Bank Holidays Cost GBP2.3bn A Day

Bank Holidays Cost £2.3bn A Day.

A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has claimed that each Bank Holiday costs the UK economy £2.3bn.

In total, the UK is actually quite low in the number if public holidays at just 8, at a cost to the economy of £19bn.

The argument is not about the costs of Bank Holidays but the fact that our Bank Holidays are like buses', they all come at once.

3 days at Christmas/New Year.  2 Days over one weekend at Easter, 2 days around May for May Bank Holiday and Whitsun (Spring Bank Holiday) and then another one for Summer Bank Holiday in August.

Many other countries have a greater number of Public Holidays:

Japan, South Korea - 15

Spain, Malta - 14

Portugal, Austria - 13

Greece, South Africa - 12

France, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand - 11

Australia, Finland, Norway, Belgium, US - 10

Canada, Ireland, Germany - 9

UK, Netherlands - 8

However, these countries do not have the same volume of minimum paid holiday entitlment.

We suggest, the UK has it broadly right, but is it clearly difficult for business owners to plan when there is a major shutdown over a weekend for 4 days say at Easter and indeed 4 days in the coming extended June Spring Bank Holiday due to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.  Add to this last year's Royal Wedding Holiday fiasco, where some people did not work for nearly 3 weeks, business owners just need some planning sense.