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Work and Families Bill

moved Amendment No. 24:"Page 11, line 33, at end insert—" ““(   )   may not provide for the inclusion of regular public bank holidays unless not more than two are phased in any one year over a period of four years or over such longer period as the Secretary of State may determine;”” The noble Baroness said: This amendment may be very simply and shortly explained. The present law, in accordance with the requirements of EU directives, prescribes four weeks’ paid leave for every employee. There are eight public bank holidays in England and Wales and eight slightly different ones in Scotland, which the Government seek to add to the employees’ entitlement by Clause 13. Assuming a five-day working week, which is largely the norm, adding eight more working days to the existing four weeks’ paid holiday means adding an extra 40 per cent to the entitlement to paid leave. It means adding more than an extra working week and a half to the paid leave entitlement. It is, in our view, too much of an additional burden to impose on industry and commerce all in one go. However, without diminishing the Government’s manifesto commitment to grant these extra days’ holiday, it is vital that they should be phased in at a rate that all employers can more easily absorb in their medium-term business plans. My very moderate amendment proposes that the Government should phase in these extra eight days’ holiday, two at a time, over a period of at least four years. That is within the theoretical lifetime of the present Parliament, yet still fulfils the Government’s manifesto commitment. I beg to move.