Up-Helly-A’ holiday could be moved to celebrate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

The traditional post-Lerwick Up-Helly-A’ holiday could be moved to Friday, 3rd June to allow council workers to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year.

With the festival not taking place in 2022, the SIC are proposing to move the annual Wednesday holiday to early June on a one-off basis.

The UK government has already said the May bank holiday will be moved to Thursday, 2nd June for the jubilee celebrations.

But the SIC’s policy and resources committee will consider next week whether council workers should have a holiday on the Friday too.

The report says the move would “enable council staff and families to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee as a community over three days”.

School staff and children would also be given the Friday as a public holiday too.

The report acknowledges that no additional leave was given for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but adds: “The council may wish to acknowledge that the UK and Scottish government are encouraging a four day national celebratory weekend at a time when our workforce has been working through very challenging times.”

Not recognising the jubilee may lead to “reputational damage, low morale and employee relations issues because staff may not feel valued”, according to the report.

The Up-Helly-A’ holiday was still given to council workers in January 2021, despite the festival being cancelled, with the SIC telling workers it would have been a “complex and difficult process” to move it.