Bank holiday entitlement: your rights explained

Many people assume they have a legal right to bank holidays off, or to extra pay for working them. Neither is true. Your rights on bank holidays come from your statutory holiday entitlement and your contract, and the difference matters.

Is there a legal right to bank holidays off?

No. There is no statutory right to take bank holidays off. Your employer can require you to work them, as long as your contract allows it.

What you do have is the right to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for a five-day week. Employers can choose to include bank holidays within those 28 days. Our holiday pay entitlement guide explains how the 5.6 weeks are worked out.

So if your contract says "20 days plus bank holidays", that is the legal minimum (20 + 8 = 28). If it says "28 days including bank holidays", you have 20 days to choose freely and 8 fixed. If it says "25 days plus bank holidays", you are getting 33 days in total, more than the minimum.

Bank holidays in England and Wales, 2026

There are eight bank holidays in England and Wales in 2026:

• Thursday 1 January: New Year's Day
• Friday 3 April: Good Friday
• Monday 6 April: Easter Monday
• Monday 4 May: Early May bank holiday
• Monday 25 May: Spring bank holiday
• Monday 31 August: Summer bank holiday
• Friday 25 December: Christmas Day
• Monday 28 December: Boxing Day (substitute day, as 26 December falls on a Saturday)

Scotland and Northern Ireland have different dates. Always check the official GOV.UK list.

Do you get extra pay for working a bank holiday?

Only if your contract says so. There is no legal right to double time, time and a half or a day off in lieu. Many employers offer these, especially in retail and hospitality, but it is a contractual benefit.

If your contract promises enhanced pay or a day in lieu and your employer does not provide it, that can be a claim for unlawful deduction from wages.

Part-time workers and bank holidays

Part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time staff. The fair approach is to give part-timers a pro rata share of bank holidays, whatever days they work.

Worked example: a full-timer gets 25 days plus 8 bank holidays (33 days). You work 3 days a week, so your total is 33 x 3/5 = 19.8 days. If you only work Tuesdays to Thursdays, you rarely benefit from Monday bank holidays, so you should be able to book those days at other times. If you work Mondays, bank holidays that fall on your working days are deducted from your 19.8.

An employer that simply says "you only get bank holidays that fall on your days" can leave Monday and Friday workers better off than others, and can disadvantage part-timers. If your allowance looks short, raise a grievance.

Irregular hours and zero-hours workers

If you work irregular hours, your holiday accrues at 12.07% of hours worked (for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024). Bank holidays are not added on top: if you take a bank holiday off, it comes out of your accrued leave, and if your employer uses rolled-up holiday pay you will already have been paid for it.

Can your employer make you take holiday on a bank holiday?

Yes, if it is properly notified. Employers can tell you when to take some of your holiday, for example to cover a Christmas shutdown, by giving notice of at least twice the length of the leave. Your contract may set different rules.

Religious holidays

Bank holidays reflect Christian festivals. If you ask for leave for another religious festival and your employer refuses without a good business reason, that could be indirect religious discrimination. See our discrimination service for help.

Bank holidays and leaving your job

If you leave part-way through the year, your accrued leave is calculated on your total entitlement, including bank holidays. If you have had more bank holidays than your accrual covers, your employer can only claw them back with a written agreement. See holiday pay when leaving.

Need help?

If your employer is short-changing your holiday, or treating part-time staff unfairly over bank holidays, an employment solicitor can advise. Tell us what happened and Match My Solicitor will connect you with a specialist, free.