We want more bank holidays!
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Another bank holiday is upon us - isn't it great that there are two in May, and another one to come in August? In total, in the UK, we have 8 bank holidays, which is pretty good, but not when compared to other European countries. In fact, compared to our EU friends, we get the least amount of public holidays (although Northern Ireland gets 10 and Scotland 9). Spain and Portugal get up to 14 days off a year and, in other parts of the world, the lucky inhabitants of Hong Kong get 17 public holidays every year! It seems that the British public are being overworked.
Campaigns in the past to increase the number of UK bank holidays to the European average of 12 have unfortunately been unsuccessful. There is an especially strong interest in creating a new holiday in the October period, in order to break up the 16 week no-bank-holiday interval between August and Christmas. One idea that is currently being campaigned for is Community Day, which would focus on promoting volunteering within your community.
Everyone would agree that extra paid holidays are a good thing, but not everyone thinks that bank holidays are so great. Being forced to take holidays on specific days means that the places where you want to spend your time off will be full to bursting with the rest of the nation. Roads are incredibly congested, hotels get booked up, shows and performances sold out and prices get hiked up. Perhaps instead of the bank holidays, workers should be entitled to more paid annual leave. Do you think this is a good idea or should we keep the current system ... but maybe with a few extra days off?
Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
