Some employees will be entitled contractually to the bank holiday (taking the decision out of your hands unless they’re happy to agree to something different). In summary, if the employee’s employment contract says their holiday entitlement is:
- Plus bank holidays – they’re entitled to the day off;
- Plus eight or usual bank holidays – they’re not entitled to the day off;
- Inclusive of bank holidays – they’re entitled to the day off but this comes out of their existing holiday entitlement because it already includes bank holidays in the calculation.
Of course, even if the contract doesn’t allow for employees to take off the bank holiday you can agree to a variation by giving them the extra day or you could offer to pay them in lieu. Any variation should be confirmed in writing.