Inclusive means bank holidays sit inside the annual leave allowance; additional means they are on top of it. There is no standalone right to paid bank holidays in the UK. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give workers 5.6 weeks (28 days for a five-day week) of paid annual leave, and bank holidays can count towards that. Both inclusive and additional are legal, but the contract has to say which one applies. Part-timers must get a pro-rata share under the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000, and from 6 April 2026 you must keep records of leave taken (Employment Rights Act 2025).
Bank holiday dates come from the GOV.UK list and vary by nation: eight in England and Wales, nine in Scotland, ten in Northern Ireland. If your team spans more than one nation, say in the policy which dates apply to whom. For the dates themselves, see this year's bank holiday dates in the 2026 and 2027 bank holidays calendar.
Part-time staff: the pro-rata rule
Most UK bank holidays fall on a Monday. Someone who does not work Mondays would miss most of them and end up worse off than a full-timer, which the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 do not allow. Give part-timers a pro-rata share they can take on any working day, not just the actual dates.
Formula: (contracted working days per week ÷ 5) × number of bank holidays in the leave year.
Round fractions up to the nearest half-day, never down, so a three-day-a-week employee gets five days. They book these like any other leave; they do not have to take them on the actual dates. On an inclusive allowance, check the part-timer's total (discretionary days plus pro-rata bank holidays) still reaches 5.6 times their weekly days: a three-day-a-week worker needs at least 16.8 days. The part-time holiday entitlement guide shows the full working.
Download the Word template
Bank holiday policy template
A ready-to-edit Word document with the full policy wording below. Blue bracketed placeholders mark every decision point: region, inclusive or additional treatment, pro-rata method, and shutdown clause.
- Statutory basis cited for each clause
- Inclusive and additional wording options
- Pro-rata calculation clause for part-timers
- Shutdown and mandatory leave clause
- Italic drafting notes you can delete before issuing
Copy-and-paste policy wording
Adapt the clauses below for your handbook: fill in the bracketed fields, pick between the slash options, and delete the drafting notes before issuing. Do not narrow the entitlement below the 5.6-week minimum. Prefer Word? Use the download above.
1. Purpose and scope
This policy sets out how bank holidays are treated as part of the annual leave entitlement at [Company name]. It applies to all employees and workers. The Working Time Regulations 1998 set the minimum paid leave entitlement; this policy cannot reduce it.
2. Bank holiday entitlement and treatment
Full-time employees working [five] days a week are entitled to [28] days paid annual leave per leave year, which [includes / is in addition to] the [eight] bank holidays for [England and Wales / Scotland / Northern Ireland] published annually on GOV.UK.
Drafting note: 28 days inclusive is the statutory minimum for a five-day week. "Is in addition to" gives more than the minimum. Choose one and delete this note.
3. Part-time employees
Part-time employees receive a pro-rata bank holiday entitlement calculated as follows: (contracted working days per week ÷ 5) × [number of bank holidays in the leave year]. Fractions are rounded up to the nearest half-day. Part-time employees may take their pro-rata bank holiday allocation on any of their contracted working days; they are not restricted to the actual bank holiday dates.
Drafting note: Required by the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000, since most bank holidays fall on a Monday. Delete this note.
4. Shift workers and irregular patterns
Employees working shift patterns or irregular hours receive a bank holiday entitlement expressed in hours, calculated as: (contracted weekly hours ÷ 40) × [8] bank holidays × [standard daily hours]. Where an employee is rostered to work on a bank holiday, they will receive [a day in lieu to be taken at a mutually agreed time / an alternative day off in the same pay period].
Drafting note: Choose the day-in-lieu option, or remove that sentence if it does not apply. Standard daily hours is usually the contracted daily hours (e.g. eight). Delete this note.
5. Mandatory leave: bank holidays and shutdowns
The Company [does / does not] require employees to take annual leave on bank holidays. Where the Company closes for a period that includes non-bank-holiday working days (for example, between Christmas and New Year), employees may be required to use annual leave for those days. At least [number] weeks' notice will be given before any mandatory leave period. Mandatory leave cannot be required in a way that prevents employees from taking their full statutory entitlement of 5.6 weeks in the leave year.
Drafting note: Under Working Time Regulations 1998 Regulation 15, you may require leave on set dates by giving notice of at least twice its length. Set your actual notice period above and delete this note.
6. Bank holidays during sickness absence
Where a bank holiday falls during a period of sickness absence, the bank holiday entitlement accrues and may be carried forward to be taken at a later date in the same leave year [or, where that is not possible due to continued sickness, into the following leave year]. Employees should notify their manager as soon as practicable if they wish to reclaim a bank holiday that fell during sickness absence.
