Bank Holidays & Your Employment Rights: Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have the right to time off on bank holidays? Are you owed extra pay? What happens when a bank holiday falls on a day you do not normally work? This guide answers the questions employees ask most — clearly, accurately, and under current UK employment law.

The law on bank holidays is widely misunderstood. There is no automatic statutory right to time off on bank holidays, nor is there an automatic right to extra pay for working them. Your actual entitlement depends entirely on what your contract says.

Do I have a legal right to time off on bank holidays?

No — not automatically. There is no provision in UK statute that gives employees an unconditional right to take bank holidays off. The right to time off on bank holidays is a contractual right, not a statutory one. What matters is what your contract of employment says.

Many contracts state that holiday entitlement is "20 days plus bank holidays" or "28 days inclusive of bank holidays." The wording makes a significant difference. If your contract says "plus bank holidays," bank holidays are on top of your basic annual leave and your employer cannot require you to use annual leave to cover them. If it says "inclusive," bank holidays count towards your total statutory minimum entitlement.

The statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations 1998 is 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year (28 days for a full-time worker on a 5-day week). Importantly, the law does not specify that any of those 28 days must fall on bank holidays. An employer can legitimately require workers to use their annual leave entitlement on bank holidays — provided the contract permits this and the overall entitlement is not below the statutory minimum.

Am I entitled to extra pay if I work on a bank holiday?

Again, this depends entirely on your contract. There is no statutory right to enhanced pay — such as double time or time-and-a-half — for working on a bank holiday. Many workers assume this is a legal entitlement. It is not. It is a contractual benefit, and whether you receive it depends on what your employer has agreed to pay.

Your contract may expressly state the rate payable for bank holiday working — for example, "double time" or "time-and-a-half plus a day in lieu." If it does, your employer is legally obliged to pay at that rate. If the contract is silent, your employer is only required to pay your normal rate of pay for any hours actually worked, provided that rate does not fall below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.

Where an employer has a custom and practice of paying enhanced rates for bank holiday working — even without an express contractual term — that practice may have become an implied contractual term over time. If your employer has always paid double time on bank holidays and then stops doing so, you may have grounds to argue a breach of contract or an unlawful deduction from wages under Part II of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

What happens if a bank holiday falls on a day I do not normally work?

This is one of the most common points of dispute for part-time workers. If your contract gives you "bank holidays off" and a bank holiday falls on a day you do not normally work — for example, you work Monday to Wednesday and a bank holiday falls on a Friday — you are generally not entitled to a day off in lieu unless your contract specifically provides for it.

However, the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 are critical here. Part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time workers on a pro-rata basis. If full-time workers receive paid leave for every bank holiday, a part-time worker is entitled to a pro-rata equivalent — calculated by reference to the proportion of the working week they work. You cannot simply receive nothing because the bank holiday does not fall on one of your working days.

In practice, many employers address this by calculating annual leave inclusive of bank holidays on a pro-rata basis for all part-time staff, ensuring everyone receives a proportionate entitlement regardless of which days they work. If your employer applies bank holidays in a way that consistently disadvantages part-time workers, this may amount to less favourable treatment and could give rise to a Tribunal claim.

Can my employer force me to work on a bank holiday?

Yes, if your contract permits it. If your contract does not expressly exclude bank holidays from your working obligations, or if it states that you may be required to work on bank holidays, your employer can lawfully require you to do so. Many sectors — retail, hospitality, healthcare, emergency services — routinely operate on bank holidays and employ staff on contracts that require bank holiday working.

If your contract is silent on the point, whether your employer can compel bank holiday working will depend on what can be implied from the surrounding circumstances — the nature of the role, custom and practice, and any relevant workplace policies. Refusing to work a bank holiday that your contract requires you to work could amount to a refusal to follow a lawful and reasonable instruction, which may result in disciplinary action.

If you are required to work a bank holiday, you should receive whatever the contract provides — whether that is your normal rate, an enhanced rate, a day off in lieu, or a combination. If your employer provides nothing beyond normal pay and the contract says nothing more, that is technically lawful provided your pay does not fall below National Minimum Wage.

