The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

The Government are planning to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a one off additional bank holiday in 2012. This follows the precedent set for the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and the Silver Jubilee in 1977. The late May bank holiday will be moved to Monday, 4th June 2012, and the extra bank holiday will take place on Tuesday, 5th June 2012, throughout the UK. With the movement of the May bank holiday this will create a special four day Jubilee weekend.

According to the Government, the extra bank holiday will enable celebrations for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to be centred on a four day weekend which will allow communities across the UK to come together. What they to seem to have forgotten is the impact this will have on businesses across the UK. 

What are the implications?
There is no doubt that these celebrations will bring tangible and intangible costs and benefits associated with having this extra bank holiday, for example lifting national spirit, national pride, tourism and trade. However there are also economic effects of bank holidays on businesses as we are in the worst economic recession for many years and conditions are difficult. Shaun Davey (Chief Executive of IT services company IPL) has stated “the UK is on its backside and the Government have decided to put a brake on the British economy”. The government’s argument is that a bank holiday for The Queen’s Jubilee follows the precedent set by the Golden and Silver Jubilee

For businesses that state in their contracts of employment ‘annual leave plus public holidays’, when the number of bank holidays increase, it is the business that pay for this generosity. Some businesses feel that once a working day is declared a bank holiday then productivity is lost. Some types of businesses can make up for lost time on other working days but for service businesses they cannot always do this.

There is no statutory right to time off or extra pay for employees on a bank holiday – this will be left to the discretion of the employers and dependant on the contractual terms they enforce.

What to do?
It is imperative that businesses know the potential disruption The Queen’s Jubilee could have on their workplace. The Government stated that the extra bank holiday will allow for a four day weekend celebration which could mean a fall in staff attendance, there may be the risk of employee transport problems and the business may experience productivity issues.

In order to alleviate some of the disruption businesses need to have in their mind any staffing needs they will require over the four day weekend celebrations. It may be necessary for them to refine or develop clear policies, for example refine their absence procedures so people are aware of the risks if they decide to be ‘sick’ over that period, operating a no tolerance policy. They may also need to refine the holiday procedures, reiterating that it is on a ‘First Come First Served’ basis and unless contractually obliged, there is no statutory right for employees to have bank holidays off.

As always if you need any further information please contact us on 0844 630 9140 and we will be happy to provide support.