Another Bank Holiday?

[piwacket]

I read that there’s talk of making the first Monday in June, like this year, a Bank Holiday - this year for the Platinum celebration of HM’s reign.
IMO for this year, that’s fine, but why make it permanent? A raft of Bank holidays one after the other

I think if there’s to be another, let it be October to break up the long period from August to Christmas - Trafalgar Day? Although again I’ve read that when this has been suggested, it’s not acceptable as would upset the French

What do you think?

[Voiceoftreason?]

I read on the BBC website, think it was yesterday, that the Unions (of course) have been pushing for more BHs since 2021. They think it will boost trade, restaurants, pubs, shops, venues etc but of course it will cost more in BH pay premiums/workers covering the BH.

I think they were proposing something to break up the long haul between August and Christmas, which wouldn’t be a bad idea I suppose. Apparently the UK has something like 11/12 BHs and parts of the UE have up to 18? Can’t remember exactly as I lost interest with their whitterings on. The unions were quoted as saying our allocation of BHs are ‘stingy’ in comparison, but what they failed to note is that many EU BHs fall on a weekend....

[Where's the Bullring]

Bank Holidays don't affect me as I retired a long time ago now. But I think that for those who do enjoy a Bank Holiday, one in late October is the best time to add a new one, could be linked to the school half term around that time. So what, if some French citizens don't like it being called Trafalger Day? I am sure there are things they do that upset some Brits! By all means move the Spring Bank Holiday to June, it would help separate the early Holidays a bit, but not add an extra one at that time of year..

[Hooped]

Upsetting the French seems like a jolly good idea!

In the UK, we have eight public holidays: New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Not sure where the idea of 11 or 12 came from. Scotland has an extra day at New Year, but doesn't have one of the others.

It's always struck me as odd that we have four public holidays between mid-March and the end of May and then nothing until the end of August when the days are getting shorter. I'd suggest scrapping the one at the start of May, have a four day weekend at the end of May and another one at the start of August. At least those dates would be more likely to coincide with better weather. That would only mean one extra public holiday, but you could always add another at the end of October to ease the "problem" of the clocks changing.

[Voiceoftreason?]

Hooped, you’re right I mis-read the article. Here’s the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61219129

[piwacket]

….something like 11/12 BHs and parts of the UE have up to 18? Can’t remember exactly as I lost interest with their whitterings on. The unions were quoted as saying our allocation of BHs are ‘stingy’ in comparison, but what they failed to note is that many EU BHs fall on a weekend....

…actually it’s 8 normally, one extra this year …. And oops I was mistaken - the extra one is Friday 3rd June - so it’s the first June Friday holiday ‘they’ want to add.

The first Monday in May is Labour Day isn’t it? Added in by some Labour Government in cahoots with the Unions I guess… agree ditch that and put one in October - how about Hallowe’en?

[Voiceoftreason?]

Is it just one day in June? I confess I’ve not been interested enough in the Jubbly to look properly.....

Late October seems reasonable. Mind you, nowhere much to go in the UK at that time of year although I guess the rich uns will always fun .winter sun somewhere. Again, I read that if you’re working and are smart, you can nearly double your holidays by tagging them either side of BHs or something like that. Guess if you have the money to travel, that kind of thing is important to you .

Having pretty much always worked in at 24/7. Industry and having been tied to the financials calendar, BHs haven’t had much meaning really.

[mikejee]

Definitely should not be anything that encourages the awful American habit of Halloween. Sorry Pi. Otherwise agree autumn would be good ti,me for a new or moved BH

[piwacket]

Definitely should not be anything that encourages the awful American habit of Halloween. Sorry Pi. Otherwise agree autumn would be good ti,me for a new or moved BH

Oh I agree Mike - it was just a thought. I’d favour Trafalgar Day myself. 21sr October … be about right for half-term too I’d think, although shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

[windrush]

….something like 11/12 BHs and parts of the UE have up to 18? Can’t remember exactly as I lost interest with their whitterings on. The unions were quoted as saying our allocation of BHs are ‘stingy’ in comparison, but what they failed to note is that many EU BHs fall on a weekend....

…actually it’s 8 normally, one extra this year …. And oops I was mistaken - the extra one is Friday 3rd June - so it’s the first June Friday holiday ‘they’ want to add.

The first Monday in May is Labour Day isn’t it? Added in by some Labour Government in cahoots with the Unions I guess… agree ditch that and put one in October - how about Hallowe’en?

It isn't an extra Bank Holiday this year, it just replaces the old Whitsun (Spring Bank) one at the end of May which means that one event we usually attend is now just two days instead of three and the following weekend one in June is now three days instead of two!

Pete.

[piwacket]

It isn't an extra Bank Holiday this year, it just replaces the old Whitsun (Spring Bank) one at the end of May which means that one event we usually attend is now just two days instead of three and the following weekend one in June is now three days instead of two!
Pete.

