England and Wales, United Kingdom bank holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and is observed on Monday 28 December.
• In 2026, public holidays fall on 8 weekdays in England and Wales, the same as in 2025.

Bank holidays in 2026

9 dates are counted as non-working in England and Wales in 2026; 8 of them fall on a weekday.

• observed substitute weekday off

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 21 working days in January, 1 holiday
• Feb 20 working days in February
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 20 working days in April, 2 holidays
• May 19 working days in May, 2 holidays
• Jun 22 working days in June
• Jul 23 working days in July
• Aug 20 working days in August, 1 holiday
• Sep 22 working days in September
• Oct 22 working days in October
• Nov 21 working days in November
• Dec 21 working days in December, 3 holidays

Compare with the rest of United Kingdom

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 4 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Monday 6 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 2 May 2026 to Monday 4 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 23 May 2026 to Monday 25 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 29 August 2026 to Monday 31 August 2026
• 4 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Monday 28 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About bank holidays in England and Wales

England and Wales share one list of bank holidays. In 2026 and 2027 the list has eight days each year: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May bank holiday, the spring bank holiday, the summer bank holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The UK government publishes the confirmed dates on GOV.UK, and HolidayTally checks its own calculation against that list.

The legal basis is the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. Schedule 1 of the Act names Easter Monday, the last Monday in May, the last Monday in August and 26 December as bank holidays in England and Wales. Good Friday and Christmas Day are not in Schedule 1 for England and Wales; section 1(4) of the Act refers to them separately. New Year's Day and the early May bank holiday are also not in Schedule 1. Section 1(2) of the Act allows a scheduled day to be replaced by proclamation, and section 1(3) allows a special additional day to be appointed by proclamation.

When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, GOV.UK states that a substitute weekday becomes a bank holiday, normally the following Monday. Schedule 1 sets the rule for Boxing Day: 26 December is a bank holiday if it is not a Sunday, and 27 December is a bank holiday in a year in which 25 or 26 December is a Sunday. In 2026 Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so Monday 28 December is the substitute day. In 2027 Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday, so Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December are the substitute days.

The other dates follow fixed rules. Good Friday and Easter Monday move with Easter: in 2027 they are 26 and 29 March. The early May bank holiday is the first Monday in May, and the spring and summer bank holidays are the last Mondays in May and August. No day on the England and Wales list is set by a separate announcement each year, but a one-off bank holiday can be added by proclamation for a special occasion.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own lists. Easter Monday and the summer bank holiday on the last Monday in August apply in England and Wales but not in Scotland, while St Andrew's Day, 2 January and St Patrick's Day are not bank holidays in England and Wales.

A bank holiday is not an automatic right to a day off. GOV.UK states that an employer does not have to give paid leave on bank or public holidays. Days such as St George's Day (23 April) and St David's Day (1 March) are not bank holidays in England or Wales and are counted as ordinary working days on this site.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Every date for 2026 matches the official gov.uk bank holidays data, checked on 15 November 2026. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/80/section/1
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/80/schedule/1

How the counts are made