In 2022, two additional bank holidays were celebrated by many British citizens: one on Friday 3  June, to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and another on 19 September for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

This year, an additional bank holiday has been declared on Monday, 8 May, in honour of the Coronation of King Charles III, which will take place on Saturday, May 6.

As another unexpected UK public holiday approaches, organisations may be uncertain whether their employees are automatically entitled to the day off. Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple yes or no; it will depend on the terms of each employee’s contract.

Is there an automatic right to the day off?

There is no statutory right to time off for bank/public holidays, however, employers may choose to include these days as part of employees’ annual leave entitlement.

Whether employees are entitled to time off on 8 May will therefore depend on the specific wording of such clauses.

Within an employee’s contract, holiday entitlement will typically be expressed as either:

• X days’ holiday, plus bank holidays; or
• X days’ holiday, which includes bank holidays.

This will be a key factor in whether they can take advantage of any new bank holidays.

For example, if the contract states:

“You are entitled to X days’ paid holiday each year. In addition, you are entitled to take public holidays.”

Then, as bank holidays are included on top of the employee’s annual leave allowance, and as the contract doesn’t stipulate the exact number they are entitled to, the employee will be contractually entitled to take and be paid for the extra bank holiday on 8 May.

However, if the contract states:

“You are entitled to X days’ holiday during each holiday year. This is inclusive of any of the normal public holidays that you are permitted to take. The business recognises the following public holidays…”

in this situation, because bank holidays form part of the employee’s set holiday entitlement, and because you have expressly provided the public holidays in question, the employee won’t have a contractual right to the extra bank holiday in 2023.

Will schools close for King Charles III Coronation?

The Department for Education has announced that schools that normally close on bank holidays will be closed on 8 May. However, it has not yet made any adjustments to the school year to reflect these changes. It is expected that any changes will be similar to those made last year to account for the additional bank holiday in 2021/22 academic year.

What if the organisation is closed, but staff don’t have a contractual right to time off?

If your organisation intends to close the day, and your contracts don’t give employees the right to the extra bank holiday, employers have two options.

The first option is to require employees to use a day of their normal annual leave entitlement on 8 May so that they don’t lose a day’s pay. Employers have sufficient time to provide the required two days’ notice for the one day of leave, but it is advisable to schedule the date well ahead of time. We suggest confirming this arrangement in writing to avoid any misunderstandings.

Alternatively, as many did with the additional bank holidays in 2022, employers may choose to allow an extra day of paid leave as a discretionary gesture. The fact that you allowed employees to take these extra days off last year doesn’t bind you to make the same decision in 2023; however, given the well-documented benefits of reward and recognition, this may pay dividends.