Managing 2023’s bank holidays and employees’ leave

As the year draws to a close, many employers will be busy organising their new leave calendar for 2023. One of the first things to organise are the bank holidays within 2023 given that many employees are entitled to these days. It’s important to be aware of when the bank holidays will be in 2023, including the additional day for the King’s coronation.

When are the bank holidays in 2023?

• Monday 2^nd January (New Year’s Day)
• Friday 7^th April (Good Friday)
• Monday 10^th April (Easter Monday)
• Monday 1^st May (Early May Bank Holiday)
• Monday 8^th May (Bank holiday for the coronation of King Charles III)
• Monday 29^th May (Spring bank holiday)
• Monday 28^th August (Summer bank holiday)
• Monday 25^th December (Christmas Day)
• Tuesday 26^th December (Boxing Day)

Employers are likely to be aware of the extra bank holiday by now for the coronation of King Charles III to give families and communities across the UK the opportunity to come together and celebrate. There have been several queries as to whether employees are entitled to this extra bank holiday or not. This is dependent upon the wording of your company’s employment contracts.

Are my employees entitled to this bank holiday?

Just like all other bank holidays, there is no legal requirement to give your staff the bank holiday off. Therefore, it is important to go through your contracts of employment and determine whether the wording entitles them to a day off on this given day.

Examples of different wording are below:

• Contracts that say employees have a right to 20 days’ annual leave plus leave on 8 public/bank holidays, (or 19 days plus 9 bank holidays in Scotland) where the bank holidays are named and there is no extra flexibility in the wording, employees will not have the automatic right to time off.
• Contracts which provide a right to 20 days’ annual leave plus 8 public/bank holidays but do not list the bank holidays gives the employer some flexibility in bank holiday entitlement. For example, the employer could give staff this extra day off but require them to work on another bank holiday.
• Employees whose contracts give them the right to all bank holidays will be entitled to the extra day off.
• Employees with contracts that state 28 days annual leave including all bank holidays have a right to the extra day’s leave, however, it will be deducted from their 28 days of annual leave. This ultimately means they will have fewer days on which to ‘choose’ to take leave.

That being said, if contracts do not include an automatic right to time off, employers can still choose to give their employees an additional day of paid leave or staff can make an annual leave request in the usual way. 

How can oneHR help you to manage the new leave calendar?

oneHR’s holiday manager makes managing holidays simple and stress-free.

• Simply add bank holidays to your employees’ leave calendar and decide whether they are deductible or non-deductible from their holiday allowance.
• Bank holidays can be added as a specific leave type so that they are distinguishable on the leave calendar against employees’ normal annual leave days, appointments, sickness absence etc.
• Visual online leave calendar – allowing you to see which employees are away and when.
• Automatic email notifications when an employee requests a holiday – so you never fall behind on requests and you’ll know when each employee requests their holiday to ensure that you remain fair.
• All paperless – you will not lose another request again and you’re looking after the environment.
• Team limits – to ensure that there are not too many of your staff off at once.

If you would like to learn more about how oneHR can help you manage the new holiday year and bank holidays or require advice surrounding the extra bank holiday, please contact with our team today. 

E: contact@onehrsoftware.com

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