The Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May, 2023 and Monday 8th May has been officially declared a Bank Holiday for the UK, meaning many people could be off work.
Despite this day being named as a Bank Holiday the Government stance remains that they “cannot interfere in existing contractual arrangements between employers and workers” which means that there is in fact no statutory right to time off for everyone.
So what does this mean for your business?
Your first port of call should be to check the wording of your employees contracts. If your contracts state that the employee is entitled to all statutory public and bank holidays, then they will be contractually entitled to this day off and for it to be paid.
If you have specified an amount of days holiday per year or have stipulated that a person is entitled to 8 bank holidays or ‘the usual’ bank holidays, then you are under no contractual obligation to give your employees the day off at all.
Something to bear in mind is however that schools are set to close, and this might affect childcare arrangements for your employees with parental responsibilities.
You could ask employees in this situation to book the day off using their holiday entitlement or give the option of taking the day off unpaid or they could work from home if their role allows.
As always if you need any assistance determining your contractual obligations or if you require any help with this please give us a call.
