Christmas 2023 and New Year 2024 – when are the Bank Holidays and what about paying early?

At last – Christmas Day and New Year’s Day don’t fall on weekends this year and there are no substitute days.

So when are the Christmas and New Year Bank holidays? They’re all back to normal!

Do Bank holidays have to be paid?

Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave.

An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave of 5.6 paid weeks (capped at 28 days annually).

Some employers may contractually provide additional bank holiday pay entitlements. The contract may state which days are specifically included such as Christmas Day and New Years. Christmas Day 2023 is an official bank holiday and so is New Year’s Day 2023 as they both fall on a Monday.

Employers may need to decide what policies they implement and communicate with their employees and workers about paid bank holidays and the Christmas and New Year season.

Reporting PAYE information in real time when payments are made early at Christmas

As part of the October 2023 employer bulletin, HMRC are reminding employers of the permanent easement on reporting PAYE-information in real time which has been in place since 2019.

Some employers pay their employees earlier than usual over the Christmas period. This can be for a number of reasons. For example, during the Christmas period the business may close, meaning workers need to be paid earlier than normal.

If you do pay early over the Christmas period, report the normal (or contractual) payday as the payment date on the Full Payment Submission (FPS) and make sure that the FPS is submitted on or before that date.

For example, if you pay on Friday 15th December 2023, but the normal (or contractual) payment date is Sunday 31st December 2023, report the payment date on the FPS as 31st December 2023 and make sure the submission is sent on or before 31st December 2023.

Doing this helps protect an employees’ eligibility for Universal Credit, as reporting the payday as the payment date may affect current and future entitlements. your employees with Universal Credits. If you report the earlier date many will curse you if their UC is adversely impacted.

The overriding PAYE reporting obligation for employers is unaffected and remains that an employer must continue to report payments on or before the date the employee is paid, that is their payday.

Having to work Christmas and New Year?

ACAS have guidance on employment rights for those working during the Christmas season, for the PAYadvice.UK article and links see:

PAYadvice.UK 12/10/2023