Bank holidays (LBG)

Your employer's holiday year runs from 1st January to 31st December each calendar year. All colleagues are entitled to bank holidays as follows (this is in addition to your holiday entitlement but may be combined to create a single entitlement as described later in this article).

This table shows full-time allowances. All bank holiday allowances are pro-rated for part-time and compressed hours contracts as described in the reduced hours section later in this article.

The Channel Islands have separate arrangements with 9 days (63 hours) for Jersey & Guernsey and Alderney and 10 days (70 hours) for Isle of Man.

Additional bank holidays

Special additional bank holidays approved by the UK Government will be added to your bank holiday entitlement and will be managed in the same way as other bank holiday arrangements depending upon whether you work in an area of the business which is open or closed on a bank holiday.

How are my bank holidays calculated and managed?

The way bank holidays are calculated and managed depends upon several factors. In the below sections, we'll describe the different scenarios and provide you with the information you'll need to help you understand the treatment of bank holidays for your situation:

• Where bank holidays are observed
  
  Where a business area observes bank holidays (for example a bank branch which will remain closed), everyone will take this day as a holiday and time will be taken from your bank holiday entitlement.
  
  Some areas of the business combine bank holidays and annual holidays into a single entitlement figure, so time will be taken from this combined entitlement.
  
  
• Where bank holidays are normal working days
  
  In some areas of the business, bank holidays are considered normal working days and normal business activity continues. In these situations, bank holidays are managed as follows:
  
  •  Annual holiday and bank holiday entitlements are added together to create a combined entitlement.
  
  •  You'll have the option to book bank holidays off or to work them. In customer facing areas, the business will work with you and your colleagues to agree which bank holidays you will work. This is usually agreed at the beginning of each year, and you may be asked to contribute to this process by 'pledging' which of the bank holiday dates you'd like to work with the business then allocating dates through a fair process.
  
  •  If you work on the bank holiday, the time will remain in your combined entitlement for you to book at the time of your choosing.
  
  •  If you work shifts and your shift for the bank holiday is more than 7 hours, you will have the option to use additional holiday to cover the shortfall, or to agree with your manager to adjust your shift and work the shortfall at a different time.
  
  
• Reduced hours / working weeks
  
  For colleagues who work part-time, bank holiday entitlement is calculated by adding together your full-time equivalent entitlement for annual leave and bank holiday entitlement and then this combined figure is pro-rated based on your working hours. You're considered part-time is your work less than 1820 hours per year (the combined total of hours a colleague working the standard full-time 35 hours per week will work).
  
  Some things to note about taking bank holiday entitlement:
  
  •  Where a bank holiday falls on a day you would normally work, then the number of hours you work that day will be deducted from your combined entitlement.
  
  •  Where a bank holiday falls on a day you would not normally work, then there should be no deduction from your combined entitlement.
  
  •  The number of bank holiday hours in your combined entitlement in some circumstances may be less than the number of hours needed to cover the bank holidays. In these situations, you can agree with your manager how to manage any deficit such as working the additional time back, adjusting your hours that week, or taking it as annual leave.
  
  
• Compressed hours / working week
  
  For colleagues who work compressed hours, bank holiday entitlement is calculated by adding together your full-time equivalent entitlement for annual leave and bank holiday entitlement and then this combined figure is pro-rated based on your working hours. Your considered to be working compressed hours if you work fewer than five days every week while still maintaining the standard 35 hour working week (for example, you work a nine-day fortnight, or a four-day week).
  
  Some things to note about taking bank holiday entitlement:
  
  • Where a bank holiday falls on a day you would normally work, then the number of hours you work that day will be deducted from your combined entitlement.
  
  • Where a bank holiday falls on a day you would not normally work, then there should be no deduction from your combined entitlement.
  
  • The number of bank holiday hours in your combined entitlement in some circumstances may be less than the number of hours needed to cover the bank holidays. In these situations, you can agree with your manager how to manage any deficit such as working the additional time back, adjusting your hours that week, or taking it as annual leave.
  
  
• Term time working / contracted for less than 44 weeks per year
  
  Holidays are taken during the weeks when you are not at work unless you've held back any holiday entitlement. Where a bank holiday falls during a period where you're due to be in work there are two options:
  
  •  You can work back the hours taken for the bank holiday at an appropriate time during the period you're in work
  
  •  An adjustment to salary can be made through Payroll.
  
  The bank has made available a calculator to help work out holiday allowances for term time colleagues.

Overtime on a bank holiday

Entitlement to premium rates of overtime depends upon whether you work in an area of the business that observes bank holidays (such as a bank branch which remains closed). Where bank holidays are observed, premium overtime is payable in addition to hours worked. In areas of the bank that don't observe bank holidays, it is considered normal working time and overtime is payable at standard rates once contracted hours are worked.

Bank holidays and sickness absence

If you're ill and absent on a bank holiday and are in receipt of full occupational sick pay, you will not be entitled to have the bank holiday added back to your holiday entitlement.

However, if you're absent for more than 13 weeks, and bank holidays that fell during that period where you have received full occupational sick pay, will be deducted when recalculating your annual entitlement. While your holiday leave entitlement continues to accrue during sickness absence, after 13 or more weeks your leave accrues at the statutory minimum for the full duration of that absence. The statutory minimum is 28 days, inclusive of bank holidays. Your manager is responsible for recalculating and adjusting your leave.

Further guidance

You will find further guidance about bank holidays on the bank's intranet. You'll also find details about how to calculate holiday leave on the bank's intranet.