Public holidays have no special status in employment legislation. If an employee normally works on a Thursday their employer has every right to expect them to work on Christmas Day at their regular rate of pay.
I've worked on Christmas Day several times (in a pub) and only ever received the normal rate of pay.
When I was a steel worker the normal rate of pay for Xmas day and Easter Sunday was triple time. Double time for Sundays and time and a half for Saturdays. How times have changed.
trt,
You start by saying your friend is a carer which sounds admirable. However she seems to have a complaint about the pay. If she is unappy about her working conditions then she should seek different job.
Her private(?) company must be hard-pushed if their only reason is that tax-payers won't stump up any more cash to pay her.
SIQ.
NHS/care industry have moved largely onto continental shifts - xc the administrators of course ! and so unless their contract says they will get extra - they wont
I would add that although she is not legally entitled to extra pay she is entitled to an extra day's holiday, as fairly recent legislation sets the minimum holiday allowance at 28 days (to include the 8 days public holiday).
Whether you get extra emoluments for PHs is down to your T&C's of employment, employers are not forced by law to pay you anything extra for any public holiday other than a day off in lieu.
Care homes and agencies here are double on Christmas day and bank holidays. Social services pay extra on bank holidays- but if Christmas day is at a weekend, it isn't a bank holiday, so the homes lose out. It depends what it says in her contract.