UK Bank Holidays: Complete Guides for 2026 & 2027

England and Wales have 8 bank holidays per year: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May Bank Holiday, Spring Bank Holiday, Summer Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Scotland has 9 and Northern Ireland has 10.

No. England and Wales share the same 8 bank holidays, but Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own distinct calendars. Scotland observes 9 holidays including 2nd January and St Andrew's Day, but does not observe Easter Monday or Boxing Day. Northern Ireland observes 10 holidays including St Patrick's Day (17 March) and the Battle of the Boyne (12 July).

There is no statutory right to time off on bank holidays in the UK. Whether you must work depends on your employment contract. Many contracts give workers bank holidays off as part of annual leave entitlement, but this is not legally required. Check your contract's annual leave clause to confirm whether bank holidays are included within your 5.6 weeks or are additional to it.

In everyday speech the two terms are interchangeable. Technically, bank holidays are set by statute under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and originally applied to banks specifically. Public holiday is a broader term. In practice, every UK bank holiday functions as a public holiday and you will encounter both terms used to describe the same days.

When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, a substitute bank holiday is given on the following Monday — or in some cases Tuesday. For example, if Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, the substitute holiday is observed on Monday 27 December. In 2026, the Battle of the Boyne falls on Sunday 12 July; Northern Ireland observes the substitute on Monday 13 July.

The next bank holiday in England and Wales is the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday 25 May 2026. After that, the next is the Summer Bank Holiday on Monday 31 August 2026. In Scotland, the next bank holiday after 25 May is the Summer Bank Holiday on Monday 3 August 2026.

Expats working in the UK are subject to the same employment laws as UK nationals — your nationality and immigration status make no difference to your bank holiday entitlement. Whether you get bank holidays off depends on your employment contract, exactly as it does for any other worker. See our UK work contracts guide for more detail.

Yes, Good Friday is a bank holiday in Scotland, but Easter Monday is not. This is one of the key differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK. England, Wales and Northern Ireland observe both Good Friday and Easter Monday; Scotland observes only Good Friday.

St Andrew's Day on 30 November is Scotland's national day and is a bank holiday in Scotland under the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. It is not a bank holiday in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland. In 2026 it falls on a Monday.

Most large supermarkets and retailers are open on bank holidays, often with slightly reduced hours. Christmas Day is the main exception — most shops close entirely. Boxing Day, Easter and the May bank holidays generally see normal or slightly reduced trading. Check individual shop websites for specific hours before travelling.

Workers on zero-hours contracts are still entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday pay, calculated based on average pay over a 52-week reference period. Whether bank holidays are included within this entitlement or paid separately depends on the contract. Employers cannot legally treat zero-hours workers less favourably than comparable workers when it comes to holiday entitlement.

In theory, yes. UK bank holidays are set by statute and Royal Proclamation, not by constitutional guarantee, so Parliament retains the power to add, move, or remove them. The government has moved bank holidays on several occasions — most recently shifting the Spring Bank Holiday in 2022 to create a four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend. It has never cancelled a bank holiday entirely.