May Bank Holidays 2026: Dates for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

May 2026 bank holidays at a glance

May is the most bank holiday-dense month in the UK calendar. With two separate public holidays — the Early May bank holiday on 4 May and the Spring bank holiday on 25 May — most workers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland receive two three-day weekends within the same month. Unlike many other UK bank holidays, both May dates are identical across all four nations in 2026.

The Early May bank holiday has now passed. The Spring bank holiday on Monday 25 May 2026 is the next UK-wide bank holiday. After that, the next bank holiday in England and Wales is the Summer bank holiday on Monday 31 August. In Scotland the Summer bank holiday falls earlier, on Monday 3 August.

Spring bank holiday — Monday 25 May 2026

The Spring bank holiday always falls on the last Monday of May. In 2026 that is 25 May. It is observed across all four UK nations on the same date. It is sometimes called the Whitsun holiday — a name that traces its origins to Whit Monday, the Monday after Whit Sunday (Pentecost), which was a traditional public holiday in England before the banking holiday system was modernised under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

The Spring bank holiday creates a three-day weekend from Saturday 23 May to Monday 25 May. For most workers with standard Monday-to-Friday contracts, this is a paid day off. For those who can take annual leave around it, the preceding week of 18–22 May is one of the most efficient annual leave opportunities of the year: five days of annual leave from 18–22 May, combined with the bank holiday on 25 May, creates a ten-day break from Saturday 16 May to Monday 25 May.

The Spring bank holiday is normally fixed to the last Monday of May, but the government has moved it in exceptional years. In 2002 it was moved for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and in 2022 it was shifted from 30 May to 2 June to create a four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend. No such change applies in 2026 — the date is confirmed as 25 May.

Early May bank holiday — Monday 4 May 2026 (passed)

The Early May bank holiday always falls on the first Monday of May. In 2026 that was 4 May. It was observed across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on the same date. The holiday was introduced in 1978 and replaced the old Whit Monday observance, which had moved around the calendar depending on Easter.

Despite the name, the Early May bank holiday does not always fall on 1 May — it falls on whichever Monday is first in May, which ranges between 1 May and 7 May depending on the year. In 2026, 1 May fell on a Friday, making the first Monday 4 May.

Both May 2026 bank holidays fell on Mondays, which made them particularly valuable for workers planning annual leave. The first long weekend ran from Saturday 2 May to Monday 4 May. Taking Tuesday 5 May as annual leave extended it to a four-day break from Saturday to Tuesday. Taking the full week of 5–8 May as annual leave created a nine-day break using only four days of leave.

Bank holidays by nation: how May 2026 compares

Both May bank holidays fall on the same dates in all four UK nations in 2026. This makes May unusual — most other bank holidays diverge between nations, sometimes significantly. The table below shows how the May dates fit into each nation's full 2026 bank holiday calendar, and where the differences appear elsewhere in the year.

Scotland's bank holidays

Scotland has 9 bank holidays in 2026, one more than England and Wales. The additional dates are 2 January (a second New Year bank holiday) and St Andrew's Day on 30 November. Scotland also observes its Summer bank holiday on the first Monday in August — Monday 3 August 2026 — which is four weeks earlier than the equivalent in England and Wales (31 August). The two May bank holidays are among the few dates shared identically with the rest of the UK.

Scotland also has a distinct income tax system: the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) sets different income tax bands from the rest of the UK. This has no bearing on bank holiday entitlement but is relevant context for expats employed in Scotland — your employment contract and payslip calculations will reflect Scottish tax rates rather than the standard UK rates if you are employed and resident in Scotland.

Northern Ireland's bank holidays

Northern Ireland has 10 bank holidays in 2026 — the most of any UK nation. The two additional dates are St Patrick's Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day), which in 2026 falls on Monday 13 July (the traditional date of 12 July moves to the nearest weekday when it falls on a weekend). These two dates have no equivalent in England, Wales, or Scotland. All other bank holidays, including both May dates, are shared.

Wales

Wales shares the same 8 bank holidays as England. St David's Day on 1 March is not a UK bank holiday. It is celebrated as Wales's national day but is not a statutory day off. There have been recurring political discussions about making St David's Day a bank holiday in Wales, but as of 2026 no change has been made. Both May bank holidays apply identically in Wales.

Bank holidays and work: pay, substitution, and contracts

There is no automatic legal right to take bank holidays off in the UK, and there is no automatic legal right to extra pay for working them. Whether the May bank holidays give you a paid day off, a day in lieu, enhanced pay, or nothing extra at all depends entirely on your employment contract.

