Bank holidays
Bank holidays 2027 in the UK
Choose your nation: the list shows every 2027 bank holiday, the next one counted down to the second, and a calendar file to save.
England and Wales have 8 bank holidays in 2027, Scotland 9 and Northern Ireland 10. The year opens with New Year's Day on Friday, 1 January 2027. Easter is early, so Good Friday falls on 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on 29 March 2027, still in March. May brings the early May bank holiday on 3 May 2027 and the spring bank holiday on 31 May 2027. The summer bank holiday is 30 August 2027 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but 2 August 2027 in Scotland. Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday, so both move: the substitute days are Monday 27 December 2027 and Tuesday 28 December 2027, which gives a four-day break from Christmas Day. The King appointed the New Year, early May and 28 December days for England, Wales and Northern Ireland by proclamation on 8 July 2026, along with the Twelfth of July holiday in Northern Ireland.
Days off from a few days of annual leave
Days off in a row
10
| From | 26 March 2027 |
| To | 4 April 2027 |
| Leave used | 4 days |
Book 30 March 2027, 31 March 2027, 1 April 2027, 2 April 2027.
Rules and dates checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
The 2027 list, side by side
The three jurisdictions share six days and differ on the rest. The table puts them in one place, with the weekday of each date and the reason a day moved. Every line comes from the bank holiday list published by GOV.UK, and the engine of this site gives exactly the same dates from the rules.
| Holiday | England and Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1 January 2027 | 1 January 2027 | 1 January 2027 |
| 2nd January | not a holiday | 4 January 2027 (substitute) | not a holiday |
| St Patrick's Day | not a holiday | not a holiday | 17 March 2027 |
| Good Friday | 26 March 2027 | 26 March 2027 | 26 March 2027 |
| Easter Monday | 29 March 2027 | not a holiday | 29 March 2027 |
| Early May | 3 May 2027 | 3 May 2027 | 3 May 2027 |
| Spring | 31 May 2027 | 31 May 2027 | 31 May 2027 |
| Battle of the Boyne | not a holiday | not a holiday | 12 July 2027 |
| Summer | 30 August 2027 | 2 August 2027 | 30 August 2027 |
| St Andrew's Day | not a holiday | 30 November 2027 | not a holiday |
| Christmas Day | 27 December 2027 (substitute) | 27 December 2027 (substitute) | 27 December 2027 (substitute) |
| Boxing Day | 28 December 2027 (substitute) | 28 December 2027 (substitute) | 28 December 2027 (substitute) |
What the July 2026 proclamation settled
Only part of the calendar is written in statute. Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 names Easter Monday, the last Mondays of May and August, and Boxing Day for England and Wales. New Year's Day and the early May Monday are not in the Schedule there: they are appointed each year by royal proclamation under section 1(3). Christmas Day and Good Friday are common-law holidays, older than any Act. On 8 July 2026 the King signed the proclamation for 2027, appointing Friday, 1 January 2027, Monday, 3 May 2027, Tuesday, 28 December 2027 as bank holidays in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Monday, 12 July 2027 in Northern Ireland, where the Battle of the Boyne holiday is appointed by proclamation every year rather than written in the Act. Scotland's proclamations come from the same Privy Council process and are listed on mygov.scot.
That is why a list for 2027 published before July 2026 could only be a forecast, however likely. Since the proclamation, the dates on this page are official. For 2029 and later, the tool above shows the rule's answer and labels it as not yet proclaimed.
Planning leave around the 2027 dates
An early Easter changes the shape of the year. With Good Friday in March, the gap between Easter Monday and the early May bank holiday is more than five weeks, and the stretch from the summer bank holiday to Christmas is the usual long autumn with nothing in between outside Scotland. The two Christmas substitutes are the most valuable days of the year: from Christmas Day, a Saturday, to Tuesday 28 December you are off four days in a row, and booking the three working days up to New Year's Eve gives ten days off, from 25 December 2027 to 3 January 2028, since the 2028 New Year holiday also moves to a Monday.
Bank holidays in a year, by nation
Bank holidays
8
| On a Monday | 5 |
| On a Friday | 2 |
| Long weekends | 7 |
| Substitute days | 2 |
England and Wales, 2027, as published by GOV.UK.
The simulator below the list finds the longest block of days off for a given number of leave days around Easter, the two May Mondays, August or Christmas, for your nation. It counts weekends and bank holidays only; your employer's own closure days, if any, add to the result.
Who actually closes
A bank holiday is not a legal right to a day off. It is a day on which banks may close and payments due fall to the next working day, under section 1(4) of the 1971 Act. Most offices close, schools are already on holiday at Easter and Christmas, and shops may open on bank holidays, although large stores in England and Wales must stay shut on Christmas Day and on Easter Sunday, which is not a bank holiday at all. Whether you are paid for the day, or must take it from your annual leave, depends on your contract: the bank holiday pay page explains the statutory minimum and how the days are usually counted.