With Easter on the way many businesses are likely to have employees who want to take some time off, whether it is just on the bank holidays or for a longer period. Whether you are new to people management, fancy a refresher or things have changed in your business that may see you facing some holiday conundrums for the first time, here are some things you’ll find it helpful to know.
1. The law on holiday is different for irregular hours and part year workers
Whilst they accrue holiday, unlike other workers holiday for irregular hours and part year workers is usually based on the hours they work. Holiday pay is also calculated differently, and if permitted by their contract of employment, they can be paid ‘rolled-up’ holiday pay which is not allowed for other types of workers. It is important to make sure that when dealing with holiday or holiday pay you identify whether the employee is an irregular hours / part year worker or not so that they can be treated correctly.
If you have any questions about holiday for such workers, please get in touch for specific advice as we do not cover these types of workers in this Legal Update.
2. Employees do not have a statutory right to time off on a bank holiday
Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. Any right to time off depends on the terms of the employee’s contract or in some cases the custom and practice in your business.
It is important to remember that ‘fixed hour full year’ employees have a statutory minimum holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks in each holiday year. A business can choose in their contracts to include bank holidays as part of an employee’s statutory annual leave.
If your business treats bank holidays as normal working days, an employee will have to request to take a bank holiday as a day’s holiday if they would like that day off, just as they would do for any other day.
If an employee works on a bank holiday, they do not have a statutory right to be paid ‘extra’. Any right to an enhanced rate of pay, such as double time or time and a half, depends on the employee’s contract of employment or custom and practice in the business.
3. A part-time worker has the right not to be treated less favourably than a comparable full-time worker – this includes entitlement to bank holidays
If a business gives paid time off on bank holidays, part-time employees should be given a pro-rated allowance of paid bank holidays, irrespective of whether or not they normally work on the days on which bank holidays fall. If you would like specific advice regarding holidays and part-time employees, please contact us as this is an area businesses can sometimes find tricky.
4. Keep an eye out for ‘additional bank holidays’
Whilst no additional bank holidays have been declared for England and Wales this year, Monday 15 June 2026 has officially been confirmed as a national bank holiday in Scotland – ‘World Cup Day’. This is to mark Scotland playing in the men’s football World Cup for the first time since 1998. If this additional bank holiday is relevant to your business / employees, please get in touch for advice as whether employees are entitled to take paid time off on the additional bank holiday will usually depend on their contract of employment and its wording as there is no statutory right to it.
If you have a HR matter your business would like assistance with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch as we are happy to help.