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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Oliver Pridmore & Joe Smith

Government says there are 'no plans' for annual bank holiday to mark Queen's funeral

There are currently no plans to mark the date of the Queen’s funeral with a bank holiday every year, the Government has said.

King Charles III confirmed that there would be a bank holiday this year, speaking during a meeting of the accession Council on Saturday, to mark the occasion of his mother’s funeral.

The government says that it expects employers to treat this year’s upcoming bank holiday as normal in terms of letting their workers have the day off.

The funeral service will be held at Westminster Abbey from 11am on Monday, September 19.

Employers are under no obligation to allow a day off, but are expected to "respond sensitively" to such requests, Nottinghamshire Live reports.

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, passing Edinburgh Castle on its journey to the Palace of Holyroodhouse from Balmoral (PA)

It will mean that 2022 marks the highest number of UK bank holidays held in one 12 month period for at least five years.

But in regards to whether the date of the Queen's funeral will become an annual holiday, the Government says: "There are currently no plans for an annual holiday."

There are usually eight public holidays in the UK: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May bank holiday, Spring bank holiday, Summer bank holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. 2022 will now witness at least ten bank holidays by the end of the year, given that the Queen's funeral date has been declared one, alongside the day that was carved out for the Platinum Jubilee in June.

Crowds watch the cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II as it passed by Mercat Cross on September 11, 2022 in Edinburgh (Getty Images)

There was no bank holiday declared for the funeral of the Queen's father, King George VI, in 1952.

On whether there will be a bank holiday when King Charles III is eventually crowned, the Government says this will be announced closer to the time.

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