Bank Holiday Entitlement - Queen Elizabeth II Funeral

The death of Queen Elizabeth the Second shocked the whole country. The Queen will be laid to rest on 19 September 2022, according to the funeral arrangements.

The United Kingdom government has announced that the day of the funeral will be a Bank Holiday.

There are probably a lot of employers who are pondering the question of whether or not they should let their employees take time off or whether or not their employees should continue to report to work as usual.

Monday 19th September 2022, has been declared a bank holiday; employees are normally entitled to have 5.6 weeks off for annual leave as part of the Working Time Regulation 1998. There is no statutory allowance for employees to have the day off, provided they have met the minimum entitlement during the calendar year.

Many employers may ask whether they are required to provide their employees with the extra bank holiday, despite the fact that their employees are entitled to the standard eight bank holidays. This would rely on the language published in the employment contract.

For instance, your policy may provide that your employees are entitled to statutory holiday allowance and bank holidays. Then, your staff would be entitled to a paid day off for the Queen's funeral on 19 September 2022.

We suggest all employers to review the language used in each employment contract, and if you want additional information, please do not hesitate to contact our employment team, who would be pleased to assist you.