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Managing Public Holidays and Bank Holidays

10 minutes

Introduction

Public holidays affect your salon's scheduling. When configured, Luminate shows visual indicators on the roster and warns you before creating shifts on holiday dates. This helps prevent accidentally scheduling staff when the salon is closed. Holidays also keep duplicated shifts off holiday dates, and they don't count against staff leave allowances. This tutorial shows you how to configure holidays for your salon.

Who this is for: Owner, Admin What you'll learn:

  • Access public holiday settings
  • Understand fixed vs floating holiday rules
  • Add custom holidays for your region
  • See holiday indicators on the roster
  • Handle the shift creation warning
  • Know what else a holiday changes

Time to complete: 10 minutes

Prerequisites

  • Logged in as Owner or Admin
  • Access to salon settings

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Access Public Holiday Settings

Public holidays are managed in your salon settings:

  1. Click on your salon name in the header (the dropdown button showing your current salon)
  2. Select Salon Settings from the dropdown menu
  3. Click the Staff tab
  4. Click the Public Holidays sub-tab

You'll see a list of holidays configured for your salon, divided into "Standard Bank Holidays" and "Custom Holidays".

If you're still working through setup, the Review public holidays item in the Getting Started card on your dashboard opens this same sub-tab. See Tutorial 1.4 for the checklist.

Step 2: Review Standard Holidays

New salons come with UK bank holidays pre-configured:

Holiday Rule Type Date
New Year's Day Fixed 1st January
Good Friday Floating Friday before Easter
Easter Monday Floating Monday after Easter
Early May bank holiday Floating First Monday in May
Spring bank holiday Floating Last Monday in May
Summer bank holiday Floating Last Monday in August
Christmas Day Fixed 25th December
Boxing Day Fixed 26th December

The table above lists them in calendar order. On screen they're sorted alphabetically, so Boxing Day appears first.

These standard holidays are read-only. You cannot edit them, delete them, or switch them off individually - there is no on/off toggle. They are added automatically for salons in the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Each row shows the holiday name, its calculated rule, and a Fixed date or Floating date label on the right.

The Public Holidays settings tab, listing the eight standard UK bank holidays above an empty Custom Holidays section with an Add Holiday button.

Step 3: Understand Rule Types

Luminate supports two types of holiday date rules:

Fixed Holidays:

  • Occur on the same date every year
  • Example: Christmas Day is always 25th December
  • You select the month and day using dropdown menus

Floating Holidays:

  • Occur on a specific day of a specific week in a month
  • Example: Last Monday in May
  • You select the occurrence (First, Second, Third, Fourth, or Last), day of week, and month using dropdown menus

Why this matters: Floating holidays like Easter and bank holidays fall on different dates each year. Luminate calculates the correct date automatically.

Step 4: Add a Custom Holiday

To add a holiday specific to your region:

  1. Click Add Holiday in the Custom Holidays section
  2. Complete the form:

The Add Holiday form showing the Holiday Name field, a Date Type dropdown set to Fixed Date, and Month and Day dropdowns, with Add Holiday and Cancel buttons.

Field Description Example
Holiday Name Display name for the holiday St Patrick's Day
Date Type Fixed Date or Floating Date Fixed Date
Month/Day or Occurrence/Day/Month The date selection fields change based on the date type March 17

Fixed holiday example:

Holiday Name: St Patrick's Day
Date Type: Fixed Date
Month: March
Day: 17

Floating holiday example:

Holiday Name: Scottish Summer Bank Holiday
Date Type: Floating Date
Occurrence: First
Day: Monday
Month: August
  1. Click Add Holiday

Step 5: Edit a Custom Holiday

To modify a custom holiday you've created:

  1. Find the custom holiday in the Custom Holidays list
  2. Click the Edit button
  3. Update the name or date selection
  4. Click Update Holiday

Note: Only custom holidays can be edited. Standard bank holidays are read-only.

Step 6: Delete a Custom Holiday

To remove a custom holiday you've added:

  1. Find the custom holiday in the Custom Holidays list
  2. Click the trash icon button
  3. Confirm deletion by clicking Delete Holiday in the dialog that appears

Note: Only custom holidays (ones you've added) can be deleted. Standard bank holidays cannot be deleted.

Step 7: See Holiday Indicators on the Roster

When viewing the roster, public holidays are indicated with a striped background pattern:

  1. Navigate to Roster in the sidebar
  2. Navigate to a week containing a holiday
  3. The day column for that holiday displays a red/pink diagonal striped pattern

This visual indicator helps you identify holiday dates at a glance. Both the header cell and all staff cells for that day show the striped pattern.

The weekly roster with the Christmas Day and Boxing Day columns highlighted in a red diagonal striped pattern across the header and every staff row.

Step 8: Handle Shift Creation Warnings

When you click to create a shift on a holiday:

  1. A warning dialog appears:
    Bank Holiday Warning

You are attempting to create a shift on a bank holiday.

