Whether or not their business will be open on the day of the coronation is probably going to be one of the biggest questions for those working on the day.
It is unlikely that any businesses will be required to close on the day. Those businesses which normally open on a Saturday will have to consider any changes to their normal arrangements in terms of staffing. Some businesses may decide to close, perhaps because they predict they will have no custom or because they would like to give their employees the day off to watch the ceremony, but that will be at the discretion of employers.
Of course, if you do remain open on what is being seen as a special day, what are you going to pay your staff?
This will depend on the contract of employment so you should always check there to make sure the employee is paid correctly. Employees working on that Saturday who do not usually work on a Saturday may be entitled to more pay so that is worth checking. It is unlikely that any contract will provide for extra pay for an employee who normally works on Saturdays in these circumstances.
Not everyone is going to want to work on the day, of course.
Essentially, no. It’s not a bank holiday so it will be a normal working day for all those who would normally work on a Saturday or who are on the rota to work. You should apply your normal decision-making process on whether or not to allow annual leave to be requested on the day or if you will have to decline it.
For some businesses, they may see a spike in their trade on the day, or weekend, of the coronation, especially those in the hospitality industry. This may mean as many staff members as possible are needed in work.
Yes, the usual rules will apply to annual leave around the coronation. Employers can designate days on which no annual leave can be taken by giving the minimum amount of notice on this. The amount of notice required is the same as the number of days in question, eg if no leave would be allowed on one day, one day's notice is required. In practice, the more notice, the better. Employees will therefore know that if they ask for annual leave on that day, it will be declined.
Whilst we have known the date of the coronation for some time, it may still have disrupted employees’ plans.
If you’re open on the day of the King's coronation, you may get employees asking to cancel their pre-booked leave so that they can work instead because their plans have changed. You do not have to agree to the cancellation request, in which case the employee will still take the leave as they had originally planned.
It's advisable to agree wherever possible but if there are business reasons which would mean that the cancellation would cause disruption, eg if you have already organised cover for the employee and it can't be changed, then you should inform the employee that you are unable to accept the cancellation request.
Some of those working will be keen to watch the coronation.
Whether they can or can’t watch the coronation will depend on your operational requirements but you should consider what flexibility you can build in.
You may be able to organise a showing of the ceremony at work either in a common room or by allowing employees to watch it from their desks if there are TV screens around the workplace. It's important to note that you will need a TV licence registered at the workplace if you are to show it on TV. You could agree with the employees that they take longer breaks and make the time up later on or on another day or change their start, finish and break times so that they can watch it. If it isn't feasible to watch the ceremony, you may agree to have the radio on and listen to the proceedings.
Those in work probably won’t want to miss out on the festive atmosphere the coronation will bring and may want to hold a celebration around work.
It's completely up to you whether you arrange a party in the workplace to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Whether you hold it outside of work time or during work time is also up to you but if it is during work time, you would need to be clear with employees on what your expectations are for their productivity and performance whilst still being able to enjoy the festivities.
It's best to keep in mind that not everyone will want to attend a coronation party so don't force everyone to be involved. If you're serving food and drink, make sure that there is a variety of types to cater for dietary requirements, eg vegetarian, vegan and halal options. If you're serving alcohol at a party out of working hours, be sure to provide non-alcoholic drinks too, as well as reminding employees about acceptable behaviour and the potential consequences if this does not happen.
The Government has relaxed alcohol licensing laws for the weekend of the coronation, so many hospitality businesses will want to take advantage of this extra trading time.
You should check employee contracts to see where you stand in terms of flexibility on working hours. If your contracts state that employees may be required to work overtime or extra hours, or may be subject to a rota change, then it may be a reasonable instruction to require them to work extra hours, though you should take individual circumstances into consideration first, like childcare issues.
If there is no such flexibility in contracts, you can start by simply asking employees if anyone would like to work the extra hours and earn more money. If this doesn't provide a solution, consider offering an enhanced rate of pay or extra paid time off elsewhere in the calendar year as an incentive. If you still find that the extra hours aren't covered, you could consider using casual staff or agency workers. It is possible to enter into formal discussions about changing working hours where employees have at least two years' service, though it may not be necessary for such a short period over which the extra hours are needed, and this should only be done where there really is no other option.
It may be useful to review contracts for any new staff to ensure that flexibility on working hours is built in.
Monday 8 May 2023 will be an extra, one-off bank holiday to celebrate the coronation. This may, or may not, mean an extra day off for employees.
Yes, it should be. Most contracts are written in the context of the standard number of public/bank holidays in a year (eight in England and Wales and nine in Scotland) but exact wording, and therefore exact entitlements, can differ from contract to contract. If a contract in England says employees are entitled to time off on "eight public/bank holidays" per leave year and lists those days, there is no automatic entitlement to time off on the extra bank holiday. If the contract says employees are entitled to paid leave on "all public/bank holidays" in a leave year, they will have a contractual entitlement to the extra day. Even where contracts do not entitle employees to the day off, you may choose to offer it as a paid day of leave anyway. If you are not closing on Monday 8 May, you can ask employees who want the day off to make a request in line with the normal annual leave procedure.
Businesses that are going to be open on 8 May might have to manage an influx of annual leave requests, which could pose some difficulties.
If your employees have to book time off if they want a bank holiday off, and you've had a lot of requests for a day off on the coronation bank holiday, it's likely a bank holiday is treated like a normal working day in your business which means you will need to think about the same things for allowing time off on this day as you would any other day. You will need to balance time off with your need to operate effectively on the day. If you are able to extend normal annual leave caps where possible, you should consider this so that employees can celebrate the occasion.
However, employees should realise that it is a request that they have put in and so there is the possibility that it will be declined and they will be required to work. Most employers deal with annual leave requests on a first-come, first-served basis; this ensures fairness across the system and enables you to keep constant track of how many people you have off at any one time.
As 8 May will be a bank holiday, employees’ usual childcare arrangements are unlikely to be open, which can create difficulties for those that will have to work.
There are a few things that you could consider to make sure that everyone's needs are met. Because the employee has the right to take time off for dependants if there is an unexpected breakdown in their childcare arrangements, the employee may have no other option but to take the day off under this statutory right if they are unable to make alternative arrangements, which will then impact your operations on that day, so it would be best to try to find some other arrangement so that they can still work.
If their role is one that can be carried out from home, you could agree that they work from home on that day. Alternatively, you could check in with employees who have leave booked to see if there is anyone willing to change their plans, although they shouldn't be forced to. Offering a small incentive may encourage them to agree to work on that day. You could also see if there is anyone from another department or team who is working on that day who could cover for the employee in order for them to take a day of annual leave.
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