Most of us treat bank holidays as a fact of life. A welcome day off, a quieter inbox, and an excuse to do something other than work. But have you ever wondered where they actually came from?
The history is more interesting than you might expect. And for small business owners, understanding what bank holidays are and where they came from is a useful backdrop to the more practical question: how should your business handle them?
A brief history of UK bank holidays
Before 1871, there was no such thing as a statutory bank holiday in the UK. Banks and businesses could close whenever they liked. Good Friday and Christmas Day were recognised as common law days of rest, but beyond those, workers had no guaranteed time off.
That changed with the Bank Holidays Act 1871, introduced by the Liberal politician Sir John Lubbock. Lubbock was a keen cricketer and, the story goes, he partly wanted to give workers more time to play sport. He was also a passionate advocate for ordinary working people having proper leisure time, at a point in history when that was far from guaranteed.
The 1871 Act created four statutory bank holidays in England and Wales: Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August, and Boxing Day. Scotland got a different set, reflecting its own traditions, including New Year's Day. Scottish bank holidays have always differed from those in England and Wales, a distinction that continues today.
Lubbock became so associated with the new holidays that they were nicknamed "St Lubbock's Days" in his honour. Not many politicians get a day named after them.
The Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 replaced the original legislation and is the framework still used today. It gave the Crown the power to vary bank holidays by royal proclamation, which is how adjustments for events like the Queen's funeral in 2022 and the King's Coronation in 2023 were handled.
How many bank holidays are there?
It depends where you are in the UK, which surprises some employers.
England and Wales have eight bank holidays per year. Scotland has nine (New Year's Day is supplemented by 2nd January, and the August bank holiday falls on a different date). Northern Ireland has ten, with the addition of St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne.
The eight in England and Wales are:
- 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)
- Boxing Day (26 December)
Occasionally an extra bank holiday is declared for a significant national event. In recent years these have included the Queen's State Funeral (September 2022) and the Coronation of King Charles III (May 2023). These are announced by royal proclamation and are not guaranteed to recur, so it's worth keeping an eye on any announcements if you're planning your team's leave calendar well in advance.
Bank holidays and employment law
Here is where things get practical, and where a lot of small employers make incorrect assumptions.
There is no automatic legal right for employees to take bank holidays off. The right depends entirely on the wording of their employment contract.
Most contracts fall into one of two categories:
"You are entitled to 28 days' holiday, including bank holidays." In this case, bank holidays count towards the statutory 28-day entitlement. Employees have no additional right to take them off unless you agree to it.
"You are entitled to 28 days' holiday, plus bank holidays." Here, bank holidays are on top of the statutory entitlement. Employees get more than the legal minimum, and the bank holidays are typically treated as fixed dates.
The distinction matters. If your contract is ambiguous about how bank holidays are treated, it can cause real confusion, particularly around whether employees are entitled to a day off, a day in lieu, or extra pay if they work on a bank holiday.
If you are not sure what your contracts say, it is worth checking. And if you are writing contracts for the first time, being explicit about bank holiday treatment is one of the most straightforward ways to avoid disputes later.
Do employees have to work on bank holidays?
Whether an employee can be required to work on a bank holiday depends on their contract. If the contract states they work bank holidays, they can be required to do so. Many businesses in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and similar sectors operate on bank holidays as a matter of course.
If you do require employees to work on bank holidays, it is good practice (and in many contracts, a requirement) to either pay an enhanced rate or give a day off in lieu. What counts as fair and reasonable will depend on your sector and your existing arrangements, but as a baseline: if someone works a bank holiday and gets nothing extra for it, that is unlikely to go down well.
Why a clear policy matters
The practical reason to have a written bank holiday policy is simple: it removes ambiguity. Without one, each bank holiday becomes a potential source of confusion for your team.
A bank holiday policy does not need to be long. It should cover:
Whether bank holidays are included in or on top of annual leave entitlement. This should mirror what is in employment contracts, but spelling it out in a policy document makes it easier for everyone to find.
What happens if an employee works on a bank holiday. Do they receive enhanced pay, a day in lieu, or nothing extra? Be explicit.
How bank holidays are treated for part-time workers. This is one of the most common areas of confusion, and it deserves its own attention. Part-time workers are entitled to bank holidays on a pro-rata basis, but the calculation is not always straightforward.
What happens when a bank holiday falls on a day an employee does not normally work. A part-time employee who works Monday to Wednesday, for example, will miss some bank holidays entirely. Whether they receive a day in lieu is a matter for your policy.
Keeping track of bank holidays in your leave system
One small practical note: if you are tracking annual leave in a spreadsheet, bank holidays can be tricky to handle correctly, particularly if you have employees working different patterns or across different parts of the UK (where bank holiday dates differ).
A leave management tool like Absently accounts for UK bank holidays automatically, so they do not accidentally eat into employees' leave entitlement. It is one of those small things that saves a disproportionate amount of admin over the course of a year.
A quick summary
UK bank holidays date back to the Bank Holidays Act 1871, introduced largely thanks to one cricket-loving Liberal MP. There are eight in England and Wales, nine in Scotland, and ten in Northern Ireland. Employees have no automatic right to take them off. Whether they do, and what happens if they work them, depends on the employment contract and your leave policy. Getting those two things clear is the foundation of managing bank holidays without friction.
The next post in this series tackles the trickiest part: bank holidays and part-time workers.