[Holiday Name] ([Date])

Bank holidays are typically non-working days. Are you sure you
want to proceed?

[Cancel] [Proceed Anyway]

The Bank Holiday Warning dialog naming Christmas Day and its date, with Cancel and Proceed Anyway buttons.

  1. Choose your action:
    • Cancel - Nothing opens and no shift is created (salon is closed)
    • Proceed Anyway - The Add Shift dialog opens as normal, so you can enter the times and save (salon operates on holidays)

The warning is a check, not a block. It never stops you creating a shift on a holiday.

When to proceed:

  • Your salon opens on public holidays
  • You need staff for reduced holiday hours
  • The holiday doesn't apply to your region

When to cancel:

  • Your salon closes for this holiday
  • You clicked by mistake

What Else a Holiday Changes

A configured holiday does three more things away from the roster grid:

Where What happens
Roster duplication Do not roster on bank holidays is switched on by default. Copied shifts that would land on a holiday are left out, and the result line tells you how many. See Tutorial 5.3.
Leave requests Bank holidays don't count as working days, so they aren't deducted from a staff member's leave allowance. See Tutorial 6.2.
Appointments Nothing. Holidays never block a booking, and customers are never shown the holiday name.

Regional Considerations

UK Regional Variations

Different parts of the UK have different bank holidays:

Holiday England & Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
St Andrew's Day (30 Nov) No Yes No
St Patrick's Day (17 Mar) No No Yes
Battle of the Boyne (12 Jul) No No Yes

Configure holidays for your specific location by adding or removing custom holidays.

Substitute Bank Holidays

When a UK bank holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute day is usually observed on the following Monday. Add substitute holidays as custom fixed holidays:

Holiday Name: Christmas Day (Substitute)
Date Type: Fixed Date
Month: December
Day: 27 (or the appropriate substitute date)

Common Pitfalls

"I can't delete a holiday"

Only custom holidays can be deleted. Standard bank holidays (the eight pre-configured UK holidays) cannot be removed, edited, or switched off. If your salon opens on one of them, leave it in place and use Proceed Anyway when you roster that day.

"The holiday isn't showing on the roster"

Check that:

  1. The date selection is correct (verify month and day)
  2. You're viewing a week that contains the holiday
  3. The holiday is saved (check it appears in the Custom Holidays list)

"I created a shift on a holiday by accident"

Navigate to the roster and delete the shift. The warning is informational only - it doesn't prevent shift creation.

"The day I picked doesn't exist in that month"

The Day dropdown offers 1 to 31 for every month, so it is possible to choose a day the month doesn't have, such as 30 February or 31 April. Always pick a real date for the month you selected, then check the roster to confirm the holiday landed where you expect.

"Holiday date seems wrong for next year"

The system calculates dates for each year. Floating holidays like Easter are calculated automatically. If a date appears wrong, check the rule type and date selection.

Tips and Best Practices

  1. Configure holidays early - Set up holidays before creating rosters
  2. Check regional variations - Add holidays specific to your location
  3. Review annually - Verify substitute dates for holidays falling on weekends
  4. Communicate closures - Update your website and voicemail with holiday hours
  5. Plan holiday weeks carefully - See Tutorial 5.3 for handling duplication around holidays
  6. Check the roster, not just the list - After adding a holiday, open the roster on that week and confirm the striped column falls where you expect

Related Tutorials

  • Tutorial 1.4: The Onboarding Checklist - The Review public holidays shortcut to this screen
  • Tutorial 5.1: Setting Up Your Weekly Roster - Creating shifts around holidays
  • Tutorial 5.3: Duplicating and Managing Roster Patterns - Keeping duplicated shifts off holidays
  • Tutorial 6.2: Requesting and Managing Leave - Why holidays aren't deducted from an allowance

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set different holidays for different staff?

No, public holidays are salon-wide. All staff see the same holiday indicators. Control who works by creating or not creating shifts.

Do holidays automatically close the salon?

No. A holiday never prevents shift creation or appointment booking - you control closure by not creating shifts. It does two things on its own: it leaves duplicated shifts off that date, and it stops the date counting against a staff member's leave allowance.

How far ahead does the system calculate holiday dates?

The system calculates dates on demand for each year. When viewing the 2026 roster, it automatically calculates where floating holidays fall in 2026.

What if a holiday falls on our usual closing day?

The holiday indicator still appears. If you're closed anyway, there's no impact. For substitute bank holidays, add them as separate custom holidays.

Can customers see which days are holidays?

Customers see availability based on shifts. If no shifts exist on a holiday, no appointments are available. The holiday name itself isn't shown to customers.

How do I handle half-day holidays?

Holidays mark entire days. For half-day closures:

  1. Create shifts for the hours you're open
  2. The warning will appear - proceed anyway
  3. Add notes to shifts explaining reduced hours

Does the system calculate Easter automatically?

Yes. Easter-related floating holidays (Good Friday, Easter Monday) are calculated automatically for each year using the standard Easter algorithm.

Last Updated: August 2026