The King’s Coronation 2023

Date posted: 14th November 2022

It has been announced that the UK will get an additional bank holiday in 2023 to allow people the opportunity to come together to celebrate the King’s coronation just as they did in 1953 for the Queen’s coronation.

It will fall on Monday 8^th May 2023 and will apply across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.

Whether employees get this additional bank holiday awarded by their employer will depend on the wording of their contract of employment and it is important to note that employees do not have an automatic right to paid time off on a bank holiday. Employers are advised to check the wording of their employment contracts and communicate with employees about whether or not they will be required to work on the additional bank holiday in line with the terms of the contract.

We have set out below the most commonly used phrases relating to bank holidays seen in employment contracts and what they mean in terms of the employee’s right to have paid time off work on Monday 8^th May 2023.

Entitlement to time off on the additional bank holiday

• 20 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays
• • Yes – employees will have a contractual entitlement to take paid time off on the additional bank holiday as the wording on holiday entitlement in the contract is not limited to the normal/usual bank holidays observed in England and Wales.
• 28 days holiday per annum
  • Potentially – where the contract is silent on bank holidays, the employee has the ability to book using their 28-day holiday allowance any of the bank holidays, including the additional bank holiday. However, there is no increase in holiday entitlement as a result of the additional bank holiday.
• 20 days holiday per annum plus 8 bank/public holidays
  • Potentially – similar to above, the contract is silent on which bank holidays are included within the employee’s holiday entitlement and therefore an employee has the ability to book the additional bank holiday as paid time off in May 2023. This will, however, mean that the employee will not be entitled to one of the later bank holidays in the year. Employers are advised to clarify this with the employee at the time of booking annual leave.
• 20 days holiday per annum plus New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May Bank Holiday, Spring Bank Holiday, Summer Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day
  • No – where there is a list of bank holidays contained within the contract, the employee will only be entitled to receive paid time off on those bank holidays listed.
• 20 days holiday per annum plus the usual bank/public holidays observed in England and Wales
  • No – as the additional bank holiday is not usually observed in England and Wales, employees would not be entitled to take paid time off on the additional bank holiday.
• 20 days holiday per annum plus the 8 bank/public holidays usually observed in England and Wales
  • No – as above, the bank holidays which are included within holiday entitlement are listed and therefore there is no entitlement to the additional bank holiday.

Goodwill Gesture

Even where there is no contractual entitlement to take the additional bank holiday as paid time off, many employers, as a gesture of goodwill, will decide to allow their employees to take the additional bank holiday or if that is not possible for business reasons, to provide time off in lieu. If that is allowed then all employees must be able to benefit from the gesture, not only those who are full time.

Part time employees

The additional bank holiday will mean a recalculation of pro rata time off for part time employees who do not work on Mondays.  Employers must ensure that all employees have at least the statutory minimum annual leave entitlement and that part-time employees are not treated less favourably than full-time employees. To avoid a complaint of less favourable treatment, many employers provide part-time employees with a pro-rated bank holiday entitlement.

While there may be no arrangement that will have entirely fair results for all employees whatever their working pattern, one option is to calculate pro-rated bank holiday entitlement according to the number of hours that the part-time employee works, irrespective of whether or not they work on the days on which public holidays fall.

For more support with managing the additional bank holiday in 2023 or any other HR related matter, please feel free to contact Kingswood Group HR on 02145 204450 or email us on HR@kingswoodgroup.org