Bank holidays 


There is no statutory right to time off (paid or unpaid) on bank holidays or Sundays. Any rights are purely contractual, either through an express contract term or an implied term based on conduct or custom and practice (see Chapter 3). 


The only exception is the retail sector, where most stores, except small convenience stores, must close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. The special rules on Sunday working in the retail sector are explained on page 116.


Where a union is recognised, the treatment of bank holidays should be a matter for collective bargaining. 


In Campbell & Smith Construction v Greenwood [2001] IRLR 588, the EAT held that the government’s announcement that there would be an extra day’s public holiday to mark the Millennium did not entitle employees to an extra day’s paid holiday. 


Bank holidays can be included in the 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday entitlement. Whether they are included or added to the basic statutory holiday entitlement depends on an employee’s employment contract. 


There is no statutory right to be paid more than normal contractual wages or to time off in lieu for working on bank holidays. Any right to extra pay or time off for working a bank holiday depends on the employment contract. 


Employers must not breach the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000 (PTWR) or the working time regulations when working out the holiday pay of part-time workers on bank holidays, for example, when a bank holiday coincides with a day on which a part-time worker would not normally work. Government guidance on the PTWR is that where this happens, employers should give all workers the same pro rata entitlement to days off in lieu of the bank holiday, according to the number of hours they work, regardless of their working days. 


Where the full-time contractual entitlement is to “20 days’ holiday plus eight bank holidays”, it would be a breach of the working time regulations not to pay part-time workers, pro rata to their hours for all bank holidays regardless of the days they work.