Do Bank Holidays Count Toward Holiday Entitlement In The UK?

Bank holidays are great for morale, but they can create real confusion in small businesses - especially when you’re trying to keep things fair across different working patterns, stay compliant, and avoid awkward disputes.

One of the most common questions we hear is whether bank holidays count as holiday.

The answer is: they can, but it depends on how you set up your holiday policy and what you’ve agreed in your employment contracts.

Below, we’ll break down how bank holidays interact with statutory holiday entitlement in the UK, what your options are as an employer, and how to document your approach so you’re protected from day one.

Do Bank Holidays Count As Holiday Under UK Law?

In the UK, the legal starting point is that most workers are entitled to a minimum amount of paid annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

For most full-time employees who work 5 days a week, the statutory minimum is:

• 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday per leave year
• That equals 28 days for someone working 5 days per week (5.6 x 5 = 28)

Now, here’s the key point for employers:

There is no standalone legal right to take bank holidays off. Bank holidays are not an “extra” legal entitlement on top of the 5.6 weeks.

So when someone asks whether bank holidays count towards holiday entitlement, what they’re really asking is whether bank holidays:

• are included within the employee’s 5.6 weeks (e.g. “20 days + bank holidays”); or
• are given in addition to the employee’s 5.6 weeks (more generous than statutory minimum).

Both approaches can be lawful - the most important thing is that your approach is clear, consistent, and written down.

If you want a plain-English overview of the legal framework behind holiday rights, it’s worth keeping the Working Time Regulations in mind as the baseline.

Common Ways Employers Treat Bank Holidays (And What Works Best)

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, especially for SMEs with mixed roles (office staff, retail teams, hospitality, shift work, etc.). But in practice, most employers use one of these models.

Option 1: Bank Holidays Are Included in Holiday Entitlement

This is the most common approach for small businesses.

Example wording (conceptually):

• 28 days inclusive of bank holidays (for a 5-day-per-week full-time employee)

In this model, if your business closes on bank holidays, those days are usually deducted from the employee’s overall holiday “pot”.

This is often easier to manage financially and operationally - you’re not providing extra leave beyond the legal minimum unless you choose to.

If you use this approach, it’s essential that your contract wording is clear on what “inclusive” means. The phrase itself can cause misunderstandings, so it helps to be precise in writing - this is exactly what inclusive of bank holidays is getting at.

Option 2: Holiday Is Given “Plus Bank Holidays”

Another common model is:

• 20 days annual leave + bank holidays

In England and Wales, there are typically 8 bank holidays in a year (though it can vary, for example with one-off additional bank holidays).

Practically, “20 days + bank holidays” often ends up being the same as 28 days total (if there are 8 bank holidays and the employee is off on all of them). But the wording matters because it signals to employees that bank holidays are treated separately.

This can be a good option where you want to align with market norms (for example, if you’re competing for talent), but you still want to keep the minimum holiday number predictable.

Option 3: You Offer More Than Statutory Minimum

Some businesses choose to offer enhanced holiday as a benefit, such as:

• 25 days + bank holidays (33 days total if 8 bank holidays apply)
• or 30 days inclusive of bank holidays (still above minimum)

This can be a great retention tool, but make sure you’ve costed it properly (especially if you have part-time or irregular-hours workers where entitlements need to be pro-rated).

Option 4: Your Business Opens on Bank Holidays

If you operate in retail, hospitality, healthcare, logistics, or any business that stays open on bank holidays, you may not “give” bank holidays as time off at all.

Instead, your policy might look like:

• Employees can be rostered to work on a bank holiday like any other day
• They take their paid holiday at other times
• You may offer enhanced pay or time off in lieu (TOIL) as a contractual perk (not a legal requirement in most cases)

This approach can be lawful, but again: clarity and fairness are everything. Your contracts and staff handbook should clearly cover rostering expectations and how leave is booked.

How To Calculate Holiday If Someone Is Part-Time, Shift-Based, Or Irregular Hours

Bank holidays tend to cause the most problems when your team doesn’t all work Monday to Friday.

If you’re not careful, you can accidentally end up treating part-time staff less favourably - which can create discrimination risk as well as staff dissatisfaction.

Part-Time Employees

Part-time workers are still entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday - but because they work fewer days per week, their entitlement is pro-rated in days or hours.

Example:

• An employee works 3 days per week
• Statutory leave is 5.6 x 3 = 16.8 days (you can convert that into hours if your system runs in hours)

If your workplace closes on bank holidays, a part-time employee who doesn’t normally work Mondays shouldn’t be disadvantaged compared to someone who does.

A fair approach is often to convert holiday entitlement into hours and manage leave consistently that way across working patterns.

Shift Workers

Shift workers might not have a “normal” pattern that lines up with bank holidays at all.

In many businesses, shift workers:

• receive a holiday allowance in hours
• book leave based on their rostered shifts
• may be scheduled on bank holidays depending on operational needs

What matters is that over the leave year, they can take at least their statutory paid leave overall.

Zero-Hours And Irregular Hours Workers

Holiday for irregular-hours and part-year workers is a technical area, and the rules have been updated. The key practical point for employers is: you still need a system that ensures workers receive at least their statutory paid holiday based on the hours they work.