7. Bank holidays during family-related leave
Annual leave entitlement, including any bank holiday entitlement, continues to accrue throughout maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, and shared parental leave. Any accrued entitlement that cannot be taken during the leave year must be carried forward and taken on return to work.
8. Requests to work on bank holidays
Where the business operates on bank holidays, employees may be asked to work. Employees who work on a bank holiday will receive [a day in lieu / enhanced pay at [rate] / their normal pay if bank holidays are included in their standard rota and their annual leave entitlement accounts for this]. The terms applicable to each role will be stated in the individual contract of employment.
Drafting note: Day in lieu is most common; enhanced pay (time and a half or double time) is common in retail and hospitality. Delete this note.
Manager checklist
Run through this at the start of each leave year and whenever someone's situation changes.
Inclusive vs additional in practice
Both approaches are lawful; the contract states which applies. Inclusive ("28 days including bank holidays") meets the statutory minimum exactly and is the most common UK arrangement. Additional ("20 days plus bank holidays") is more generous, common in professional services, and reads better on a job advert. In their standard versions both come to 28 days in total.
On an inclusive allowance, Scotland (nine bank holidays) and Northern Ireland (ten) leave less discretionary leave than England and Wales. An inclusive 28 days leaves a Scotland-based employee with only 19 discretionary days. Many employers keep the same inclusive total across all nations but spell out which regional dates apply.
Shift workers and non-standard patterns
Shift and irregular-hours workers get the same pro-rata treatment, usually expressed in hours:
- Hours-based contracts: express the entitlement in hours. A worker on 24 hours a week (three eight-hour shifts) gets 24/40 × 8 × 8 = 38.4 hours of bank holiday entitlement a year.
- Rostered on a bank holiday: give the day off if the business is closed, or a day in lieu, so the total entitlement is not eroded. The policy should say which.
- Zero-hours and irregular hours: use the 52-week reference period and the proportion of weeks worked; express the result in hours for accuracy.
Mandatory leave and Christmas shutdowns
Under Regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, you can require staff to take annual leave on set dates by giving notice of at least twice the length of the leave. A five-day Christmas shutdown therefore needs at least ten days' notice, though in practice you should confirm the dates months ahead. You can require staff to use annual leave for the non-bank-holiday days in a shutdown, as long as the total does not stop them taking their full 5.6 weeks and the arrangement is set out in the contract or policy.
You can require workers to use their annual leave during a shutdown, but if their allowance is exhausted you cannot require unpaid leave unless the contract expressly allows it and the worker agrees. Enforced unpaid leave can be an unlawful deduction from wages.
For the full shutdown process, pay options and a downloadable policy, see the Christmas shutdown policy for small business, and work out the numbers with the Christmas shutdown cost calculator.
Bank holidays during other leave
- Sickness, additional days: if bank holidays are extra days off, the day accrues and can be taken later in the leave year.
- Sickness, inclusive allowance: the leave accrues during sickness and can be carried forward where illness stops the worker taking it, following Stringer v HMRC [2009] UKHL 31.
- Maternity and family leave: annual leave, including bank holiday entitlement, keeps accruing through maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Anything unused carries forward to when the employee returns.
- No forfeiture: this carry-forward is a statutory right and cannot be waived by contract.
Book Time Off pulls UK bank holidays from the GOV.UK feed for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They show on the calendar and wallchart tagged "BH" and are never deducted from anyone's allowance, so when someone books leave across a bank holiday the system counts only the working days. Days used and days remaining stay accurate with no manual adjustment.
→ See bank holidays in action · start free trialFor a broader policy covering the full annual leave process, request forms, carry-forward rules, and sickness during leave, the company leave policy guide includes a complete 16-clause template. The Policies and Templates hub lists all available policy wording in one place. If your team includes employees observing religious holidays, see the religious holidays and time off policy guide.
Sources
- GOV.UK · Bank holidays in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
- GOV.UK · Holiday entitlement: overview and employee rights
- ACAS · Bank holidays and Christmas
- legislation.gov.uk · Working Time Regulations 1998 (regs 13, 15)
- legislation.gov.uk · Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
- legislation.gov.uk · Employment Rights Act 1996, section 1
Frequently asked questions
This guide is for general information only. Employment law is complex and your specific situation may be different. For advice on your legal obligations, contact ACAS or an employment solicitor.