On Monday, September 19, a bank holiday has been declared for the UK, allowing the nation to mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth II as the monarch's State Funeral takes place. Like many businesses and organisations across the nation, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) will be observing the bank holiday, and will be closing its phone lines on the day.
Those with benefit or general queries for the DWP will need to save their questions until Tuesday, September 20, when the phone lines will reopen. Announcing the move, the DWP took to Twitter to inform the public.
It wrote: "Changes to our opening times due to the bank holiday for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II". A graphic then showed the dates that the lines will close and re-open.
On Saturday, September 10, the Government posted an announcement on its website that confirmed Monday, September 19, would be the date of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral and a national bank holiday.
It said: "This will allow individuals, businesses and other organisations to pay their respects to Her Majesty and commemorate her reign, while marking the final day of the period of national mourning. This bank holiday will operate in the same way as other bank holidays, and there is no statutory entitlement to time off.
"Employers may include bank holidays as part of a worker’s leave entitlement. The bank holiday will take place across the United Kingdom."
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