Yahoo News The bank holiday that has been moved for 2020
As we start the new year, many Brits will be checking their calendars to find out the most important dates in 2020 - including when the bank holidays fall.
Workers will be using tactical methods to maximise their annual leave by planning time off around those all important national days off.
However, this year there has been a late change to the early May break, with incorrect information being published in thousands of 2020 diaries.
Days off in 2020
There are eight nationwide bank holidays in 2020, with the day that Christmas takes place also forcing some changes.
After New Year’s Day, the next national public holiday does not come until Easter, with Good Friday falling on April 10 and Easter Monday on April 13.
The early May break now falls on Friday May 8, with the Spring bank holiday falling on Monday May 25.
Summer’s bank holiday is on Monday August 31, with a long wait until Christmas Day for the next break.
However, as Christmas falls on a Friday this year, the Boxing Day holiday has been substituted to Monday December 28.
Why the change?
The early May bank holiday usually falls on the first Monday in May.
However, this has been switched from Monday May 4 to Friday May 8 in 2020 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
The VE Day - or Victory in Europe Day - celebrations taken place over the weekend starting on the 8th, marking the day in 1945 when the Nazis surrendered in the Second World War.
Why is this change so controversial?
As a result of the change, millions of calendars and diaries in retailers like WH Smith contain the wrong information - with the change of May bank holiday not reflected.
Britons booking their holidays may therefore be caught out by the change, with the wrong date potentially affecting student deadlines, May fairs, weddings and music festivals.
Many companies in the UK printing industry did not want to spend over £50m on pulping and reprinting their products with the correct information, according to The Sun.
Aside from the wrong information being sold to millions of Brits, the change in date has been controversial for one other reason.
Some have argued that the date should not have been changed - and that Brits should have simply been given an extra bank holiday in 2020.
Morris dancers have also been frustrated by the date change, with events already organised before the move was announced - meaning they only had 11 months notice.
