HR Industry News

CBI reject Remembrance Bank Holiday

— 5 September 2007 —

The CBI has branded the idea of a new bank holiday as "pointless", claiming it will cost the British economy £6bn.

The Institute for Public Policy Research had recommended the creation of a bank holiday to serve as a national "thank you" to community heroes. Its proposal was that the holiday fall on the Monday after Remembrance Day.

Kate Stanley, the institute's director of research, said, "We need a day when people give something back to their communities and celebrate the diversity and pluralism of modern Britain."

Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, claimed that while the celebration was a positive idea on the whole, it should take place on an existing bank holiday, saying "Statutory holiday entitlement is being increased from 20 to 28 days over the next two years, which will be a big improvement for many workers but comes at a substantial cost to firms."

The TUC has repeatedly called for a further 3 bank holidays to be added to the calendar, stressing that the UK is "bottom of the pile" in the EU with a mere 8 days compared to 12 in Finland and Italy and 13 in Austria.

Ceridian's Paul Avis added that “recent reports have suggested that employees are either not taking their holiday entitlements or are doing alternative work when they are off so this move does not alter the fact that we all work extremely hard in the UK. It also further emphasises that whilst a lot is spoken about work life balance and associated programmes, employers still need productivity from employees and in a targeted, performance culture there is often little room for negotiation. The challenge is to get productive, attendant employees delivering regularly without impinging on their health, so an extra bank holiday will not detract from the volume of work that exists; it will still have to get done at some time.”

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