UK Bank and Public Holidays – Entitlement, Pay, and Working Rules

Bank holidays and public holidays in the United Kingdom create frequent confusion for employers and HR managers, particularly when managing shift work, part-time staff, or multi-site teams operating across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

This guide sets out the legal framework under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), clarifying holiday entitlements, pay obligations, and best practices for managing bank holiday scheduling.

Number of Bank Holidays Across the UK Nations

The number of official bank and public holidays varies depending on which constituent nation of the United Kingdom employees are based in:

Substitute Days for Weekend Bank Holidays

When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday (such as Christmas Day or New Year's Day), a 'substitute' weekday becomes the official bank holiday—normally the following Monday.

Statutory Annual Leave vs. Bank Holidays

Under Regulations 13 and 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998, all workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per holiday year. For an employee working a 5-day week, this equals 28 days:

Statutory Minimum Holiday = 5 working days/week × 5.6 = 28 days

Crucially, there is no statutory right to additional paid leave on bank holidays on top of this 5.6-week minimum. The contract of employment determines how bank holidays are treated:

• Inclusive model: "28 days paid holiday per year inclusive of bank holidays." If the business closes on 8 bank holidays, employees have 20 days of discretionary annual leave remaining.
• Exclusive model: "25 days paid holiday per year plus statutory bank holidays" (totaling 33 days of paid leave).
• Roster / Shift model: In continuous operations (healthcare, hospitality, logistics), employees may be rostered to work on bank holidays, receiving compensatory paid days off (time off in lieu / TOIL) or taking their 28 days at other times during the year.

Part-Time Workers and Pro-Rata Bank Holiday Entitlements

Under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time colleagues.

Because many UK bank holidays fall on Mondays (Easter Monday, Early May, Spring Bank Holiday, Summer Bank Holiday), staff who do not normally work on Mondays could miss out if an employer only grants paid bank holidays when they fall on a scheduled working day.

To ensure compliance:

• Calculate all holiday entitlements—including bank holidays—on a pro-rata basis according to the proportion of full-time hours worked.
• A part-time employee working 3 days a week (60% of full-time hours) is entitled to $28 \times 0.6 = 16.8$ days of paid holiday per year, regardless of which days of the week they work. If a bank holiday falls on their scheduled day and the business closes, they deduct 1 day from their leave allowance. If they do not work on Mondays, their 16.8 days remain available for other dates.

Best Practice for Digital Leave Management

Operating an automated digital absence management system prevents calculation errors by:

1. Maintaining dedicated public holiday calendars for England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
2. Automatically pro-rating statutory and contractual allowances for part-time workers.
3. Tracking Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) when staff work on designated public holidays.

Sources and Legal References

Statutes and Statutory Instruments

• Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (c. 80) — Statutory bank holidays for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (Schedule 1), and the appointment of substitute days by Royal Proclamation
• Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), Regulations 13 & 13A — Statutory entitlement to 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave, capped at 28 days for a full-time worker
• Working Time Regulations 1998, Regulation 16 — Payment in respect of periods of leave
• Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1551) — Pro rata temporis principle and the prohibition on less favourable treatment of part-time workers
• Employment Rights Act 1996, Section 1 — Written statement of employment particulars, including holiday entitlement and holiday pay
• National Minimum Wage Act 1998 — Requirement that any premium arrangement for bank holiday working still satisfies the statutory minimum rate

Guidance

• ACAS — Checking holiday entitlement — Calculating leave, bank holidays and part-time pro-rating
• GOV.UK — UK bank holidays — The official list of bank holidays for each UK nation, including substitute days

Status as of: August 2026. This article provides general regulatory guidance and does not constitute formal legal advice for individual cases.