The confusion caused by the daft decision to put the Royal Wedding on a day of work (for those cursed by such a plebeian task) continues.
A recent survey of businesses shows that an average of 60% of companies are to close for the day of April 29th. However that leaves 40% of the working population of the UK in a potential muddle – a ridiculously high figure.
If you read our other posts, you will be aware that there is absolutely no obligation on employers to give you the day off unless:
- The employer closes anyway (in which case it’s a lock-out).
- You have it in your employment contract that you ‘have Bank Holidays as holiday’. If it specifies how many or which Bank Holidays you’re doomed.
The extent of the mess depends on where you are in the UK and the figure of 60% is far from a constant. For example, Yorkshire businesses are more than twice as likely to close as Scottish ones. The full list of regional results are as follows:
| Region | Planning to close |
| Yorkshire & Humberside
North West England North East England Northern Ireland East Anglia West Midlands South West England South East England Greater London East Midlands Scotland |
70.4%
61.7% 61.5% 60.0% 59.2% 56.8% 54.5% 53.5% 52.9% 51.2% 34.3% |
Small businesses in particular are being hit hard by this. Large corporations have the advantage of principally ‘captive’ customers (witness the way they can get away with treating phone callers!) and are also unaffected by the recent VAT rise. In other words, if they close on the Friday, you’ll have to ring them on the Thursday or wait until the Monday to get put on hold and passed from pillar to post. As to the VAT rise – it just gets added to the bill and you have to pay.
Unlike them, small companies lose a quantifiable amount of custom when they are forced to close on a working day, and adding 2.5% to their prices means they get less trade.
The whole shenanigans is a lose-lose situation for small to medium-sized companies. If they close, they have to pay normal wages (often with guaranteed bonuses and overtime to add insult to injury) and turn away business. If they stay open they face long-term hostility from staff who are being forced to work (to them unfairly when they see other companies closing for the day), or absenteeism from those who don’t see why they should work.
A statistic I would like to know (which, of course, can never be calculated, let alone published) is how many jobs will ultimately be lost as a result of this bean feast for the over-privileged.
What do you think?
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