How bank holidays interact with annual leave

UK employees are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks' annual leave per year (28 days for a full-time five-day-week worker). Employers may — and many do — include the 8 bank holidays within that 28-day figure. Others grant bank holidays as additional days on top. Both approaches are legal. Your contract must specify which applies.

If your contract says "25 days plus bank holidays," the two May bank holidays are paid days off on top of your 25 days. If it states a single total figure such as "33 days," bank holidays are likely already included and you do not receive them separately. If your contract was issued by an employer headquartered outside the UK, check explicitly whether it references UK bank holidays — some international employer contracts default to the bank holiday calendar of another country.

Part-time workers and bank holidays

Part-time workers are entitled to bank holidays on a pro-rata basis, under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. You cannot be treated less favourably than a comparable full-time worker simply because of your hours.

The key point: if a bank holiday falls on a day you do not normally work, your employer must still credit you with the pro-rata equivalent in additional leave. They cannot treat the bank holiday as applying only on the days it physically falls. For example, if a full-time worker receives 8 bank holidays per year and you work three days per week (0.6 FTE), your bank holiday entitlement is 4.8 days per year, which your employer must incorporate into your leave allowance regardless of which days the bank holidays fall on.

Zero-hours contracts and bank holidays

Workers on zero-hours contracts accrue annual leave — including bank holiday entitlement — at a rate of 12.07% of hours worked under the rolled-up holiday pay rules confirmed by the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and subsequent ACAS guidance. Zero-hours workers are not guaranteed time off on bank holidays, and they have no right to a day off on 4 May or 25 May unless their contract specifies it. However, if they work on those days, the hours still count towards leave accrual at the standard rate.

Substitution days: if your employer requires you to work a bank holiday

There is no statutory right to a substitute day off if you work a bank holiday, but many contracts include one. If your contract gives you bank holidays as part of your leave entitlement and your employer requires you to work on 25 May, they will typically need to offer you a replacement day off at another time. If your contract requires you to work bank holidays as normal working days and does not provide a substitute, there is no additional entitlement unless your contract separately provides enhanced pay for bank holiday working.

Why does the UK have two bank holidays in May?

The two May bank holidays are the result of separate decisions made at different points in the history of the UK bank holiday system. The Spring bank holiday was established under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 as a replacement for Whit Monday — the traditional day off associated with Whitsuntide, the week following Whit Sunday (Pentecost). Whit Monday was a moveable feast tied to the date of Easter, which meant it fell on different dates each year. By fixing the Spring bank holiday to the last Monday of May, the 1971 Act gave it a predictable date regardless of when Easter fell.

The Early May bank holiday was added separately in 1978 by the Callaghan Labour government. The decision had two drivers. The first was administrative: Britain was one of the few Western European countries without a public holiday in the first half of May, creating an unusually long gap in the calendar between Easter and the late May holiday. The second was political: the date was chosen in partial recognition of the international tradition of May Day — observed on 1 May across much of continental Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as a workers' and labour rights holiday. By fixing the British version to the first Monday of May rather than 1 May itself, the government ensured the holiday always created a long weekend rather than potentially falling mid-week. The Conservative opposition opposed the measure, and there have been periodic proposals since to either abolish it, move it to a different date, or rename it — none has succeeded.

The two holidays have coexisted ever since, giving England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland two of their eight (or nine, or ten) annual bank holidays in the same month — the highest concentration of any calendar month.

What this means in practice

May stands out in the UK working calendar in a way that is useful to understand from your first year here. Two bank holidays in the same month, both on Mondays, both shared across every nation — it is the most straightforward and universally applicable part of the bank holiday calendar. There are no substitute days, no nation-specific exceptions, no quirks that apply only to certain regions. With the Early May bank holiday now passed, attention turns to 25 May and the Spring bank holiday, which this year also marks the start of the school half-term period for most families.

For expats who come from countries with more public holidays overall, May's two long weekends may not seem exceptional. For those arriving from countries with fewer, or with holidays distributed less conveniently through the year, the two May weekends — and particularly the way they interact with the school calendar — are worth knowing about from the moment you start planning your annual leave. The UK's bank holiday calendar has its own internal logic, and May is the month where that logic is most straightforward.

If the Spring bank holiday is your first in the UK, it is also worth knowing that bank holidays in England have no religious or national day significance in themselves — they are secular working-calendar events rooted in 19th-century banking legislation and 20th-century employment policy. For more context on working life in the UK, including how annual leave, employment rights, and public holidays fit together, see the Working in the UK section. For everything involved in planning or completing a move here, the UK Relocation Guide covers the process from start to finish.