Civil servants to take bank holidays on religious days of their choice

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Employees of Schools Secretary Ed Balls' department are to be allowed to work from home on Christmas Day

Civil servants will be able to take bank holidays on the religious days of their choice under moves to introduce "cultural flexitime".

Officials in the education department will be allowed to work from home on statutory days off and take the time owed to mark their own religious traditions.

It means staff will be able to work at home on Christmas Day for the first time this year and swap it for a different religious festival such as Eid or Diwali.

The pioneering arrangements also apply to cultural traditions, meaning a Welsh employee could move a bank holiday to St David's Day.

Staff could also choose to mark St George's Day on April 23.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, is the first Government department to adopt the policy intended to accommodate the different religions practised among its staff, but others are likely to follow suit.

Some public bodies and firms already offer similar arrangements, such as allowing Christian holidays to be exchanged for festivals from other religions.

The DCSF scheme affects 2,600 civil servants working in London, Darlington, Runcorn and Sheffield.

Staff will be able to switch all eight statutory days off, including Christmas, Easter and secular bank holidays.

For example, Sikhs could choose to take days that mark the birth of the prophet teachers, or, along with Hindus, celebrate Diwali in the autumn.

Muslims could mark Eid-ul-Adha and Ramadan while Jews would be free to take time off at Yom Kippur or Hanukkah.

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Workers could take time off for the Hindu celebration of Diwali - the festival of lights

The arrangements also apply to minority religions such as Baha'i and Zoroastrianism, and staff could ask for time off to mark pagan festivals such as the summer solstice.

Anne Copeland, human resources director at the DCSF, said: "We already have excellent flexible working arrangements in the department but I believe this strengthens them further and takes account of the diverse needs of the workforce.

"If the department continues to show it is committed to valuing its people, meeting their different needs and improving their working environment, then our people will be committed to working harder and going that extra mile to help us deliver the challenging agenda ahead."

She said that advances in technology meant that most of the department's staff could work from home and were therefore not forced to take the day off simply because the office was shut on a bank holiday.

Staff choosing to swap bank holidays for other key dates will not be required to prove that they follow a different faith.

A DCSF spokesman said 10 per cent of the department's staff are from ethnic minorities, a greater proportion than the national average.

He said: "Our new cultural flexitime arrangements have been welcomed by staff - they asked for it.

"As a progressive department, we are more than pleased to meet the request, as we believe it's both good for employees and the business.

"Staff who use this flexibility gain no advantage, in time or cost, over other staff who take UK bank holidays, except to have the flexibility to take time off that is more appropriate to them and their cultural beliefs.

"Line managers would of course ensure the member of staff has enough work to complete off-site."

Last year Muslim leaders used a summit with the then Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly to call for their two main religious festivals - Ramadan and Eid-ul-Adha - to be made public holidays for followers of the faith.

Of the eight bank and public holidays in Britain, three fall on religious days - Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday.

 

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