Bank holidays 2026 in the UK

The 2026 list in each nation

The three lists below are the ones published by GOV.UK. The tool at the top of the page shows the same dates with a countdown; these tables are here so that the whole year can be read, copied or printed at once.

What made 2026 different

Two things. First, the Scottish World Cup holiday on 15 June 2026, which took Scotland to 10 days. One-off holidays are appointed by royal proclamation under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, the same way the coronation and jubilee days were in 2022 and 2023. Second, the Twelfth of July fell on a Sunday, so the Northern Ireland holiday moved to Monday, 13 July 2026. The rest of the year followed the usual pattern.

Easter on 5 April 2026 was close to its average date, so the gap from Easter Monday to the early May holiday was four weeks. In 2027 Easter comes a week earlier, on 28 March 2027, and the gap grows to five weeks. The 2027 page sets the two years side by side.

Long weekends in 2026

Every bank holiday on a Monday or a Friday makes a three-day weekend. In England and Wales 2026 had three such Mondays, in May and August, plus the four-day Easter weekend, and Christmas gives another four days: from Friday 25 to Monday 28 December. With three days of annual leave on 29, 30 and 31 December, the break runs from Christmas Day to Sunday 3 January 2027, ten days for three days of leave. The Christmas bank holidays page gives the same calculation for each year and each nation.

Scotland had one more long weekend than England and Wales, starting on Friday 2 January, and a fifth Monday off in June. Northern Ireland had St Patrick's Day on a Tuesday, which many people bridged with a day of leave on the Monday.

Checking a date before you rely on it

Banks, Royal Mail and government offices follow the official list; shops and many private employers set their own hours. If you need to know whether a payment due on a bank holiday is made early or late, ask your bank: the Act only says that a bank holiday is not a business day for bills and payments. For time off, your contract decides; the bank holiday pay page explains the statutory minimum. Northern Ireland employers often publish their own list on nidirect, and Scottish councils publish local holidays alongside the national list on mygov.scot.