The Government has announced an additional bank holiday on 8th May 2023, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. So, there will be three bank holidays this May: 1st, 8th and 29th.
So, what should you do?
Review your contracts of employment. Employees do not have an automatic right to paid time off on a bank holiday. However, if your contracts permit employees to take leave on 'all bank and public holidays', you must grant the extra day as leave.
If your contract provides entitlement to a certain number of days, and is silent on the issue of bank holidays, your employees will not be entitled to an additional day's leave. The same applies if entitlement is expressed as a certain number of days 'plus eight bank holidays', or if the contract specifies which bank holidays are included.
However, even if you are not contractually obliged, it may be prudent to grant the coronation bank holiday as leave as a goodwill gesture, particularly given the historical significance of the event. If you can't grant it to everyone, consider, providing time off in lieu to those employees that you need to work that day. Your employees may react negatively if you do not.