional bank holiday does not create an extra day on top of the statutory minimum entitlement. This is often misunderstood by workers, but the Working Time Regulations 1998 simply give workers a right to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday every year. This entitlement, which equates to 28 days for a full-time employee, includes all bank holidays. So if your employees’ contract provides for 28 days’ holiday per leave year including bank holidays then this additional bank holiday does not give them an entitlement to an extra day’s holiday. If, though, your employees’ contract provides for 20 days plus bank holidays (there are normally eight bank holidays in England and Wales), then this gives your employees the right to next Monday off as paid annual leave.
- Part-time workers. Given that their entitlement can be calculated pro rata (other than in relation to part-year workers), if their full-time counterparts’ entitlement has increased this may have a knock-on effect on their entitlement. For example if a part-time worker works three days a week, this will normally give them a 3/5th entitlement of what you give to a full-time employee working five days a week. Therefore, if the contractual right provides for 20 days plus bank holidays pro rata, then a three-day part-time worker’s entitlement will increase from 3/5th of 28 days to 3/5th of 29 days and, if you usually round up any entitlement to the nearest half or whole day, it would be good practice to apply the same principle here where appropriate. If, on the other hand, the contractual right provides for 28 days including bank holidays pro rata, then, like their full-time counterparts, the part-time worker’s entitlement will not change.Of course, even if you’re not contractually bound to give an extra day to your full or part-time workers, it might be worth considering doing so as a goodwill gesture given the national importance of the occasion.