Bank Holidays
Source: Tim Mossholder en Unsplash
How did you spend this long weekend? Were you lucky enough to get away? Or like me, couldn't afford to?
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and also in the Republic of Ireland. Although there is no legal right to time off on these days, the majority of the population not employed in essential services (e.g. utilities, fire, ambulance, police, health-care workers) receive them as holidays; those employed in essential services usually receive extra pay for working on these days. Bank holidays are so called because they are days upon which banks are shut and therefore (traditionally) no other businesses could operate. Legislation allows certain payments to be deferred to the next working day.
Exactly a century after the 1871 Act, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which currently regulates bank holidays in the UK, was passed. Also listed are New Year's Day and May Day, introduced since 1971. These are deemed bank holidays by the legal device of a royal proclamation every year. In January 2007, the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act was given royal assent, making 30 November (or the nearest Monday if a weekend) a bank holiday in Scotland.
Royal proclamation is also used to shift bank holidays that would otherwise fall on a weekend. In this way, public holidays are not 'lost' in years when they coincide with weekends. These deferred bank holiday days are termed a 'bank holiday in lieu' of the typical anniversary date. In the legislation they are known as 'substitute days'. The movement of the St Andrew's Day Scottish holiday to the nearest Monday when 30 November is a weekend day is statutory and does not require a proclamation.
Source: Wikipedia
Comments
I remember that, when we were talking about holiday in the UK and Spain, you told me that there were more holidays in Spain than in the UK. I don´t know what it was your source but, after I have read this article, I don´t know if you kept in your mind Bank holidays. If you didn´t keep in your mind these holidays, it could be that in the UK would be there more holidays than in Spain. I mean. I can see that the St. Andrew´s Day Bank Holiday and 30 November are Bank Holidays in Scotland. (I´m not sure if the St. Andrew is moved to 30 November and then it is only one Bank holiday, sorry).
In any case, there are days upon which banks are shut and people call Bank holidays in UK. In Spain there are days which give us our Autonomous Community and City Council as holidays. In other countries of the EU, there are more holidays, for instance, in Amsterdam, where some sectors only work four days in the week. Working four days and resting tree days in the week would be fantastic. Wouldn´t it?
See you.
Take my word for it. There are fewer public holidays in the UK than in Spain. That doesn't mean to say that the Spanish are lazier. Well, not really.
I often read about the idea of a four-day-week but it hasn't really caught on anywhere. I agree that it could have its benefits.
I remember that, when we were talking about holidays in the UK and Spain, you told me that there were more holidays in Spain than in the UK. I don´t know what your source was but, after reading this article, I don´t know if you kept bank holidays in mind. If you didn't take them into account, it might mean that there are more holidays in the UK than in Spain. I mean. I can see that the St. Andrew´s Day Bank Holiday and 30 November are Bank Holidays in Scotland. (I´m not sure if the St. Andrew is moved to 30 November and then it is only one Bank holiday, sorry). Saint Andrew's day is the 30th of November. If it lands on a weekend, the day off moves to Monday.
... In other countries of the EU, there are more holidays, for instance, in Amsterdam, where some sectors only work four days a week. Working four days and resting three days a week would be fantastic, wouldn´t it?