According to this there is an extra BH this year, which is what is proposed for the future -

“ The additional bank holiday is on Thursday 2 June 2022 with the usual Spring Bank Holiday (or late May bank holiday) moving to Friday 3 June 2022. This means that both of these days will be bank holidays where several UK businesses will be closed to mark this once in a lifetime occasion.”

So it makes a long weekend.

[BOY RACER]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

[windrush]

It isn't an extra Bank Holiday this year, it just replaces the old Whitsun (Spring Bank) one at the end of May which means that one event we usually attend is now just two days instead of three and the following weekend one in June is now three days instead of two!
Pete.

According to this there is an extra BH this year, which is what is proposed for the future -

“ The additional bank holiday is on Thursday 2 June 2022 with the usual Spring Bank Holiday (or late May bank holiday) moving to Friday 3 June 2022. This means that both of these days will be bank holidays where several UK businesses will be closed to mark this once in a lifetime occasion.”

So it makes a long weekend.

Yes Pi but it's all on the same weekend so only an extra day in reality, and it appears that many companies are not counting the thursday as a bank holiday anyway and working as normal and some events we attend are not bothering either as four days is too long and many helpers are having to work the thursday. Being no longer employed it makes no difference to us anyway, infact until a carer mentioned it this evening we hadn't realised it was Mayday this coming monday!

Pete.

[mikejee]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

But this might make it complicated , as it could be the same day as one of the days of easter

[BOY RACER]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

But this might make it complicated , as it could be the same day as one of the days of easter

Awe poor Easter. The answer is simple keep Easter to the Same weekend each year. I am sure that Jesus will understand?.

[piwacket]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

But this might make it complicated , as it could be the same day as one of the days of easter

Awe poor Easter. The answer is simple keep Easter to the Same weekend each year. I am sure that Jesus will understand?.

… and by all accounts Christmas Day is ‘a made-up’ day/date’ based largely on some ‘Pagan’ festival- and that’s a fixed date.

[mikejee]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

But this might make it complicated , as it could be the same day as one of the days of easter

Awe poor Easter. The answer is simple keep Easter to the Same weekend each year. I am sure that Jesus will understand?.

I would have no objection to that, but not sure the churches would agree. Of course we could always do the same as with the birthday of the Queen and have a real and an official Easter

[Stewart]

Most probably already pointed out. We have one of the least amount of Bank Holidays in Europe. Enough said!

[OLDMAN]

Many ‘foreign’ countries include national holidays as part of their ‘annual’ total so have similar or less ‘holiday’ days than us – plus many of them have different days off to us which makes it very muddled

One job I had, I used to be in regular contact with America, Guernsey, China and Lithuania (who compound it by not changing their clocks) so apart from time differences I also had to have lists of their national holidays so not to confuse when trying to contact them!

It was similar in my last job

[dave m]

Being a stuck in the mud Englishman, why not 23rd April St, George’s day, supposedly our national Saint. Retrieve our cross from the fascists . After all the Irish, Scots and Welsh have their Saints day, why not the English.

Not sure that Scotland, Wales, or NI would agree

[lizwing]

It seems a bit odd having a bank holiday at the beginning and the end of May, perhaps one of them could be moved to later in the year. The early May one is only a recent addition anyway with no real significance so perhaps it could be moved to later in the year.

[Stewart]

It seems a bit odd having a bank holiday at the beginning and the end of May, perhaps one of them could be moved to later in the year. The early May one is only a recent addition anyway with no real significance so perhaps it could be moved to later in the year.

May 1st I thought it was to celebrate May Day? I think brought in by a labour government? But I might be wrong! It was a special day when I was young. I used to go to a CofE Primary School and this was the day of the Mayfair and day off school..after a morning church service..

[Fed-up]

There is a history of Bank Holidays on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_ho ... ed_Kingdom - but a quick summary follows:

The following were bank holidays in England in 1871, as defined by the Bank Holidays Act:

Easter Monday
Whit Monday
First Monday in August
26 December (or 27th if 26th is a Sunday)

The Act did not include Good Friday and Christmas Day as bank holidays in England, Wales, or Ireland because they were already recognised as common law holidays.

New Year's Day did not become a bank holiday in England until 1 January 1974

The majority of the current bank holidays were specified in the 1971 Banking and Financial Dealings Act: however New Year's Day and May Day were not introduced throughout the whole of the UK until 1974 and 1978 respectively. The date of the August bank holiday was changed from the first Monday in August to the last Monday in August in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (but not in Scotland), and the Whitsun bank holiday (Whit Monday) was replaced by the Late Spring Bank Holiday, fixed as the last Monday in May. From 1978, the first Monday in May in the rest of the UK (a statutory holiday in Scotland) has been proclaimed as a bank holiday.

[lizwing]

It seems unnecessary to have two BHs in one month.

