Public Holidays in The United Kingdom

Public holidays in the United Kingdom are the public holidays observed in some or all of the countries of the United Kingdom. Most businesses and non-essential services are closed on public holidays, although an increasing number of retail businesses (especially the larger ones) do open on some of the public holidays.

Like Denmark, the United Kingdom has no national day holiday marked and/or celebrated. The lack of a formal founding date and no constitution may be the reason for the lack of a national day.

Although there is no statutory right for workers to take paid leave on public holidays, where paid leave is given (either because the business is closed or for other reasons), the public holiday can count towards the minimum statutory holiday entitlement. Likewise, if you are required to work on a public holiday, there is no statutory right to an enhanced pay rate nor to a day off in lieu (alternative day off), although many employers do give either or both. Any rights in this respect depend on the person's contract of employment. The statutory minimum holidays are currently 5.6 weeks a year (including any bank holidays or public holidays that are taken.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, public holidays are commonly referred to as bank holidays, and the two terms are often used interchangeably, although strictly and legally there is a difference. A government website describes the difference as follows:

Bank holidays are holidays when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day. Public holidays are holidays which have been observed through custom and practice.

The latter are often referred to as "Common law holidays".

Bank holidays may be declared in two ways:

• by statute (Statutory holidays) - Holidays specifically listed in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1.
• by Royal proclamation - This has been used for annual bank holidays created since 1971, and is also used to move a bank holiday in a given year, and to create extra one-off bank holidays for special occasions.

The distinction between public and bank holidays is discussed in more detail in the article on Bank holidays.

In the rest of this article, the term "public holiday" is used to include all types of public holidays mentioned above.

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday is normally postponed to the next following working weekday, which is then referred to as a 'substitute public holiday' or the date on which the public holiday is "observed". This is normally the next following Monday, but if that day is itself already a public holiday or a substitute public holiday, then it may be the following Tuesday. Most commonly this happens when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case the following Monday will be a substitute public holiday for Christmas Day, and the Tuesday will be a substitute holiday for Boxing Day; whereas if Christmas Day falls on a Friday, then it will be observed on the Friday, but Boxing Day (falling on the Saturday) will be observed on the following Monday. In this way, public holidays are not 'lost' on years when they coincide with weekends (which will already be a day off for many people). (Note that, unlike the USA, where public holidays falling on a Saturday are sometimes observed on the preceding Friday, British public holidays are always moved forwards, not backwards.)

Increasingly, there are calls for public holidays on the patron saints' days in England, Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland already has St Patrick's Day as a holiday). An online petition sent to the Prime Minister received 11,000 signatures for a public holiday in Wales on St. David's Day; the Scottish Parliament has passed a bill creating a public holiday on St. Andrew's Day although it must be taken in lieu of another public holiday; campaigners in England are calling for a bank holiday on St. George's Day; and in Cornwall, there are calls for a public holiday on St. Piran's Day.