United Kingdom public holidays 2026
United Kingdom has 5 national public holidays in 2026. Take those and the weekends out of the calendar and 256 working days remain.
Holiday list for 2026
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day | GB-ENG, GB-NIR, GB-SCT, GB-WLS |
| 2 Jan | Friday | 2 January | GB-SCT |
| 17 Mar | Tuesday | Saint Patrick's Day | GB-NIR |
| 3 Apr | Friday | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| 6 Apr | Monday | Easter Monday | GB-ENG, GB-WLS, GB-NIR |
| 4 May | Monday | Early May Bank Holiday | Nationwide |
| 25 May | Monday | Spring Bank Holiday | Nationwide |
| 15 Jun | Monday | World Cup Bank Holiday | GB-SCT |
| 13 Jul | Monday | Battle of the Boyne | GB-NIR |
| 3 Aug | Monday | Summer Bank Holiday | GB-SCT |
| 31 Aug | Monday | Summer Bank Holiday | GB-ENG, GB-WLS, GB-NIR |
| 30 Nov | Monday | Saint Andrew's Day | GB-SCT |
| 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| 28 Dec | Monday | St. Stephen's Day
Boxing Day |
Nationwide |
The 9 regional dates above are observed only in part of the country and are left out of every national total on this page.
2026 at a glance
January
February
March
April 1 holiday
May 2 holidays
June
July
August
September
October
November
December 2 holidays
Working days in each month
| Month | Days | Weekend | Holidays | Working | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 160 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 0 | 23 | 184 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 168 |
| 2026 | 365 | 104 | 5 | 256 | 2,048 |
What the numbers say about United Kingdom in 2026
The count uses Saturday and Sunday as the weekly rest days, the standard pattern in United Kingdom. Only holidays that apply across the whole country are deducted. Someone working in a region with its own extra days will have a little more time off than these figures show.
July is the longest working month with 23 days, and May the shortest with 19. A gap of 4 days is enough to make a fixed monthly target noticeably harder in some months than in others. Across quarters, Q2 is the leanest at 62 working days (April, May, June).
Among the 204 countries we track for 2026, the median number of national holidays is 12. With 5, United Kingdom sits below the middle of the range, around the 5th percentile (the lowest count this year is 3, the highest 49).
Holidays create 4 stretches of three or more days off in a row. The longest lasts 4 days, from 25 December to 28 December (Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day). See every long weekend in 2026.
How holidays work in United Kingdom
There is no single bank holiday calendar for the United Kingdom. England and Wales share one, Scotland has its own, and so does Northern Ireland. Scotland adds 2 January; Northern Ireland adds 17 March and 12 July; and the summer bank holiday is at the start of August in Scotland but at the end of August in the rest of the UK.
When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, a weekday is substituted, which keeps the number of working days fairly constant across years.
A bank holiday is not automatically a paid day off. Whether someone gets it depends on their contract, and many people in retail, hospitality and healthcare are expected to work. These figures describe the calendar, not what any particular employee is entitled to.