Do I get paid time off on a bank holiday in the UK?
Short answer
Not automatically. There is no statutory right to a paid day off on a bank holiday, or to extra pay for working one. Your statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, and your employer may lawfully require you to use part of that for bank holidays. What you get depends on your contract.
Verified · 4 cited sources
This surprises almost everyone. Bank holidays are days on which banks were historically closed, not statutory public holidays with an employment right attached. Nothing in law requires an employer to give you the day off, to pay you for it, or to pay a premium if you work it.
What the law does give you is 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave — 28 days for someone working five days a week, capped at 28. An employer may include bank holidays within that allocation, which is why a contract offering '20 days plus bank holidays' and one offering '28 days including bank holidays' are the same thing in England and Wales, where there are eight bank holidays.
Time-and-a-half or double pay for working a bank holiday is a contractual benefit, not a legal entitlement. Many employers offer it, particularly in retail and hospitality, but they are not required to.
Bank holiday dates differ by nation. Scotland has a different set and does not observe Easter Monday as a bank holiday; Northern Ireland has additional days including St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne. Scotland also has local holidays that vary by council area.
Where a bank holiday falls at a weekend, a substitute weekday is usually declared. One-off bank holidays are occasionally added for national events such as a coronation, and these carry no automatic entitlement either — whether you get the day off depends on how your contract defines bank holiday leave.
- No statutory right to time off or extra pay on a bank holiday
- Statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks, capped at 28 days, which may include bank holidays
- Premium pay for working one is contractual, not legal
- Bank holiday dates differ between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
- One-off bank holidays carry no automatic entitlement either
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Sources & provenance
Facts verified
- 1.Holiday entitlement OfficialUK GovernmentUsed for: 5.6 weeks entitlement and that bank holidays may be included within it
- 2.UK bank holidays OfficialUK GovernmentUsed for: Dates by nation and substitute days
- 3.Bank holidays and holiday entitlement OfficialAcasUsed for: That there is no statutory right to bank holiday leave or premium pay
- 4.Working Time Regulations 1998 Legislationlegislation.gov.ukUsed for: Statutory basis of annual leave entitlement
The absence of a statutory bank holiday right, the 5.6-week entitlement and the differences between nations come from GOV.UK, Acas and the Working Time Regulations as cited. Bank holiday dates change annually and differ by nation — check GOV.UK. Whether you personally get a paid day off depends on your contract, which this page cannot tell you.
Facts on this page are taken from the sources listed above — UK government departments, devolved administrations, regulators, statutory bodies and official statistical releases. Comparisons, judgements and "which option suits whom" conclusions are AI-assisted analysis written over those sources; they are marked in the text and listed as an AI-analysis entry in the sources, not attributed to any authority. Rates, thresholds, fees and processing times change, usually at the start of a tax year in April; figures are current as at the review date shown and should be confirmed with the responsible body before you rely on them. Much of what follows differs between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — where it does, this site says so.