How many bank holidays are there in England and Wales?

There are eight permanent bank holidays in England and Wales each year: New Year's Day (1 January), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May Bank Holiday (first Monday in May), Spring Bank Holiday (last Monday in May), Summer Bank Holiday (last Monday in August), Christmas Day (25 December), and Boxing Day (26 December). Occasional additional bank holidays are declared by Royal Proclamation for specific events.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have different arrangements. Scotland has nine bank holidays including 2 January and St Andrew's Day (30 November). Northern Ireland has ten bank holidays including St Patrick's Day (17 March) and the Battle of the Boyne (12 July). The applicable bank holidays will be those for the nation in which you work, unless your contract specifies otherwise.

I am on a zero-hours contract. Do I get paid for bank holidays?

Workers on zero-hours contracts are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998, in the same way as employees on regular contracts. Because your hours are irregular, your holiday pay must be calculated as an average of your earnings over the previous 52 weeks in which you actually worked (or received pay), disregarding any weeks with no pay. This is the reference period introduced by the Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

Whether you receive anything specifically for bank holidays depends on your contract. If your contract gives you bank holidays on top of your leave entitlement, you benefit in the same way as a regular employee. If it does not, your entitlement is simply the statutory minimum annual leave calculated on a pro-rata basis, and there is no additional payment for bank holidays as such.

What if I am on sick leave on a bank holiday?

You continue to accrue annual leave during sick leave, including any contractual bank holiday entitlement. UK case law confirms that workers cannot be deprived of their holiday entitlement simply because they are absent due to illness. If a bank holiday falls during a period of sick leave, and you would have had that day off as a bank holiday under your contract, you are generally entitled to take that day as annual leave at a later date.

You cannot receive both Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and holiday pay for the same day — you must elect one or the other. If you elect to take the day as annual leave rather than sick leave, you would be entitled to holiday pay rather than SSP. This can be financially beneficial where contractual holiday pay exceeds SSP (currently £116.75 per week as of April 2025).

Can I carry over unused bank holiday entitlement to the next leave year?

The general rule under the Working Time Regulations 1998 is that statutory annual leave cannot be carried over — it must be taken in the leave year in which it accrues. However, following the Supreme Court's decision in Smith v Pimlico Plumbers [2022] UKSC 4 and earlier EU-derived case law, workers who were unable to take leave due to illness, or because the employer prevented or discouraged them from doing so, may carry over untaken leave for up to 18 months.

If you have unused bank holiday entitlement at the end of the leave year and your employer has not allowed or facilitated you taking it, you should not automatically lose it. Where leave is lost due to the employer's failure to properly inform workers of their entitlement and encourage them to take it, the employer risks liability for unlawful deduction from wages.

My employer has changed the bank holiday arrangements — is that allowed?

Your bank holiday entitlement forms part of your contract of employment. An employer cannot unilaterally change contractual terms — including holiday entitlement — without your agreement. Any attempt to do so amounts to a breach of contract.

If your employer imposes a change to your bank holiday arrangements without consent, you have several options: raise a formal grievance; accept the change under protest and pursue a claim for breach of contract or unlawful deduction from wages; or in the most serious cases, resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal, though this is a high-risk step that requires careful advice before taking.

An employer who wishes to change bank holiday arrangements lawfully must either obtain express written consent from affected employees, or follow a proper process of consultation and offer reasonable notice of the change. Doing so may also give rise to collective consultation obligations under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 if the number of affected employees is sufficiently large.

What if I disagree with how my employer is applying bank holidays?

Start by reviewing your written contract and any applicable staff handbook or holiday policy. If these support your position, raise the matter informally with your line manager or HR in the first instance. If that does not resolve the issue, raise a formal written grievance. Keep a clear record of communications and any relevant pay slips or rotas.

If internal processes do not resolve the dispute, you may be able to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal for unlawful deduction from wages (where you have been underpaid) or breach of contract. The time limit for bringing such claims is generally three months less one day from the date of the deduction or breach, subject to the ACAS Early Conciliation requirement. Given the strict time limits, it is important not to delay in taking advice if you believe your rights are being breached.