Answers · UK 2025/26
Are bank holidays paid in the UK?
There is no statutory right to paid bank holidays in the UK — whether you get paid depends entirely on your employment contract. Most full-time employees receive bank holidays as paid leave on top of their statutory 5.6 weeks, but this is contractual, not a legal requirement.
Full answer
The Working Time Regulations 1998 grant workers 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave, but the law does not specifically require bank holidays to be paid or even given as time off. Your employer can: 1. **Give bank holidays as paid leave on top of statutory leave** — the most common arrangement for full-time staff. 2. **Count bank holidays as part of your 5.6 weeks** — meaning you have fewer days to choose yourself. 3. **Require you to work bank holidays** — if your contract permits, with or without enhanced pay. In practice the majority of UK employers do give paid bank holidays (there are 8 in England and Wales, 9 in Scotland, 10 in Northern Ireland), but this is a contractual benefit, not a legal entitlement. Always check your contract or staff handbook. **Part-time workers** are entitled to bank holidays on a pro-rata basis. Refusing to pay a part-time worker for a bank holiday that falls on their working day while paying full-time colleagues could constitute unlawful less favourable treatment under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. **Zero-hours and variable workers** have no right to bank holidays off or additional pay for working them unless the contract says so. Bank holidays do, however, count toward statutory holiday accrual for all workers, so even a zero-hours worker who happens to work on a bank holiday accrues holiday pay for that day.
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This answer is informational only and does not constitute financial, tax or legal advice. Figures are for the 2025/26 UK tax year. See our methodology and sources.