Know how much holiday to give your staff

Public and Bank Holidays

In the UK, public holidays include Bank Holidays (when banks cannot operate), common law holidays and holidays by royal announcement.

When the Christmas and New Year public holidays fall at a weekend, other week days are declared public holidays.

The law does not entitle workers to paid leave for public holidays - this is left to individual businesses to agree with their workers. Some businesses agree to workers receiving paid leave for public holidays. As an employer, you may include paid public holidays in your workers' minimum leave entitlement.

Part-time workers have the same entitlement to leave as full-time workers, so if full-time workers are given paid leave for Bank Holidays, part-time workers should also be granted time off pro rata.

The treatment of public holidays differs among European Union countries.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Payment for leave
• Public and Bank Holidays
• Restrictions and notice
• Statutory holiday entitlement
• Leave and termination of employment

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