Since the UK has had two bank holidays this week, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to discuss them.
The Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the first Bank Holidays in the United Kingdom. The Act designated four Bank Holidays in England, Wales and Ireland, with five for Scotland. Good Friday and Christmas Day were not included in the Act because they were considered traditional days of rest.
Today there are eight official Bank Holidays in England and Wales. This year an additional one was granted, the Queen's Jubilee.
Bank Holidays are extremely awkward to define and perform calculations upon. There is no legal definition of the meaning of a "Bank Holiday", hence each organisation has to decide what they would like to do with "Bank Holidays" and this means it has to be done with definitions.
Bank Holidays are normal working days. An equivalent number of of days off in lieu will be added to the Annual Holiday Entitlement. Bank Holidays are on dates stated by the Company. To receive the equivalent days off in lieu, a Technician has to be in the employment of the Company on the stated dates.
This definition is taken from my book How to Manage Your Shift Pattern which includes a full set of example terms of employment for shift worker.
Bank Holidays can help reduce the holiday problem. By closing down your operation for Bank Holidays you can reduce the problem of staff disrupting the operation by 25%. If you also shut down for two weeks at Christmas you can reduce the holiday problem by up to 50%.
For alternative solutions to the holiday problem my book How to Manage Your Shift Pattern includes holidays included shift patterns and holiday management plans.