Jubilant Jubilee?

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St Alban's Street - Jubilee Street Party

Many of us spent the Bank Holiday toasting Her Majesty, but was it all champagne and sandwiches, or did the headache kick in early for some businesses?

Giving his verdict on the impact of the double Bank Holiday, Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "The poor weather over the Jubilee weekend failed to dampen the celebrations, though it is likely to have suppressed the gains that might have been expected by retailers and leisure businesses as a result of the extra holiday.

"Whilst we’re not expecting the loss to the economy to reach the £1.2bn expected by the Government (approximately £43m for Greater Manchester), as the economy is not growing as quickly as had been anticipated, businesses across both manufacturing and services are concerned that this will mark the beginning of a more subdued period of economic activity over the summer."

A number of members contacted the Chamber last week to tell us how the double Bank Holiday would affect them. Law firm SAS Daniels saw a rise in the number of bosses enquiring about the rules around extra Bank Holidays for staff.

Partner and employment expert in the firm, John Cook, said: “There’s no doubt that the extra Bank Holidays we have had in the last couple of years have been a bit of a burden to businesses. An increased number of employers contacted us to find out how easy it was to avoid.

“Ultimately it comes down to what lies in an employee's contract of employment. Where the contract simply states that the employee will be entitled to Bank Holidays in addition to their annual leave, with no specification of which ones or how many, then they are fully entitled to the extra day off. But if the contract lists the number or dates of Bank holidays, employees will not be expressly entitled to the extra day’s holiday."

Jenni Malley, Email Marketing Consultant at Extravision, said this week was likely to be quiet for many businesses as many people opted to take the whole week off. You can read her Jubilee blog by clicking here.

Karen Sykes, Marketing Manager at Garcia & Sykes Ltd, said: "Whilst as a family firm we generally like the royals and are happy to celebrate the Jubilee, it is putting extra, frankly unnecessary, pressure on small firms who are already struggling."

Freda Varley, who runs Choices Home Support, a domiciliary care service providing care to people in their own home, said Bank Holidays made it difficult to provide continuity of care as staff wanted the time off to be with their familes.