Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Monday 7th June 2021

We are carefully considering the most appropriate way to remember those who have lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government has no plans to create a bank holiday on 23rd March.

We are very sorry to hear of the death of your father. We offer our deepest condolences to you and your family, and to all those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19.

While the Government's immediate focus is on protecting the lives and livelihoods of the nation, there is also the need to mourn those who have died during the pandemic, and to mark and remember this period as one of immense struggle.

The Prime Minister announced on 12 May that the Government will establish a UK Commission on Covid Commemoration to consider the appropriate way to remember those who have lost their lives and to recognise those involved in the unprecedented response. The Government will set out the Commission’s membership and terms of reference in due course.

The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to mark a variety of occasions. A bank holiday is usually a day of celebration. While we sympathise with the sentiments behind this petition, we are therefore not considering a bank holiday for those who have lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Full-time workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days statutory paid holiday each year. NHS staff and other key workers – who have played an essential role during the unprecedented response to the Covid-19 pandemic - are likely to have to work on bank holidays due to their contractual arrangements. Legislation does not give employees a right to time off or extra pay on bank holidays.

Additional bank holidays can also have implications across the public sector which need to be taken into consideration. Health and social care services would be disrupted and any scheduled treatments and operations – of which there is a backlog due to Covid-19 – would need to be rescheduled. Courts and tribunals would have to postpone any planned hearings. Due to the way in which listings are managed, these may have to be pushed back by more than a single day, leading to longer delays.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which acknowledged the petition creator and responded in an appropriately sympathetic way. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/568631