[Where's the Bullring]

But this might make it complicated , as it could be the same day as one of the days of easter

Awe poor Easter. The answer is simple keep Easter to the Same weekend each year. I am sure that Jesus will understand?.

I would have no objection to that, but not sure the churches would agree. Of course we could always do the same as with the birthday of the Queen and have a real and an official Easter

If I remember correctly, didn't the Spring Bank Holiday fall the day after Whit Sunday and was given it's new title when it was made a fixed date? That worked out alright, I suspect the church would have been against it at the time.

[chris_j_wood]

Awe poor Easter. The answer is simple keep Easter to the Same weekend each year. I am sure that Jesus will understand?.

The Act of Parliament to permit this has been on the statute book since 1928 (the Easter Act 1928). All it needs is for the government to invoke it. To date, no government has ever dared to do so.

I don't imagine this one will either. Can you imagine the howls of indignation from the honourable member for the 18th century if they did.

[Fed-up]

If it was enacted then it would have the effect of Easter in the UK being at a different time to the rest of the world. We would be laughed at even more. Imagine moving Christmas Day to a more convenient day!

[Bam]

I note that Russia and Ukraine and probably others have a different Easter to most, so I don't see why the UK would be a laughing stock if they did the sensible thing and had a fixed date.

When I worked, I was all for as many public holidays as possible. Now I am "retired" and always have projects on the go, I curse all these holidays because commerce grinds to a complete halt often far exceeding the length of the holiday.

I also wonder at how the country can afford so many holidays and talk about increasing the number.

[piwacket]

When I worked, I was all for as many public holidays as possible. Now I am "retired" and always have projects on the go, I curse all these holidays because commerce grinds to a complete halt often far exceeding the length of the holiday.

I also wonder at how the country can afford so many holidays and talk about increasing the number.

Whereas when I was working, I was an employer - and BHs were a pain in the ****! Juggling staff, or part-timers - those who didn’t work Mondays had to schedule another day off in lieu, and as for the ridiculously long Christmas break which affected the Printing business, meant we were more-or-less obliged to close in line with them… we weren’t a Union house or it may have been worse.

I too have often wondered how the country could effectively close down the non-retail sector for so long. Friends in Canada have often been mystified too.

[dave m]

I note that Russia and Ukraine and probably others have a different Easter to most, so I don't see why the UK would be a laughing stock if they did the sensible thing and had a fixed date.

When I worked, I was all for as many public holidays as possible. Now I am "retired" and always have projects on the go, I curse all these holidays because commerce grinds to a complete halt often far exceeding the length of the holiday.

I also wonder at how the country can afford so many holidays and talk about increasing the number.

Russia, Ukraine, Greek Orthodox all have a different calendar to their religion, based on the Julian system. We use the Gregorian.

[dave m]

Uk labour law does not automatically give bank holidays as extra leave.
All the law says is that an employee must have 28 days leave.
They can insist that all bank holidays are taken as leave.

However most decent employers do not do this, meaning that x number of bank holidays are also added to the minimum.

[Voiceoftreason?]

In public service and hospitals, it’s quite common to have to take BHs as leave - they are usually added in to your annual leave hours, and then you take them off. This is because many staff work 7/7 including BHas part of their contract. Rather than faff around with thousands of staff records, everyone is given a gross number of leave hours, then they have to net off the BHs, if that makes sense.....

[windrush]

My last gaffer hated Bank Holidays; "That's another day when you wont be at work" he used to moan. He hated them even more when I informed him that he really ought to be paying me for them as well; "How am I expected to pay you when the truck isn't actually earning anything?"

Pete.

[Pooneil]

It seems unnecessary to have two BHs in one month.

Presumably you'd abolish the Boxing Day bank holiday rather than the Christmas Day one? And which of Good Friday or Easter Monday.

[OLDMAN]

When I worked, I was all for as many public holidays as possible. Now I am "retired" and always have projects on the go, I curse all these holidays because commerce grinds to a complete halt often far exceeding the length of the holiday.

I also wonder at how the country can afford so many holidays and talk about increasing the number.

Whereas when I was working, I was an employer - and BHs were a pain in the ****! Juggling staff, or part-timers - those who didn’t work Mondays had to schedule another day off in lieu, and as for the ridiculously long Christmas break which affected the Printing business, meant we were more-or-less obliged to close in line with them… we weren’t a Union house or it may have been worse.

I too have often wondered how the country could effectively close down the non-retail sector for so long. Friends in Canada have often been mystified too.

Its quite simple to have shut down periods – you just have to plan for it all

Many countries have full ‘summer close downs’ and a few winter ones which affect us more in the UK than we do them, as we had to plan all orders so we got deliver of enough stock before they shut

Chinese new year (spring festival) is a good example as can be anything from 7-15 days at the end of Jan’ all closed dependant on the company.....and that’s after they have shut for real new year (3 days) and following 7 days in October for National Day
There’s a few others as well but often 1-3 days full closure