Christmas is the perfect time of year for some time off together with family.
A well-earned break while sipping the remaining mulled wine and tucking into leftover Christmas meals is the perfect way to unwind.
Christmas brings with it some time off in the form of bank holidays, when the banks are closed and shops open at different times, if they open at all.
It is therefore important to know which days you can get off for bank holidays this year, so that you can make the most of your period of relaxation before starting again afresh in the New Year.
So what days will you get off this year?
When is Boxing Day 2021?
Boxing Day this year falls on December 26, the same as every year.
Despite possible connotations with the word 'boxing', Boxing Day is not named after a particularly awkward and violent family Christmas.
The famous day gets its name from the traditional day off for servants in rich houses. They would work Christmas Day, provide festive meals and maintain the house for rich landowners to celebrate, and then enjoy their own festive celebrations the next day.
They would tend to receive a box as a gift from their masters.
The meaning behind the phrase also derives from when churches would store money for the poor in a box, to be handed out at Christmas time.
The day is also celebrated as Saint Stephen's Day in Ireland and the Catalonia region of Spain.
How many bank holidays will I get this Christmas?
People are due a total of three bank holidays over the Christmas and New Year period.
The first thing you should do is check that you are required to work on bank holidays. There may be some details in your contract that mean you do not necessarily get the day free without booking it off.
Bank holidays move to the following Monday if they are scheduled to fall over the weekend. Both Christmas Day and Boxing Day are bank holidays, but Christmas Day is on a Saturday this year. It means that Monday, December 27 and Tuesday, December 28 are both bank holidays.
Is New Years' a bank holiday?
New Year's Eve on December 31 is not a bank holiday, but New Year's Day is. This often confuses people as both days can be associated with a bit of a party, so not everyone will be wanting to work long into the evening.
New Year's Day is a bank holiday but falls on a Saturday, so Monday, January 3 2022 will be the bank holiday in early January. People in Scotland will also get January 4 off this year.
We will then have to wait until April for the next scheduled day off over the Easter period. Good Friday and Easter Monday is on April 15 and April 18 this year respectively.
