Bank Holidays included in leave allowance?

[MiniCooperLover]

Is this usual now? I've been working self employed for a firm for a couple of years now (as well as other clients) in an admin role. They've asked me to become permanent staff and offered me a good deal to take account of the extra tax I'll need to pay. But when asked they mentioned 30 days holiday. Contract now says '22 days plus 8 bank holidays' which to me seems a very different proposition as our office is closed those days anyway. I've never had BH's included in my leave package before, however it's been 10 years since I've been 'permanent', though I've worked all that time. Thoughts?

Yes its normal. They are offering you above the minimum which is 28 days (20 day plus 8 Bank holidays)

Definitely normal in lots of places. Literally just depends on the company. You’ll probably get a 50/50 split on answers, that’s just how different companies do it.

Yes its very normal.

It's not great is it?
I never encountered this before but my current company gives legal minimum annual leave and takes bank holidays off it.

For me, at the moment, it's worth it for other reasons but when children are older I will look for a position that doesn't do this, it's very tight fisted.

Yes, normal. If they’d said 30 days annual leave you’d have had to take the 8 days they were closed anyway, so it’s just a way of clarifying that you get 22 days a/l (2 more than the minimum) plus the 8 days p/h.

Yeah that's how my work does it.
You get X amount of days, X of them are BH.

I've never seen this, I'm on 30 days plus bank holidays and new starters get 25 plus bank holidays which increases until they have been here 10 years and get the 30.

Yes, perfectly normal.

In my last employment (before I retired) the default position was 28 days, which included the bank holidays.
I wanted an extra week, so negotiated a pay cut in order to get it. In other words, I added 5 unpaid days to my leave allowance.

Normal for us, but most of the bank holidays are floating (except Christmas/NY) and we can take anytime.

So as our office is closed anyway and I have no choice/say in that, only 22 of the allowance is flexible. I've just never worked anywhere like that before, I might go back and ask them to look at it.

How has it worked in your previous workplaces when you were an employee?

Sounds sperfectly normal to me. Were you looking for 30 days plus bank holidays? That's quite a lot of leave

Get them to look at what? They give you pay for the 8 days BH. It's standard now.

Try to think of it as you get 22 days annual leave. Is that enough for you? That's what you should negotiate on if unhappy.

Everywhere I've worked has done holidays like this. And same with my DH.

Why is it a problem? Very few workplaces would give 30 days flexible holiday, as few places are open all year round!

annual leave does not have to be free choice of days many companies have rules like only 1 member off at once or everyone is off between christmas and New year or you can't have annual leave at busy times, other places annual leave is decided for you like everyone is off last two weeks in July
so 30 days including BH is perfectly OK not overly generous but more that legal minimum

It's perfectly normal to state it both ways. It's important to clarify when you get an offer whether the leave is inclusive or exclusive of bank hols. Also check if there is a Christmas shut down and whether this comes out of your allowance.

I've twice negotiated additional holiday, but in smaller owner-director businesses where they could use their discretion. Larger organisations tend to have set allowances with no wriggle room.

It's much easier way to do things once you have part time workers and people with irregular hours

I've just never had bank holidays included before, as I say it's been a few years since I was employed as a contracted employee and it was kind of sold to me as a way to encourage me to leave being self-employed (where I can set my own leave). When I left the law firm I worked for 11 years ago I was on 28 days plus bank holidays.

It is normal but they should have been clear when they offered you the role that the 30 days is including bank holidays. I'd be annoyed if I was told 30 days leave and it turned out to be 22 annual +8 statutory.

It's what I get. 31 days plus bank holidays

But I've worked in my organisation for almost 20 years and additional leave entitlement is a 'perk' of long service. Personally I'd have preferred a real terms pay rise in the last decade, but there we go.

Sounds sperfectly normal to me. Were you looking for 30 days plus bank holidays? That's quite a lot of leave

I thought that was normal!

Completely normal and so is having to take compulsory days.

It's been normal for all of my working life, and I'm ancient. Employers don't actually have to give bank holidays as paid leave.

I seem to remember when I was setting up my company (over 25 years ago), we were advised to include bank holidays in the annual leave allowance as it made it fairer/easier to apportion leave for shift and part time workers. Otherwise, staff that don't work on Mondays would be entitled to less annual leave than workers that do work on Mondays.

When I left the law firm I worked for 11 years ago I was on 28 days plus bank holidays.

Then they had a more generous package than what you are being offered now. That’s all. Here you have 22 days + bank holidays = total 30 days. At your previous role you had 28 days + bank holidays = total 36 days. There’s nothing for you to “go back” to them on? Unless you want to request more leave….some employers allow you to buy leave