Automatic Public Holidays (Bank Holidays)

Adding an Automatic Public Holiday Calendar

To automatically add Public Holidays to your employee's leave records, create a Public Holiday Group. You can select the Region and Year to automatically generate the correct Public Holiday dates for that year, and add any extra dates or delete dates if needed.

Add individual employees or select to apply these dates to all employees. Public Holidays are always set as non-deductible but you can select if they are paid or unpaid here. (If your employees receive public holidays as part of their leave entitlement, you'll need to update their leave entitlement in TimeKeeper to be net of public holidays)

The new Public Holidays will now be visible in the Wall Calendar, and on your employee's individual leave history.

Update an Employee's Public Holiday Calendar

To select which Public Holiday calendar should apply to an employee when they are added to TimeKeeper, head to the 'Leave' tab of their employee profile. You can also edit which calendar applies to an employee, and their leave record will be automatically updated.

Employee Request Annual Leave Over Public Holiday

Around public holidays, staff often book annual leave to make the most of a longer break. However, if a staff member’s leave request covers the date of a public holiday, the annual leave will take precedence and the public holiday will no longer be applied for that person.

The best approach is to book annual leave up to the public holiday and then around it. For example, Christmas Day is December 25 and Boxing Day/St Stephen’s Day is December 26. If a staff member books leave from December 22 to January 2, all of those days will be deducted from their leave entitlement. Instead, they should request leave from December 22–24 and then again from December 27–31.

Updated on: 21/04/2026