THE Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations will be cancelled for thousands of NHS employees across Sussex who face working for no extra pay.

Tuesday, June 5, has been designated a bank holiday but for many hospital staff it will be business as usual.

Organisations are not obliged to give staff time off or extra pay for a holiday, although most tend to allow it.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has told its workers it wants to try to keep the day as close to a normal working day as possible.

Those who come in will be given a lieu day but will not get any extra money.

Those already on holiday or not down to work will be given a lieu day.

The same applies for the county’s other main hospital and NHS trusts.

The news is a bitter blow to the Brighton hospital trust’s workers, who were hoping for a repeat of last year’s royal wedding scenario, when hospital bosses treated it as a full bank holiday.

In a message to staff, director of human resources Graham White said: “In order to be as fair as possible to our staff and maintain a safe and sensible service across the hospital, we have deemed June 5 to be a special public holiday.

“I do realise that this is not as generous as the recompense for working on a designated bank holiday but treating the day as a full bank holiday would cost the trust in the region of £250,000, which is money we would then have to save elsewhere.”

Ian Evans, the trust’s Unite union rep, said: “This decision has really angered staff.

“There are plenty of our members who wanted to look forward to celebrating the jubilee and now they are having to change their arrangements and they are not even getting any extra money for it.”

Brighton and Hove City Council, Sussex Police and businesses such as Brighton and Hove Bus Company are all treating the day as a bank holiday.

Peter Allinson, from the North Laine Traders Association, who runs the Temptation cafe in Gardner Street, said: “As far as I am concerned we will be open as normal, although my staff will get the additional pay and day off.

“It is a difficult one to balance as you have to consider the cost of staying open against the amount of trade you expect to make.

“It is understandable that for some traders that could be a difficult decision because of the potential additional cost.”