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Original poster

Moving the May Bank Holiday. Will this cause you inconvenience?

426 replies

Whatjusthappenedthere · 09/06/2019 10:37

I work Mondays. I am still paid for the Bank Holidays. I don’t work Fridays. I have already made my holiday arrangements around child care for 2020 and now unless I can take a day off unpaid my plans are now up the creek. Also my job involves a diary of clients that book up almost a year in advance so this will now also need to be sorted.
Not a happy bunny, this should have been announced at least a year in advance for people accommodate. Angry

OP posts:
PCohle · 09/06/2019 16:48

I think it's a lovely. Adding another bank holiday when we already have so many in May would be madness.

They couldn't announce it earlier because it would have created confusion as to which year the bank holiday was changing for (genuinely).

C8H10N4O2 · 09/06/2019 16:48

It's yet another sign of this government's complete incompetence and inability to understand life outside Westminster

^This

Although apparently this time the inability to think outside their own little bubble is shared with a number of posters here.

C8H10N4O2 · 09/06/2019 16:55

They couldn't announce it earlier because it would have created confusion as to which year the bank holiday was changing for (genuinely)

Of course they could - the events around the 75th anniversary have been in plan for years! Its smacks more of sheer bloody incompetence, possibly an original intent not to do anything and now a late attempt to distract from the current shit show with a bit of ra-ra/wave the flag/make it a holiday stuff but without actually making it an extra holiday.

Do you seriously think businesses and event planners would "get confused" by a change announced well in advance?

They could have allocated an extra bank hol for the year. They could have announced the change with proper notice. Instead they basically fucked up.

ForalltheSaints · 09/06/2019 17:00

I would be amazed if more than 1 or 2% find it inconvenient, because their time horizon for personal planning is so long as the OPs. Most people I deal with struggle with planning 11 weeks in advance or even less.

PCohle · 09/06/2019 17:06

I genuinely think it would have caused confusion if individuals heard the date of the May Bank holiday had changed in say, April, and assumed it was for this year. The thread itself goes to show how ineffective public information campaigns can be. Sure big employers etc would have got it right but lots of individuals who only picked up the info from half heartedly overhearing the radio may not have.

TheDarkPassenger · 09/06/2019 17:07

Didn’t they do it for the last big anniversary? Surely you half expected it this time? Especially if you’re a planner!

MrsCatnip · 09/06/2019 17:10

It's annoying for the many organisations and communities who hold regular events on that Bank Holiday Monday and will now have to reschedule and adjust plans already made (and now be in competition with additional VE Day themed activities). It's annoying for people (like me Angry )who have already booked a long weekend abroad for the Sat / Sun / Monday which will mean I now have to take my kids out of school for the Monday when they would have ordinarily been off school. It's annoying for diary and calendar manufacturers who have started their print runs for 2020 with misinformation.
I think it's a bit late to announce really. Different if it had been an additional bank holiday like when William and Kate got married, but when they're moving it from one day to another with less than a years notice, I don't think it's great.
On the up side, I hear there were some holiday bargains to be had if you'd booked when the news first broke early yesterday. Even Centreparcs were not forewarned it seems!

crocsaretoocoolforschool · 09/06/2019 17:11

I'm a teacher

I've booked a long weekend away for the May bank holiday as I do every year

Will be an interesting conversation with the head on Monday

WindsweptEgret · 09/06/2019 17:12

I would like to lose the May and August ones altogether, add the days to AL and let us choose for ourselves when to take time off, rather than having to take it at the same time as everyone else. Me too, and I'd like to be able to work between Christmas and New Year, not to have to use my holiday.

LakieLady · 09/06/2019 17:13

Well, in my case, I get all Mondays off unpaid. For most people who do work Mondays, the bank holiday is a paid day off. Next year I will get an extra day off and still be paid for it.

But you should be being paid for it, albeit in the form of pro-rata hours being added to your annual leave entitlement to give you a day, or most of a day, off with pay.

PotatoCity · 09/06/2019 17:21

It’s a bonus for me, I don’t work Mondays and don’t get paid extra for bank holidays that fall on Mondays because overall my holiday allowance just about meets the statutory minimum without it. So I’m happy with an extra day off 😊. I hadn’t heard about it until now though!

starzig · 09/06/2019 17:22

I think most people would prefer to you out and get pissed on the Friday rather than the Sunday though. So would suit the English lifestyle better.

