First published on Monday, July 13, 2026
Last updated on Monday, July 13, 2026
Here are the most frequently asked questions:
Are all employees in England entitled to the extra World Cup bank holiday?
Not all employees will have an automatic right to an extra paid bank holiday. If their contracts say ‘20 days’ annual leave plus eight bank holidays’, then a list of those dates, or ‘28 days’ annual leave including bank holidays’ then employees won’t have Friday 24th July off automatically. If your holiday calendar started in April, then your holiday year for 2026 will include ten bank holidays because Easter was late.
If their contracts say ‘20 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays’, then the employee will have the right to the additional football bank holiday off, and will receive full pay.
And if you decide to shut up shop on Friday 24th July, you can always choose to give your teams the day off, as long as you do it fairly.
We need to stay open on the extra bank holiday, so can I make my employees come in?
As long as you’ve checked your contracts and annual leave policy, you could treat the additional bank holiday as a normal working day. As with the ‘morning after’ the Sunday matches, you could offer a late start, or extra pay for working the bank holiday, but make sure you do it fairly to avoid claims of discrimination.
Do I have to pay extra for staff working a bank holiday?
Again, check your contracts for this one. Generally, time and a half for bank holidays is discretionary, unless it’s in your contract of employment or annual leave policy. If you do decide to offer more, offer it to everyone to avoid accusations of discrimination. You’ll need to keep a record of this for six years in case you are inspected by the Fair Work Agency.
Do part-time staff get the extra bank holiday?
Part-time staff have the same rights to bank holidays as the rest of the workforce. But annual leave and bank holiday entitlements for part-time staff are based on the hours they work. This is called a pro-rata calculation, and your HR software should work this out automatically.
How do I deal with school closures if there’s a World Cup bank holiday?
This is a little bit different than an unplanned school closure, like a gas leak or a snow day, which would be unpaid (unless your contract says otherwise).
The World Cup bank holiday in England may feel last-minute, but is counted as a planned school closure. So, if your employees don’t have the automatic right to this bank holiday, they’ll have to take annual leave, arrange childcare, or request unpaid leave. If their childcare fell through, then emergency dependants’ leave would kick in.
What if someone already has the extra day off booked?
If anyone who’s entitled to the bank holiday has already booked it off as annual leave, you’ll need to amend your holiday planner. As the extra bank holiday will only apply if England win the World Cup, and the date has not yet been confirmed, this will be a last-minute change to your annual leave calendar. BrightHR software will flag any conflicts and clashes and calculate allowances automatically. Your employees can request holiday through the app, and you can instantly approve, decline or amend holidays wherever you are.
Need support with your contracts and annual leave policies?
Need to update your contracts and annual leave policy, or want help calculating pro-rata entitlements? Speak to the UK-based HR experts at BrightHR. We’re here 24/7 to answer your HR and employment law questions.
BrightHR on the BBC
BrightHR CEO Alan Price spoke to BBC West Midlands on Monday 13th July 2026 about the possible extra bank holiday, including taking a common-sense approach to annual leave and school closures. You can listen again here at BBC Sounds.
