GP practice staff should receive enhanced pay for working on Monday during the bank holiday announced for the Queen’s state funeral, the BMA has advised.
It said: ‘There is no statutory entitlement for time off on such bank holidays, so the arrangements are subject to local decision-making by employers.’
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The BMA guidance added that the day will ‘be treated the same as any other public holiday and will constitute premium time, attracting enhanced rates for all staff subject to medical contracts who are required to work on Monday 19 September’.
It also called for a change in rules so that those who work on a ‘less-than-full-time’ basis do not need to use their annual leave allowance to take the public holiday off.
It said: ‘Given that the purpose of this bank holiday is to allow people in the UK to pay their respects to the Queen, we do not think it is reasonable that they should be expected to use their annual leave allowance to supplement them taking the full day.
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‘However, NHS Employers has indicated that where someone chooses to take a day of leave on a bank holiday which falls on a day they would normally work, they must take a day out of their combined annual leave allocation, which would be increased pro rata to recognise the additional bank holiday.’
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A version of this story was originally published on Nursing in Practice’s sister title Pulse.
