Give the UK a Bank Holiday on Monday July 12th if England win Euro 2020

England may be playing a European Championship Final at 8pm on Sunday 11th July. It would be beneficial and sensible to give the country the day off the next day if England win, in the form of an extra Bank Holiday Monday.

Sunday 8pm is a difficult time for families to plan to be together for the event - knowing we have an additional day off the next day would significantly help this. Furthermore, a historic win should be celebrated. It would be expected for the winning team to parade the trophy, and a Bank Holiday would be a perfect time to do this. Also, English people would naturally want to continue to enjoy the win, giving the retail and leisure industry a much-needed opportunity to make up lost revenues.

The Government appreciates how England’s performance at Euro 2020 has united and inspired the nation, particularly in light of the incredibly difficult times endured during the pandemic. We are extremely proud of the England team’s success.

The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to celebrate a variety of occasions. However, the current pattern is well established and accepted. There are eight permanent bank and public holidays in England and Wales. There are nine in Scotland and ten in Northern Ireland.

While an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the overall cost to the economy is considerable. The most recent estimate – from the impact assessment for the additional holiday for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - is that a bank holiday (across the UK) costs the economy around £1.2bn. The extra costs to certain businesses are substantial.

Full-time workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days statutory paid holiday each year. However, many workers are likely to have to work on bank holidays due to their contractual arrangements. Legislation does not give employees a right to time off or extra pay on bank holidays.

Short notice bank holidays can also have implications across the public sector which need to be taken into consideration, such as:

• Benefit payments falling on the bank holiday would have to be rescheduled, which may lead to backlogs and hardship for claimants.

• Disruption to health and social care services and cancellation of scheduled operations and treatments, of which there is already a backlog due to Covid-19.

• Courts and tribunals would have to postpone hearings. Due to the way that listings are managed, these may have to be pushed back by more than a single day, leading to longer delays.

• Children would require an additional day out of school, having already missed a significant number of days due to the pandemic.

For these reasons, the Government has no plans to create a one-off bank holiday for this occasion.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy