Should UK Bank Holidays be Retained or Scrapped?

[john luke]

Should UK Bank Holidays be Retained or Scrapped?

A significant number of services in the UK come to a standstill on Bank Holiday Days.  

The additional costs of providing Bank Holiday Cover on Bank Holidays places a significant financial strain on Local Authorities, Quangos and the like; backlogs of what is deemed less essential work are allowed to build up and it takes time to clear said backlogs.

Additional revenue is generated in the tourist industry.

Many families and friends get the opportunity to socialise on what is a non working day.

Would it not be an overall better solution to give all workers extra annual leave days and treat most of the UK Bank Holidays as being normal working days.  Christmas Day would probably be an exception to this.

Your thoughts, gents on this.

[Starshine]

Keep the banks open on bank Holidays so we can do our banking on our day off

[galenkia]

It's tradition, and we should keep them.

And gives families time to get together when most people are off work.

Too many people these days are too happy to get rid of our old traditions.

Next it will be scrapping Christmas as being irrelevant as nobody goes to church anymore.

[Stillearly]

I don't really care I'm retired 555

but Bank holidays were brilliant when I was working , big nights out on a Sunday 

Shops closed doesn't put anyone out unless they are stupid and don't prepare ..

if you are going to stop all bank holidays then why spare Christmas, hardly anyone in the U.K. goes to church anymore , it's just really a commercial enterprise these days .. 

but your argument that bank holidays are detrimental to the economy doesn't really hold water , with the amount of extra shopping that people do for Xmas / Easter etc ..

UK has fewer Bank holidays than most other countries 

[Sangsom]

Keep and if anything add a couple more.

[thegrogmonster]

Even though I voted retained and no I believe any individual has the right to negiotate with their employer the working of bank (public) holidays.

When I lived in the UK working for a Railway contractor we worked most bank holidays and were given a day off in leiu. This would enable me to take 7 weeks holiday a year.

[coxyhog]

Most of my working life either I was working abroad or as a sub contractor in the UK so bank holidays were something that very rarely affected me.

But on one occasion when I was a connie working at BAe Woodford in 2000 it was coming up to Easter & our project leader came round asking us if we would work the holidays.No thanks I said.

He said "It's time & a half".....I'll bring my sleeping bag was my reply.

[galenkia]

35 minutes ago, coxyhog said:

Most of my working life either I was working abroad or as a sub contractor in the UK so bank holidays were something that very rarely affected me.

But on one occasion when I was a connie working at BAe Woodford in 2000 it was coming up to Easter & our project leader came round asking us if we would work the holidays.No thanks I said.

He said "It's time & a half".....I'll bring my sleeping bag was my reply.

At my last job they paid bank holiday at double time if you worked it plus your bank holiday pay as well. So equivalent of triple time.

Still never got me in though 😅

[Binlid]

1 hour ago, galenkia said:

At my last job they paid bank holiday at double time if you worked it plus your bank holiday pay as well. So equivalent of triple time.

Still never got me in though 😅

I get double time for working bank holidays and sundays and time and a half for saturdays , plus  an extra days annual leave for every bank holiday, 9 this year. My annual leave entitlement is 28 days plus 9 this year, 7 weeks and 2 days.

[boydeste]

2 hours ago, galenkia said:

At my last job they paid bank holiday at double time if you worked it plus your bank holiday pay as well. So equivalent of triple time.

Still never got me in though 😅

Many companies give double time for the days and a day off in lieu.

[coxyhog]

13 hours ago, galenkia said:

At my last job they paid bank holiday at double time if you worked it plus your bank holiday pay as well. So equivalent of triple time.

Still never got me in though 😅

It was pretty much unheard of for connies to get any extra for working bank holidays,we already got a lot more than the permanent staff & they would go bonkers if we got any more.

On this one occasion the aircraft were very late for delivery and it was a BAe factory so normal rules didn't apply.

[Butch]

Keep them , and add St George’s day as well.

not only gives me a chance to get 2x OT rate, plus a lieu day, it allows our Nurses to get enhanced hours as well which adds to their pay packets.

it is a tradition, and the service industry is already tilted in favour of greedy employers by virtue of zero hours contracts, and giving them carte blanche to then potentially dictate to employees what days they can and can’t take for hols is wrong (Which some will no doubt avail of, given busy and slack periods like school hols etc).

Also , Easter, like Xmas are religious festivals, so by removing them we continue to erode our traditions and undermine our religion.

also, bank hols are not a new concept, they’ve been in existence for years, so any employer not being able to mitigate the impact of less staff or resources on the days in question, needs to be having a look at those Senior managers whom are responsible for labour allocation.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Butch

[bob lt]

I had a CT scan on Easter Sunday. The receptionist said working was on a voluntary basis, enhanced rates. She turned out to be a club cyclist and was watching the Paris - Roubaix bike race on her mobile.

Didn't see any other patients while I was the and the car park was almost empty.

[AJSP]

On 4/18/2022 at 4:34 AM, Binlid said:

I get double time for working bank holidays and sundays and time and a half for saturdays , plus  an extra days annual leave for every bank holiday, 9 this year. My annual leave entitlement is 28 days plus 9 this year, 7 weeks and 2 days.

Should enable a decent month in Thailand plus 3.5 weeks elsewhere which breaks up the year nicely -