Bank Holiday – Monday 19th September

It has been confirmed that Monday 19th September 2022 will be a bank holiday in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is to commemorate the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Payroll professionals and business owners will need to take important measures to ensure workers do not miss out. Payroll teams must ensure their clients’ employees are paid in time, and business owners must let their staff know exactly what days they are working, taking off and being paid for.

When will the bank holiday be?

King Charles III announced that Monday 19 September, the date of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral, will be a national bank holiday in the UK.

When is the coronation and will it be a bank holiday?

A date for the coronation is yet to be announced, so we do not know if it will be a bank holiday. When Queen Elizabeth II became Sovereign in 1952, a coronation did not take place until more than a year later – she ascended the throne in February 1952 and was formally crowned in June 1953. So, we can expect the coronation of King Charles III to take place sometime in 2023.

Will it be any different to the standard bank holidays?

The guidance from the government is to treat this in the same way as you would normally treat a bank holiday.

Are employers obliged to give their staff time off?

Government guidelines state that whether staff work or not is at the employer’s discretion.

It may also be dependent on the employee’s contract holiday wording. ’20 days + bank holidays’ implies they will be entitled to an additional holiday, whereas if the contract states specific bank holidays, or a number of bank holidays i.e. 8 days, then that is their allocation for the year and there is no allocation for an additional day.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s press release concerning the bank holiday stated ‘they expect employers to respond sensitively to requests’ for time off.

Do employers need to pay their staff for the extra bank holiday?

In general, there’s no obligation for additional pay but the CIPP advise following the same procedure as for other bank holidays.

Will schools be closed on the bank holiday?

Yes, schools and colleges will be closed. The Queen’s funeral is recognised as a bank holiday in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, meaning schools will close across the UK.

Payroll/BACS deadlines

Businesses with mid-month payment deadlines will also need to be aware of BACS cut off dates for paying employees.

If adjustments cannot be made, communications should be sent out to those affected. Another alternative would be to use an instant payroll payments solution like IGsend to ensure payments are made in time.

This table, originally published by the CIPP shows the BACS cut off dates: