Bank holidays are days in the whole or part of the UK on which banks may close for business. The law makes provision for certain payments to be deferred until the next appropriate day for this purpose. 

Employees are not automatically entitled to holidays on bank holidays or to premium payments for working upon those days.  However, in many parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, bank holidays have become widely observed. In Scotland the observance of bank holidays is less wide.

Any right to time off or extra pay on bank holidays depends on the terms of an employee's contract of employment. Even when entitlements of this nature are not explicitly written down, they may sometimes be incorporated by custom and practice (for example, where they have become part of the customary terms of employment in a particular industry).