There will be a special bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Tuesday 5th June 2012.

In general, there is no statutory entitlement to paid leave for public or bank holidays and no automatic right for employees to have this extra public holiday as paid leave, if this is not specified in their employment contract or been established by custom and practice. 

Members should check their employment contracts carefully to see what it says about holiday entitlement and public holidays.

Some employers may wish to give the extra paid day off to maintain good relations; in this case they should make it clear that this is a one off event applying on this particular date only. 

Anyone applying the BATJIC Working Rule Agreement must give their employees  21 working days plus eight days public holidays per annum which will normally be Christmas day, Boxing Day, New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, Spring Bank Holiday and the Summer Bank Holiday.  (There may be regional variations, for instance in Scotland, where local customs require alternative dates shall apply).

In addition, BATJIC has confirmed that employers applying the BATJIC Working Rule Agreement should also give the extra paid public holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.