From April 2024, there are specific rules for “irregular hours” and “part-year” workers, including an accrual method for statutory leave (often calculated as 12.07% of hours worked) and the option to use rolled-up holiday pay for these workers if it’s clearly itemised and paid at the correct rate.

If you rely on casual labour and don’t have clear paperwork in place, it’s easy to fall into inconsistent practices. As a baseline, you should make sure you have written terms in place - even if someone’s hours vary. If you’re hiring without written terms, it’s worth reading without a contract so you understand the risk.

What If A Bank Holiday Falls On Someone’s Non-Working Day?

This is one of the biggest “pain points” for small business owners.

Example scenario:

• Your employee works Tuesday to Saturday
• A bank holiday falls on a Monday
• They’re asking: “Do I get a day in lieu?”

Legally, whether they get a day in lieu (or any extra entitlement) depends on what you’ve agreed in the contract and how you structure leave.

In a “bank holidays included” model, if they’re not scheduled to work Mondays anyway, you typically wouldn’t grant an extra day off automatically - but you need to make sure the overall holiday entitlement is still fair and compliant.

In a “plus bank holidays” model, you might decide that everyone gets an equivalent allowance for bank holidays regardless of whether they fall on a normal working day, to keep things even across the team.

This is a common enough issue that it’s worth having a clear policy. If you want a deeper dive into the typical approaches employers use, non-working day falls on a bank holiday is a useful reference point.

Can You Require Staff To Take Bank Holidays As Leave (Or Refuse Leave Around Bank Holidays)?

Many small businesses need to manage annual leave tightly - especially around peak periods, Christmas shutdowns, or busy trading seasons.

The good news is: in many situations, you can set rules around when leave can be taken, as long as you follow the law and act reasonably.

Requiring Employees To Take Leave On Bank Holidays

If your business closes on bank holidays, you can usually require employees to take those days as part of their annual leave entitlement, provided:

• the contract supports this approach (or it’s clearly stated in your holiday policy)
• employees still receive at least the statutory minimum paid leave overall

As a statutory minimum under the Working Time Regulations, if you’re requiring an employee to take holiday on particular dates, you normally need to give notice of at least twice the length of the leave you want them to take (unless your contract sets a different notice arrangement).

Restricting Leave Around Bank Holidays

If your business gets slammed around bank holidays (for example, hospitality, tourism, events, trades), you might need to:

• limit how many people can be off at once
• black out certain dates
• require advance notice

This is often possible, but you’ll want to handle it carefully so it doesn’t feel arbitrary or unfair.

It’s also worth remembering there are statutory notice rules here too. For example, if you’re refusing a leave request, you generally need to give a counter-notice at least equal to the length of the leave requested (again, unless your contract sets different notice requirements).

If you want a practical explanation of how much control you can exercise, the rules around dictating holidays are a good place to start.

Notice Requirements (The Practical Bit)

Holiday notice rules can be set out in your contract or policy (within legal limits). For example, you might require:

• employees to give at least 2 weeks’ notice for leave requests
• manager approval before booking
• a fair “first in, best dressed” approach during busy periods

If you ever need to cancel pre-approved leave, there are also statutory notice rules (typically, notice at least equal to the length of the leave being cancelled, unless your contract says otherwise). Whatever approach you take, the key is consistency. If one employee is routinely refused and another is routinely approved for the same dates, that’s where disputes tend to start.

How To Document Bank Holiday Rules Properly (So You Avoid Disputes)

Bank holiday issues become business risks when your policies are unclear, inconsistently applied, or not written down.

To protect your business (and set expectations early), you should document your position in:

• Employment contracts (the core legal terms)
• A staff handbook or leave policy (the day-to-day rules and process)
• Offer letters / onboarding materials (so there are no surprises later)

At a minimum, your documents should answer:

• Does the employee’s holiday entitlement include bank holidays, or is it plus bank holidays?
• What happens if the business is closed on a bank holiday?
• What happens if the business is open and the employee is rostered on?
• Is enhanced pay offered for working bank holidays (if at all)?
• What happens when a bank holiday falls on a non-working day?
• How do employees request leave, and how much notice is required?
• What happens if too many people request the same dates?

This is why a properly drafted Employment Contract matters. It’s not just about “having something on file” - it’s about reducing the grey areas that lead to conflict.

And as tempting as it is to keep things informal when you’re a small team, unclear terms can be costly later. Even if your workplace culture is relaxed, your legal foundations still need to be solid from day one.

Key Takeaways

• Bank holidays are not an automatic legal right - employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid leave, and bank holidays can be included within that amount.
• If you’re asking whether bank holidays count as holiday, the practical answer is: they can, depending on your contract and holiday policy.
• The most common approaches are “inclusive of bank holidays” or “plus bank holidays” - both can work, but you need to be clear and consistent.
• Part-time and shift workers still receive 5.6 weeks’ leave pro-rated, and your bank holiday approach should not disadvantage people based on their working pattern.
• If a bank holiday falls on a non-working day, whether a day in lieu is given depends on your contractual wording and overall approach to fairness.
• You can often manage when leave is taken (including requiring leave or refusing/cancelling leave) if your rules are reasonable, clearly communicated, and you follow the statutory notice requirements (unless your contract sets different notice rules).
• Clear documentation in your contract and policies is what prevents disputes - if you’re unsure, get advice before problems arise.

If you’d like help reviewing your holiday clauses or putting the right policies in place, you can reach us at 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.