What are your rights regarding the King’s Coronation Bank Holiday on 8th May 2023?

It has been announced that 8th May 2023, the Monday following Charles III and Camilla’s Coronation, will be a national bank holiday.

Individuals, businesses and other organisations will be invited to celebrate King Charles, alongside the Queen Consort, at a lavish ceremony in Westminster Abbey on 6^th May 2023.

The investiture will form part of a long weekend filled with celebrations for the new monarch, ranging from street parties to concerts.

The additional bank holiday will take place across the UK, and in recognition of the King’s concern for strengthening local communities, the public will be encouraged to volunteer and join projects in their local area as part of the Big Help Out.

We have received a huge number of enquiries requesting further information on entitlement to the bank holiday from both employees and employers alike.

It will operate in the same way as other bank holidays and there is no statutory entitlement to have time off.

A lot of business will automatically close and employees will get the day off. This will include schools and other associated businesses. Many businesses will also therefore be forced to recognise childcare issues that will be faced by their employees.

If your employer insists that they will stay open for business and will not be granting staff members a bank holiday, there is unfortunately very little that an employee can do. Ultimately, whether an employee will get the day off will be at the discretion of the employer and the government cannot interfere in existing contractual arrangements between employers and workers.

Entitlement to the bank holiday will depend entirely on the wording of the employees’ contract of employment. For example:

Regardless of the above, many employers will choose to grant employees the additional bank holiday as paid time off as a gesture of goodwill; this is extremely similar to the situation regarding the additional bank holiday granted for the Platinum Jubilee and Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year.

The government provided further guidance on the bank holiday for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III which can be found here.

Related reading

Queen’s funeral bank holiday rules – Oakwood Solicitors

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