As Easter approaches are your staff looking for “statutory holidays” or double time?

There is no statutory right to time off on a bank holiday. All workers must receive 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave each year, but it is up to an employer for when they are allowed to take those days off. It is important that employers are fair to staff when holidays are requested as there is a risk that some workers’ requests for annual leave may be treated more favourably than others.

Employers may reward staff for working on bank holidays by paying them extra, but there is no rule that they should. Many businesses offer extra pay for bank holidays as an incentive to encourage staff to work those days.

If an organisation closes over Easter, employers can force workers to use annual leave while the organisation is shut. However, to do this, staff must be given twice as much notice as the time period that they are asked to take off work.

So, to close for one week of holiday, employers would need to give two weeks’ notice.

Contracts and policies should cover: