By Paula Fisher
November 9th 2022
By Paula Fisher
November 9th 2022
It has been confirmed that there will be an additional bank holiday in the UK to mark the coronation of King Charles III. The official ceremony takes place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May 2023, and the bank holiday is two days later on Monday 8th May 2023 (to avoid clashing with local elections in England on 4th May).
The bank holiday on 8th May will be in addition to the existing bank holidays on 1st and 29th May 2023, so there will be a total of 9 bank holidays next year. As we have already had two additional bank holidays in 2022, you will probably be well-practiced how to manage the extra bank holiday next year! However we have provided further guidance below for your reference.
There is no automatic entitlement to bank holidays and most employers who do not open on bank holidays deduct the bank holidays from the annual leave entitlement. The statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks (28 days for someone who works 5 days a week). Where a full-time employee does not work bank holidays, the usual 8 bank holidays are often deducted from their entitlement, leaving them with 20 days left to request.
You may already have a policy in place (in your contracts and/or handbook) as to how the Company deals with any additional bank holidays i.e. whether the Company closes and if it closes, whether employees will be required to take the holiday from their existing holiday entitlement. In this case, you can follow your existing policy and unless it stipulates that you will give an extra day’s holiday for an additional bank holiday, you can simply deduct all 9 bank holidays from the employees’ normal annual holiday entitlement. The employees are getting the same amount of time off work as they usually would do, it is just that an extra day is allocated to the bank holiday rather than them being able to take it at their own disposal. It would be at your discretion if you wish to give employees an additional day’s holiday due to the extra bank holiday – just be mindful that you are applying this fairly if you do so i.e. that it is implemented across the board and not only for certain individuals.
Please note that bank holidays for part-timers are only deducted from their holiday entitlement where the bank holiday falls on one of their normal working days.
If bank holidays are a normal working day in your business, again you should check your contracts / holiday policy in the first instance and unless it stipulates otherwise, there is no obligation for you to give employees an additional day’s holiday.
We would recommend that you advise your employees well in advance of what your policy will be around this extra bank holiday.
For our YourHR.space clients, where bank holidays are set up to be allocated as holiday, the bank holiday on 8th May 2023 will automatically be deducted from annual leave entitlements so, depending on your contracts and/or holiday policy, if you are deducting all bank holidays from the employee’s normal holiday entitlement, there is nothing for you to do. If you will be giving your employees additional holiday due to the extra bank holiday, you can increase holiday entitlements for in the usual way (i.e. via Absence Setup). If you have any queries please call us on 01702 216573.
Natalie Rodda
If you feel that you need guidance or advice on this matter, please call Practical HR on 01702 216573