LakieLady · 09/06/2019 17:25

*I would like to lose the May and August ones altogether, add the days to AL and let us choose for ourselves when to take time off, rather than having to take it at the same time as everyone else.

Me too, and I'd like to be able to work between Christmas and New Year, not to have to use my holiday.*

I'm the complete opposite. I'd like to see everyone off at the same time, with exception of emergency services and hospitality. It would create sort of enforced relaxation, no bogging off to B&Q or going shopping.

Mind you, I'd like it if shops shut on Sundays, too. And they could bring back early closing on Wednesday afternoons!

WindsweptEgret · 09/06/2019 17:51

I'm the complete opposite. I'd like to see everyone off at the same time, with exception of emergency services and hospitality Christmas time is dark and cold though, if it was enforced time off in August instead I'd be much happier with it!

WindsweptEgret · 09/06/2019 17:57

In fact I'm less bothered by the May and August bank holidays than I am about all my wasted holiday at Christmas. I'd be happy with just Christmas day off, I would still have the weekends before and after to catch up with family.

Reluctantbettlynch · 09/06/2019 18:20

People really will moan about anything. From my point of view, it's a commemoration of a huge piece of our history - a piece of history that contributed to how we live now. I wonder what your ancestors, who lived through VE Day, would think of your opinions?
It's a time to honour those people who gave so much. It's almost a year of notice, for those so greatly inconvenienced.
It's really disappointing to see the posts here complaining - you were lucky not to live in those times, and we need to hope it's something never seen again.

NameChangeNugget · 09/06/2019 18:23

This has been known about for ages

freshstartnewme · 09/06/2019 18:25

This has been known about for ages

It was literally announced 2 days ago.

ToPlanZ · 09/06/2019 18:28

It will inconvenience me OP. My hours are spread over 4 long days Monday to Thursday, then a short day on Friday. However as I'm salaried all days are classed as full working days. So now my short day will become my bank holiday meaning it only worth 5 and a half hours to me, whereas if it had stayed on the Monday as usual it would have been worth 9 and a half hours off. It doesn't matter how far out it is announced, I will effectively lose out.

starzig · 09/06/2019 18:35

Sorry reluctantbettylynch. But I think very few people will be sitting about reflecting on VE day. They will be out going bank holiday stuff such as pub, beach, theme parks etc... just like any bank holiday only on Friday rather than Monday.

I will personally be working whichever day it is.

LadyRannaldini · 09/06/2019 18:36

hope there’s also a Bank Holiday on 15 August 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day. That always seems to get overlooked.

Well said, I only saw your post later, after I posted mine, it makes me very angry that the people who suffered some of the most brutal treatment are ignored every year.

omafiet · 09/06/2019 18:37

Poor you, OP. Didn't the authorities consider part-time employees and their holiday plans before making this change? I mean, it's not as though it's being done to commemorate the end of a war that killed millions of people...

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 19:03

I'd like to see everyone off at the same time, with exception of emergency services and hospitality. It would create sort of enforced relaxation

Enforced communal activities (even if "relaxing" ones) are my worst nightmare. I hate going somewhere when everyone else is there. INSET days are a pain, but they do have the advantage of allowing you to have a day off when most kids are at school.

And an INSET day may be the solution for a lot of schools - many won't have announced next year's yet so they could swiftly add one in on the Monday.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 19:06

Fairweathercyclist - full time people are paid even though they are not at work on a bank holiday Monday therefore if you don't work Mondays you are entitled to a paid day off (pro-rata) to make it fair. If this isn't happening for you your employer is breaking the law

I am a freelancer so it doesn't affect me at all. But when I did work in an employed role, I still could not understand why people would get miffed about bank holidays when they didn't work them anyway. Bank holidays come from the government, so in my view they should be treated differently to normal annual leave and not pro-rated for part-timers. But the EU doesn't agree with me and therefore brought in the part-time workers legislation, which the UK has implemented.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 19:10

We will now struggle to attend wedding as kids are due in school on the Monday now.

Or you just take them out of school for a day. You don't get fined for less than 5 days (assuming you are in England, if not you don't need to worry about fines anyway).

It will be lovely for our children to have street parties

I am booking to go away that weekend right now. Street parties. Ugh.