Privilege day
A Privilege day in England is a day of annual leave granted to employees of the Civil Service. These are in addition to bank holidays, but do still count as "working days" for the purpose of freedom of information requests.[1]
There are 2.5 privilege days each year:[2][3][4]
- The Queen's Official Birthday. This is a full day usually attached to the Spring Bank Holiday, the last Monday in May, on either the Friday before the Bank Holiday or the Tuesday after (in order to create a long weekend).[3]
- Maundy Thursday. This is a half day on the afternoon of the Thursday of Holy Week, and is linked with the tradition of Maundy money.[3]
- Christmas. This is an extra full day of leave at Christmas, originally allocated in respect of the Queen's Official Birthday, in addition to the bank holidays of Christmas and Boxing Day. It is often arranged so as to connect the Christmas bank holidays to an adjacent weekend.[3]
References
- ^ "Time-limit for responding". Ministry of Justice. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- ^ "FOI release: How many staff have a contracted day off for Christmas shopping?". Department for International Development. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Public and privilege holidays" (PDF). Office of Fair Trading. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- ^ Robert Verkeik (8 June 2013). "Civil servants' holiday which ministers wanted to abolish is saved by the Queen". Daily Mail. Retrieved 17 December 2013.