Issues arising from when Easter falls, and Additional Public/Bank Holidays

The law on Public/Bank Holidays  

All employees are entitled to a set number of days off work each year by way of paid leave. The minimum statutory annual leave entitlement is 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday per year, which is equivalent to 4 weeks plus 8 Public/Bank Holidays. An employer may offer enhanced rights over this legal minimum under the terms and conditions stated within their employment contracts.

However, by law, Public/Bank Holidays do not have to be given as additional paid leave, although an employer can choose to include Public/Bank Holidays as part of an individual’s statutory annual leave entitlement. If so, this essentially means that if your place of work is closed on some or all Public/Bank Holidays, you can require employees to take these days as part of their paid holidays. Equally, you may choose to pay your employees for Public/Bank Holidays on top of their normal leave entitlement, or allow employees to take them as extra holiday days, but without pay.

In the context of any organisation that remains open on a Public/Bank Holiday, it’s again up to the employer to decide whether or not an employee needs to work those days.

In essence, the rules relating to whether employees are asked to work, or not, Public/Bank Holidays, and whether or not any Public/Bank Holidays are included in the overall paid annual leave entitlement, are a matter of what is clearly expressed in the contract of employment. Whether Public/Bank Holidays are in addition to, or inclusive of the employee’s statutory or contractual annual leave entitlement, will depend on the wording within the contract of employment.

The Effect of Easter when the Holiday Year starts in April  

In most years, England (and Wales) have eight Public/Bank holidays, Scotland have nine, but due to Easter falling later in 2025, there are only seven between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025. This could impact employers whose holiday year runs from April to March if workers are only entitled to the statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations: i.e. 28 days including Public/Bank holidays.Employers with April to March holiday entitlement years need to check contracts and holiday policies now if they haven’t already done so, to see if they are impacted:

• Option One - If the employment contract states 28 days, including Public/Bank Holidays, there is no issue - employees still get their full entitlement. They will get the seven Public/Bank Holidays off and will have 21 days to take at another time.

• Option Two - If the employment contract states 20 days plus all Public/Bank Holidays, there is a problem as affected workers would only receive 27 days, falling short of the statutory minimum.

Option Two means that those employers have lower and higher risk approaches as to how they approach this matter: 

• Lower-risk approach: Give employees an extra day’s leave before 31st March 2025.  It may be prudent to allow this extra leave to be carried over into the new holiday leave year.

• Higher-risk approach: Do nothing and risk a possible claim for unlawful deduction from wages if people realise that they have not had their full statutory leave entitlement.

The Effect of when Extra Public/Bank Holidays are Announced  

We have recently had two years when there were a couple of extra Public/Bank Holidays announced.  Since then, we have been rolling out to our clients contractual wording making it clear that in those scenarios, it is at the discretion of the employer as to whether those days will form part of that year’s holiday entitlement.

We have set out below the most commonly used phrases relating to Public/Bank Holidays that we have seen in employment contracts, and what they mean in terms of the employee’s right to have paid time off work.

Contractual wording	Entitlement to paid time off for an additional Public/Bank Holiday
1. “20 days holiday per annum plus Public/Bank Holidays”	Yes - employees will have a contractual entitlement to take paid time off on the additional holiday as the wording on holiday entitlement in the contract is not limited to the normal/usual Public/Bank Holidays. Therefore, there is a contractual entitlement to paid time off on all Public/Bank Holidays – including Public/Bank holidays which are in addition to those normally observed.
2. “28 days holiday per annum”	Potentially – where the contract is silent on Public/Bank Holidays, the employee has the ability to request booking from their 28-day holiday allowance any of the Public/Bank Holidays, including the additional Public/Bank holiday, subject to Management approval. However, there is no increase in holiday entitlement as a result of the additional Public/Bank Holiday.
3. “20 days holiday per annum plus 8 Public/Bank Holidays”	Potentially – similar to above.  The contract is silent on which Public/Bank Holidays are included within the employee’s holiday entitlement, and, therefore, an employee has the ability to request booking the additional Public/Bank Holiday as paid time off. Although this would mean that the employee will not be entitled to one of the later Public/Bank Holidays in the year. We would recommend this is clarified to the employee at the time of booking annual leave.
4. In addition, you will also receive pay on or in respect of each of the eight Public/ Bank Holidays as listed below:                     New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, Late Summer Holiday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.	No – where there is a list of Public/Bank Holidays contained within the contract, the employee will only be entitled to receive paid time off on those named Public/Bank Holidays listed (whether this list is some or all of those usually observed in England and Wales). Consequently, there is no contractual right to additional Public/Bank holiday, only by the discretion of the Employer.
5. “20 days holiday per annum plus the usual Public/Bank Holidays observed in England and Wales”	No – as the additional Public/Bank Holiday is not usually observed in England and Wales it would be a one off, so employees would not be entitled to take paid time off on the additional Public/Bank Holiday.

The wording at point 4 above is what most of our clients will have, although it is important that you check your templates versions.

Even where there is no contractual entitlement to take the additional Public/Bank Holiday as paid time off, many employers, as a gesture of goodwill, will decide to allow their employees to take the additional holiday.  If that is not possible for operational reasons, an employer may choose to provide time off in lieu as an alternative. The goodwill lost through not offering an extra day’s leave will often far outweigh any marginal cost savings gained from not giving the day off, or from requiring employees to take the extra day from their existing holiday entitlement.

Requests for Time Off Work

Even though employees have a right to a minimum number of paid days holiday each year, employees are not normally entitled to pick and choose when they take this time off. Employers need to manage staff rotas to ensure that they have the necessary available cover at all times to ensure business continuity.

To maintain good employee relations, it’s important for employers to handle any requests for time off fairly and consistently. The three key considerations will be:

• Decide on a fair approach whilst balancing operation needs;

• Early communication about whether or not certain groups of the workforce may, or may not, be required to work the additional Public/Bank Holiday in line with stated contractual terms;

• Set a start date and deadline for holiday/time off requests;

The guidance provided in this article is just that - guidance. Before taking any action, make sure that you know what you are doing, or call an expert for specific advice.