Bank holiday entitlement

A bank holiday is not automatically a day off

Workers do not have a general statutory right to take bank or public holidays as paid leave. The employment contract or holiday policy decides whether the organisation closes, whether the person must work and how the day is counted.

Bank holidays may sit inside the statutory annual-leave allowance or be offered in addition to it. Wording such as “28 days including bank holidays” gives a different allowance from “28 days plus bank holidays”. The Acas bank-holiday guidance explains the contractual position.

Working patterns need fair treatment

A part-time worker might not normally work on the weekday when many bank holidays fall. Another part-time worker might work every Monday. Giving one person repeated paid days off while making the other use their allowance differently can create an unfair result.

Start with each worker's total contractual entitlement and normal working pattern. Apply the same proportionate method rather than awarding leave only when a named bank holiday happens to match someone's usual day.

Use the right national calendar

England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland do not share one complete bank-holiday calendar. Check the calendar that applies to the place of work and the organisation's terms. If people work across locations, say which calendar the contract uses rather than leaving managers to choose date by date.

Keep the policy wording, calendar used and any adjustment with the person's leave record. Current dates are better linked from the official calendar than copied into a policy that will soon be out of date.