The Kings Coronation: An Additional Bank Holiday
The Government has announced that Monday 8 May 2023 will be a bank holiday across the whole of the United Kingdom, to mark the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III which will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023. The bank holiday is intended to give families and communities the chance to celebrate and welcome His Majesty to the throne.
There’s no automatic legal right for most staff to take bank or public holidays off work, so you’ll need to check their employment contracts to see if they’re entitled to the day off. We’ve set out a refresher below on how to check whether your staff are entitled to this day off and/or how to treat your staff fairly when deciding whether to give them the day off anyway.
There’s no automatic entitlement for bank or public holidays off work
There is no automatic legal entitlement for your staff to take bank or public holidays off work. The only exception to this is that some banking sector workers do automatically get bank holidays off.
However, you should respond sensitively to requests from your staff members to take the day off work, and you’ll need to make sure you check what their employment contract entitles them to.
Check your staff members’ employment contract
These are some likely scenarios that could be included in their employment contract:
1. Their contract says they are entitled to a certain number of days annual leave, in addition to all bank and public holidays
Staff are entitled to take the extra bank holiday off in this scenario.
2. Their contract says they are entitled to a certain number of days annual leave, inclusive of bank and public holidays
In this scenario, it will be up to you whether you allow them to take the extra day off, as their contract does not explicitly entitle them to it.
3. Their contract says they are entitled to the normal bank and public holidays as annual leave
As the extra bank holiday is not one of the ‘normal’ eight bank and public holidays in England and Wales, it will be up to you whether you allow your staff members to take it.
In scenarios 2 and 3, if you decide that you need your staff to work through the bank holiday, you should explain why and communicate your position with them as early as possible. Allowing an early finish or half day on the day of the coronation could also help boost their morale. If you decide to allow your staff to take the day off as holiday even though they aren’t contractually entitled to it, you should make it clear that this is a one-off gesture of goodwill.
Do I have to pay staff extra to work on a bank holiday?
If your staff are working on this bank holiday, they’ll only be entitled to be paid extra, or take an additional day’s holiday another day, if their contract says so. If you decide to pay them extra, or give them an additional day’s holiday another day, you should make it clear to them that this is a one-off gesture.
Make sure you treat part-time staff fairly
If your staff aren’t contracted to an extra bank holiday off, but you decide to give it to them anyway, make sure you consider the implications for part-time staff. You must make sure that you do not treat part-time staff less favourably than full-time staff, or you could face discrimination claims. This means that if the bank holiday falls on one of a part-time staff member’s usual non-working days, you must adjust their holiday allowance on a pro rata basis so they don’t miss out on the extra leave.
