How Workers Won the Right to Bank Holidays 

From Factory Floors to Free Mondays: The Radical History of Bank Holidays

As you lie in bed this Easter Monday, savouring that delicious sense of liberation—no alarm, no commute, no boss peering over your shoulder—spare a thought for the long and surprisingly radical history behind your bonus day of rest. 

Bank holidays, like so many things working people now consider basic, were not handed down by generous bosses or benevolent rulers. They were carved out over centuries—by custom, by defiance, and by collective action. Behind every leisurely Monday morning lie the fingerprints of resistance and reform. 

It’s a Bankers Holiday

The term bank holiday tells you plenty about who it was originally for. The modern version dates back to 1871, when Sir John Lubbock—a banker, Liberal MP, and noted Victorian eccentric—introduced the Bank Holidays Act. Lubbock, a man who once tried to teach his dog to read (it failed), proposed four official holidays for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and five for Scotland. 

These were: Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August, and Boxing Day. Scotland got an extra nod with New Year’s Day and the first Monday in May. Good Friday and Christmas were already widely observed. 

But let’s not kid ourselves. The motivation was to protect banks and financial institutions from liability if they shut their doors on these days. Before the Act, some bankers genuinely feared they might be sued for closing. The holidays weren’t about worker welfare—they were about shielding capital from risk. 

From Thirty Holy Days to Four Miserable Ones 

Ironically, pre-industrial Britain was far more generous with time off. The Bank of England and other public offices once closed for over 30 religious festivals and saints’ days each year. But in 1834, in a fit of puritanical efficiency, the state slashed them to just four: Good Friday, May 1st, November 1st, and Christmas Day. 

This wasn’t about streamlining—this was about control. As industrial capitalism tightened its grip, time itself became a commodity. Time off was reframed as laziness. Leisure became a luxury. Workers, once governed by the seasons and the church calendar, were now ruled by the clock and the factory bell. 

The People’s Calendar of Rest 

But working folk didn’t simply accept this theft of time. They created their own rhythm of rest. After the Industrial Revolution, communities developed “wakes weeks,” town fairs, and seasonal shutdowns—periods when entire areas would down tools, not because Parliament said so, but because people insisted on living. 

These local holidays weren’t gifts from employers. They were de facto strikes in all but name. In many towns, factory owners had no choice but to formalise these breaks or face mass absenteeism. It was custom turned into pressure, and pressure into precedent. 

In northern mill towns, the “factory fortnight” became part of the social DNA. These were not banker’s holidays. These were the people’s holidays. 

When the Unions Took Up the Cause 

The next big leap in holiday rights came, predictably, not from employers or politicians, but from the trade unions. In the 1970s, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) pushed back against Britain’s meagre holiday allowance, which lagged behind much of Europe. 

At the time, England and Wales had only six public holidays. Scotland had five. Northern Ireland had eight. The TUC’s campaign won two additional bank holidays across the UK and an extra one for Scotland. 

In an era of strikes and sit-ins, this victory was a rare moment of broad public benefit—a clear win for organised labour and proof that when workers stand together, they can reshape the national calendar. 

The Political Timeline of Time Off 

Each addition to the bank holiday calendar reflects pressure from below: 

• 1971 – Whit Monday (a moveable feast) is replaced by a fixed Spring Bank Holiday; the August holiday shifts to the last Monday of the month. 
• 1973 – Scotland adds January 2nd, reflecting its heroic dedication to New Year hangovers. 
• 1974 – New Year’s Day becomes a bank holiday in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; Scotland formalises Boxing Day. 
• 1978 – May Day, the first Monday in May, is declared a national holiday—its roots tied to the international labour movement. 

None of these changes came unprompted. They were fought for. They were won. 

Still Not a Holiday for Everyone 

Even now, bank holidays aren’t evenly shared. Around a third of full-time workers still work at least one public holiday a year. Among 16–19-year-olds, that figure rises sharply. 

In sectors like agriculture, fishing, retail, hospitality, and care—the backbone of Britain’s economy—many still don’t get the day off. Some work it without extra pay. It’s the same old class story: the more essential the work, the less valued the worker. 

I Work to Live, I Don’t Live to Work

Bank holidays are stitched into Britain’s cultural fabric. But they’re also political. They remind us that rest has never been a gift from above—it’s been won. Fought for. Wrestled from a system that would keep us working every day if it could.

What the Law Actually Says

Paid holiday rights are governed by the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), which stem from the European Working Time Directive. The law guarantees workers at least 5.6 weeks of paid leave a year—that’s 28 days for most full-time employees.

But here’s the kicker:
Although those 28 days include the equivalent of eight public holidays, there’s no legal requirement to take them on those actual days.

In other words, your boss doesn’t have to give you bank holidays off—unless it’s spelled out in your contract.

As Acas puts it plainly:

“Your employer does not have to give you time off on a bank or public holiday or at Christmas if they’re not included in your holiday entitlement.”

The Small Print and Sector Rules

There are exceptions. In retail, most large shops must close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day—though small convenience stores can stay open.

Employers must also avoid discrimination when it comes to holiday allocation. That means:

• Maternity leave: Workers continue to accrue bank holiday entitlement during leave.
• Part-time workers: If full-time staff get bank holidays off, part-timers should get a pro-rata equivalent—even if they don’t usually work Mondays (when most bank holidays fall). Anything less could breach the Part-Time Workers Regulations 2000.

What’s in Your Contract Matters

Whether you’re entitled to public holidays off depends on your contract or what your union has negotiated.

Some employers give annual leave plus public holidays. Others roll them all into one number—“28 days including bank holidays”—which means you may need to book public holidays off yourself.

In the NHS, under Agenda for Change, full-time staff get:

• 27 days’ leave + 8 public holidays
• Rising to 29+8 after five years, and 33+8 after ten

In 2022, for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, pay for working the extra bank holiday was left to “local determination”. Part-time NHS staff were still entitled to at least a pro-rata share of the day off, rounded up.

Some workplaces plan ahead—letting workers book public holidays as leave. In one transport firm, a collective agreement promised to “transform” bank holiday working by giving staff notice and prioritising volunteers.

But not all employers are so considerate.

Back in 2019, ASDA workers protested new “flexible” contracts that scrapped extra pay for most bank holidays and made working them compulsory—except for Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day.
GMB union official Gary Carter described it as an “any time, any place, anywhere” culture.

What If You Have to Work?

Many employers offer compensation—either in extra pay or time off in lieu—when staff work on a public holiday.

The TUC argues this should be a legal right, but for now, it still depends on what’s in your contract.

Under Agenda for Change, NHS staff working or on-call on a bank holiday get:

• Time off in lieu at normal pay
• Plus payment for the duties they carried out

The Labour Research Department’s Payline database shows examples of staff getting “double time” or more. And where premium pay is set as a flat cash amount, it should rise alongside your annual wage.

The Bigger Picture

So, as you enjoy your Easter Monday lie-in, raise a mug—not just to the break itself, but to the workers who made it possible.

Because in Britain’s long class struggle, nothing has ever been handed to the common folk.
Every right, every protection, every moment of rest—we had to fight for it.

And in today’s always-on world—where emails follow you home, and “flexibility” often means working round the clock—it might be time to fight for more.

Because here’s the truth:
Time is the one thing your boss can’t give back once it’s been taken.

Across Europe, they get more:

• Italy: 12 public holidays
• Slovakia: 15
• UK? Just 8.

So why not 10?
Why not 12?

The battle for time off isn’t over.

It never was.

Paul Knaggs