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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:
myhamster · 09/06/2019 13:41

I was reading online about how many weddings this is going to affect. People who purposely booked it on a bank holiday MONDAY weekend, no longer have that having planned it a couple of years in advance to get that date. I can understand their annoyance. Also, people who booked Fri-Mon breaks planning to head off after school, now no longer have the Monday, so have to use another days holiday or not go (if your employer does make you take the Friday as compulsary).

I do think that they should have just given us the Friday as an extra. Employers would not have to honour if it they didn't want to. (retail etc in particular)

There has been a lot of confusion over holidays since the government changed it a couple of years ago. It used to be 20 days + 8 days bank holidays, now they just say 28 days and that employers do not have to give you bank holidays off.

Anyone part time would get pro-rata 28 days, as so many people have suggested. Anyone that doesn't work Fridays anyway, will just be able to take the holiday on a different day, so could still take the Monday off.

Fcukthisshit · 09/06/2019 13:42

Same here @whatjusthappenedthere I work Mondays but not Fridays so I’ll lose out completely. Can’t say I’m very pleased about it but not a lot I can do.

INeedAFlerken · 09/06/2019 13:43

Our school calendar was released months ago. So were my children's school calendars. Hopefully the schools will alter them quickly so people can plan.

Jonette · 09/06/2019 13:44

You'll get paid for the bank holiday regardless. If you don't work Fridays why is it an issue?

Osirus · 09/06/2019 13:46

I don’t work Mondays or Fridays, so no difference to me at all.

WhatIfIHadnt · 09/06/2019 13:47

@Fcukthisshit you’re not losing out at all. Read up on annual leave entitlements!

SherlockSays · 09/06/2019 13:47

@Osirus but don't you get any BH Monday's added to your annual leave allowance and therefore you've lost the ability to take a day's AL at your own choosing?

LizzieMacQueen · 09/06/2019 13:48

As far as I can see, SQA haven't released the 2020 timetable yet. That's in response to my own Q above.

LifeOfBriony · 09/06/2019 13:49

We were planning a Friday - Monday break with extended family - DBro has school-age DC who he was going to collect from school on Friday, join the holiday and we would all travel home on Monday. A Friday bank holiday in this scenario doesn't work for him. I can't see the school giving authorised leave.

Dontlickthetrolley · 09/06/2019 13:50

Just to add some counties will be voting on 7th May next year in local elections so if you've got kids in a school used as a polling Station, just another problem to add in to the mix!

Eliza9919 · 09/06/2019 13:53

How will you lose a days pay if you don't work on Fridays and are paid for bank holidays?

I don't get paid bank holidays and moving them closer together means I lose the full weeks money in-between the 2 short weeks.

Personally, I think all the bank hols should be spread out over the year, and not have 2 in one month, especially so close to Easter.

prettybird · 09/06/2019 14:02

As far as I am aware, the Scottish Government has not yet confirmed that it too will be moving the holiday as the power to set bank holidays is a devolved one.

And as a PP has already pointed out, it's in the middle of the SQA exam diet Hmm - and this year, there were no exams scheduled for the May Day Bank Holiday - although there were for the late May Bank Holiday - which in Glasgow at least is a holiday on both the Friday and the Monday. So the schools were shut for everyone except those going in for exams.

Glasgow City Council also has an INSET day scheduled for 5 May next year, tacked on the May Day weekend. I presume other councils will be similar.

LadyRannaldini · 09/06/2019 14:04

I hadn't realised it was changing, just looked now. Again the military who were in the Far East until August are being side-lined. I know this is not relevant but it makes me very angry, Lord Mountbatten addressed airmen, my Dad included, and he said 'They call you the forgotten army, that's untrue, you're not forgotten, no-one knows your here'.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:05

DBro has school-age DC who he was going to collect from school on Friday, join the holiday and we would all travel home on Monday. A Friday bank holiday in this scenario doesn't work for him

Leave on Thurs evening after school instead? Thurs to Sun, same as Fri to Mon.

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/06/2019 14:05

If this change affects the amount you get paid or the number of days you get off then your employer is incorrectly working out your annual leave, which is illegal as you are not allowed to treat part time workers less favourably than full time workers.

The change may cause part time workers to have one fewer day of their own choosing as this is unavoidable but it cannot reduce your pay or days worked.

But what on earth do you do where people are scheduled in this far in advance?

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:06

Personally, I think all the bank hols should be spread out over the year

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.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:07

Just to add some counties will be voting on 7th May next year in local elections

Sounds like it could add up to a very nice long weekend if you can go away on the Thursday (or Wed after school).

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:10

Why would you need to move a wedding? All it means is that people may now need to take AL to attend, whereas if it had been the BH they wouldn't.

As for GCSEs, they started later this year so it is unlikely that any are scheduled for that Friday. Not sure about Scottish exams.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 09/06/2019 14:14

As far as I can work out, if you don't normally work Fridays this works better for you.

Say for eg that you work Monday to Thursday. For every bank holiday there is, you get credited 4/5s of your leave allowance. That means if a bank holiday falls on a Monday, you get credited 4/5s of a day's leave allowance and have to take 1/5 from your annual leave hours.

But if a bank holiday falls on a Friday, you still get credited with 4/5s of your leave allowance for it, but it's on a day you wouldn't normally work anyway. So you're 4/5s of a day up, without doing anything. Happy days!

If this is different in your workplace, speak to your union/staff rep.

LifeOfBriony · 09/06/2019 14:14

*DBro has school-age DC who he was going to collect from school on Friday, join the holiday and we would all travel home on Monday. A Friday bank holiday in this scenario doesn't work for him

Leave on Thurs evening after school instead? Thurs to Sun, same as Fri to Mon.*

I am considering that, but most holiday cottage rentals take bookings either for Friday-Monday or Monday-Friday. There will potentially be 11 of us and it's hard enough finding a large enough place that is reasonably easy to reach from different parts of the country. DBro's circumstances mean that this is the only weekend in the year we would all be able to have a long weekend together.

prettybird · 09/06/2019 14:18

Scottish exams start about 25 April and finish just over a month later - so this is right in the middle of them.

The SQA's exam timetable is not up yet; it should be up soon as they are usually pretty good in putting it up shortly after the previous diet finishes.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:21

The people who always work Fridays and not Mondays see you having bank holiday Mondays off all year round. Then finally they benefit and you're like a bear with a sore arse

I've never understood any of this part time bank holiday stuff anyway. If I don't work Mondays, I get all Mondays off. It's immaterial to me whether the full-timers get the odd Monday off from the government. Equally if I don't work Fridays, that the FTers are going to get an extra Friday off. It doesn't affect me at all as I don't work those days anyway.

fairweathercyclist · 09/06/2019 14:22

most holiday cottage rentals take bookings either for Friday-Monday or Monday-Friday

looks like they will have to change their rigid policies next year.

IceRebel · 09/06/2019 14:31

I hadn't even realised it had been moved. Has there been any publicity about it, or have I just been hiding under a rock? Confused

myhamster · 09/06/2019 14:31

The people talking about their weddings, specifically booked the bank holiday weekend, so that there were 2 days after the Saturday wedding, so that guests could stay Fri-Monday, or have an extra day to get over it/not have to rush home on Sunday.

So some of them waited a couple of years to get the exact date that they wanted, and now they no longer have a bank holiday weekend as having the day before the wedding is no good.

I can see why they would be upset.