What are Bank Holidays?

Bank holidays were first introduced by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. There are currently six bank holidays in England and Wales, which with the traditional Christmas Day and Good Friday bring the total to eight public holidays. Scotland also has eight public holidays, though two of them are on different days to the ones in England and Wales, whilst Northern Ireland has ten.

Although bank holidays are widely observed by UK employers, they are not a statutory right. Your contract of employment will mention whether you have an entitlement to holiday on these days.

Some employers have included bank holidays within the four weeks European minimum annual leave, rather than allowing them in addition to the four weeks. After union campaigning, the government is now increasing the minimum entitlement in two stages. The minimum went up to 4.8 weeks on October 1 2007, and will increase to 5.6 weeks from April 1 2009. This effectively adds eight days to a full timer's leave entitlement to ensure that people get four weeks plus either bank holidays or time off in lieu.

A list of the days which bank holidays fall on every year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is maintained at the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk

The Scottish Executive maintain a similar list for Scotland at www.scotland.gov.uk