Bank Holidays: Your Pay and Time-Off Rights, Decided by One Clause

Bank holidays generate more contract-wording disputes than any other holiday question. The legal position, the three contract clauses and what each means, and the part-timer calculation employers routinely get wrong.

The legal baseline

Bank holidays have no special employment status: they are ordinary days on which banks traditionally closed. Whether you can take them off, whether you are paid extra for working them, and whether they eat into your 5.6 weeks all come from the contract, not statute. Public sector and retail practice differs by custom, not law.

The three contract clauses

The including versus plus distinction decided who benefited from the extra coronation and jubilee holidays: plus contracts gained a day, including contracts often did not. Check before the next one-off holiday is announced.

Part-timers: the Monday problem

Most bank holidays fall on Mondays. A part-timer who never works Mondays would receive almost no benefit, while a Monday-Wednesday worker would receive nearly all of them. Best practice - and the safe route under part-time discrimination law - is to pro-rate: a 3-day worker on a 28-day-including basis holds 16.8 days total, with bank holidays falling on working days deducted from it and the balance freely bookable. Employers who simply grant worked bank holidays off without pro-rating discriminate against non-Monday patterns.

Working a bank holiday

• No statutory premium exists - time and a half or double time is contract or custom only.
• An employer can require bank holiday working if the contract says so or working patterns established it.
• Refusing without contractual cover is a conduct issue, not an automatic right.
• Religious festivals that are not bank holidays rely on holiday requests plus the employer’s duty not to indirectly discriminate in refusing them.

Related guides

This article provides general information only and is not legal or financial advice. Employment rights depend on your contract, employment status and circumstances. For advice on a specific situation, contact ACAS on 0300 123 1100 or a solicitor regulated by the SRA. Figures relate to the 2026/27 tax year and are verified against GOV.UK at the review date; always confirm current rates on GOV.UK before acting.

Frequently asked questions

Am I entitled to bank holidays off work?

Not by statute - the right to take bank holidays off, or to any premium for working them, comes entirely from your contract.

How many bank holidays are there?

Eight in England and Wales, nine in Scotland (adding 2 January and St Andrew’s Day, dropping Easter Monday), and ten in Northern Ireland (adding St Patrick’s Day and the Twelfth of July).

Do part-time workers get bank holidays?

They must not be treated less favourably: good practice pro-rates bank holidays into the overall entitlement so non-Monday workers are not disadvantaged.

Is there extra pay for working a bank holiday?

Only if your contract or an established custom provides it. No statutory premium exists.

What happens when an extra bank holiday is announced?

Contracts saying plus bank holidays add it automatically; contracts saying including 28 days usually do not, unless the employer chooses to grant it.

Can my employer make me work Christmas Day?

If the contract requires bank holiday or Christmas working, yes - subject only to specific rules in some sectors such as large shops in England and Wales, which cannot open on Christmas Day.

Sources

• GOV.UK: UK bank holidays
• GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement
• ACAS: Checking holiday entitlement