Christmas to New Year: Counting Working Days and Planning Shutdowns

Every December someone asks how many days of leave they need to be off from Christmas until the new year. The answer is different every year, different in every country, and sometimes different between two offices of the same company. The week between Christmas and New Year is where public holidays, weekends, substitute days and company customs all meet, so it is worth counting carefully.

Why the count changes every year

Christmas Day, Boxing Day or St Stephen's Day, and New Year's Day are fixed dates, so they move one weekday each year (two after a leap day). Three things decide the final count:

• Which days are public holidays. 25 December and 1 January are holidays in most countries that observe Christmas. 26 December is a holiday in many European and Commonwealth countries but not in the United States. 24 and 31 December are public holidays in only some countries, and in some only for part of the day.
• Whether weekend holidays are replaced. The UK, Ireland, Australia and others generally move a holiday that falls on a weekend to a weekday. Germany and many other countries do not.
• Company practice. Many employers close for the whole period, or give 24 and 31 December as extra days off. That is a contract matter, not a public holiday, so check your contract and local rules.

Worked example: the 2026 holiday period

In 2026, Christmas Eve is a Thursday, Christmas Day a Friday and Boxing Day a Saturday. New Year's Day 2027 is a Friday. Let us count the working days from Thursday 24 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027 for a Monday-to-Friday worker in two countries.

England and Wales

Christmas Day is Friday 25 December. Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December, so the substitute bank holiday is expected on Monday 28 December. New Year's Day is Friday 1 January. Confirm substitute days against the official list for the year.

Working days in the range: 24, 29, 30 and 31 December, which is 4. Book those four and you are off from Thursday 24 December to Sunday 3 January, 11 consecutive days.

Germany

Germany observes 25 and 26 December and 1 January as public holidays. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not public holidays nationally, although many employers give them off in full or in part. There is no substitute for 26 December falling on a Saturday.

Working days in the same range: 24, 28, 29, 30 and 31 December, which is 5. The same 11-day break costs one more day of leave than in England, simply because the Saturday holiday is not replaced. If an employer treats 24 and 31 December as free days, the count drops to 3.

You can run the same count for any country and range with the business days calculator.

How 2027 compares

In 2027, Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday. Countries with substitute rules typically move both to Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December, so in the UK the days in between can again be covered with only three days of leave. New Year's Day 2028 is a Saturday, so in the UK a substitute is expected on Monday 3 January 2028. In Germany, both Christmas holidays fall on the weekend in 2027 and are not replaced, so the whole of the following week is working time unless your employer closes. The pattern can swing from generous to sparse in a single year.

Planning a shutdown

Many organisations close between Christmas and New Year because demand is low and so many people want to be off. If you are planning one, a few decisions need to be made explicitly:

1. Count the days the closure costs. Using the 2026 England example, a closure from 24 December to 1 January covers four working days. Decide whether those come from annual leave, are given as extra paid days, or a mix. Any requirement to use leave for a closure depends on your contract and local rules, and often on how much notice is given.
2. Handle multiple countries separately. A shutdown across UK and German offices covers four working days in one and five in the other. Treating them identically will over- or under-charge one group.
3. Agree the skeleton crew. Payments, security, customer support and on-call engineering may need cover. Decide who, on what terms, and how they take the time back.
4. Tell people early. A closure announced in October lets people plan travel. One announced in December forces rebooking.
5. Check part-time and shift staff. People who do not work every weekday may be affected very differently by which days the holidays land on.

Deadlines that cross the holidays

Contract periods, notice periods and delivery dates that span late December often run out sooner or later than expected. If a supplier promises delivery "in 10 business days" from 18 December 2026 in England, the count skips 25 and 28 December and 1 January as well as weekends. Counting forward: 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 December, then 4, 5, 6 January. The tenth business day is Wednesday 6 January 2027, not the last week of December. The add business days tool does this for you, and is useful when two parties in different countries are counting the same deadline.

Teams in several countries

For a team spread across the UK, Germany and the United States, the end of December is uneven. The United States does not have 26 December as a federal holiday, so American colleagues may be working on a day when European offices are closed, and vice versa for substitute days. Laying the calendars side by side, for instance with the team overlap tool, shows which days genuinely have everyone available.

Checklist for the end of the year

• List the public holidays from 24 December to 1 January for every location you manage.
• Check substitute rules where a holiday falls on a weekend.
• Count the working days left in the range, location by location.
• Decide how any shutdown is charged and confirm it against contracts.
• Recalculate any deadline that crosses the period in business days.
• Publish the plan by early autumn so people can book travel. 

Related: Spain Public Holidays