Also on Bank Holidays UK: Easter 2027: Sunday 28 March – dates, school holidays, clocks · Every long weekend in 2027 · Christmas bank holidays 2027: Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December
The UK has 13 bank holiday dates in 2027 — 8 in England and Wales, 9 in Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland. Easter Sunday 2027 is 28 March, so the whole Easter weekend — Good Friday 26 March to Easter Monday 29 March — falls in March for the first time since 2016. The year opens with New Year’s Day on a Friday and closes with Christmas Day and Boxing Day both moved into the following week — Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December — because 25 December is a Saturday.
UK bank holidays 2027: the full list
Every bank holiday date observed anywhere in the UK in 2027, in order. A tick means the date is a statutory bank holiday in that nation.
| Date | Bank holiday | Eng & Wales | Scotland | N. Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 Jan | New Year’s Day | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mon 4 Jan | 2nd January (substitute day) | — | ✓ | — |
| Wed 17 Mar | St Patrick’s Day | — | — | ✓ |
| Fri 26 Mar | Good Friday | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mon 29 Mar | Easter Monday | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Mon 3 May | Early May bank holiday | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mon 31 May | Spring bank holiday | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mon 12 Jul | Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day) | — | — | ✓ |
| Mon 2 Aug | Summer bank holiday | — | ✓ | — |
| Mon 30 Aug | Summer bank holiday | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Tue 30 Nov | St Andrew’s Day | — | ✓ | — |
| Mon 27 Dec | Christmas Day (substitute day) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tue 28 Dec | Boxing Day (substitute day) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Two dates in this table are substitute days. A substitute day is created when a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday: the day off moves to the next working day so that the number of holidays in the year is preserved. In 2027 that applies to Christmas Day and Boxing Day across the UK, and to Scotland’s 2 January holiday.
Need the dates in your own calendar? Download the 2027 England & Wales dates as an .ics file (opens in Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple Calendar) or print this page — the tables are formatted to fit on two A4 sheets.
Easter 2027: Friday 26 to Monday 29 March
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on 28 March — the earliest Easter since 2016; the next one this early is in 2032. The Easter bank holidays are therefore Good Friday, 26 March (whole UK) and Easter Monday, 29 March (England, Wales and Northern Ireland only). Easter Sunday itself is never a bank holiday: it is a Sunday.
| Day | Date | Bank holiday? |
|---|---|---|
| Good Friday | Friday 26 March 2027 | Yes — England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 28 March 2027 | No (a Sunday). Clocks go forward one hour at 1am |
| Easter Monday | Monday 29 March 2027 | Yes — England, Wales, Northern Ireland. Not Scotland |
Easter school holidays 2027. Term dates are set locally, but the pattern is clear for 2027: in England most councils break up on Thursday 25 March and return on Monday 12 April (Birmingham, Kent and Manchester all follow that calendar); Wales has a single national calendar — spring term ends Friday 19 March and summer term starts Monday 5 April; Northern Ireland’s Easter break runs Thursday 25 March to Friday 2 April; Scottish councils mostly treat Good Friday and Easter Monday as days off and take a separate two-week spring break in April (Edinburgh: 5–19 April). Full detail, council by council, in our Easter 2027 guide.
Also worth knowing: Orthodox Easter is five weeks later, on Sunday 2 May 2027; Passover begins at sunset on Wednesday 21 April (see Jewish holidays 2026–2028); and Easter 2028 is late — Sunday 16 April, with Good Friday on 14 April and Easter Monday on 17 April 2028 (all 2028 dates).
Bank holidays 2027 by nation
England and Wales — 8 bank holidays
England and Wales share the same list. There is no separate Welsh bank holiday: St David’s Day (1 March) is widely marked but has never been made statutory. See our England and Wales pages for the detail.
| # | Date | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 1 January | New Year’s Day |
| 2 | Friday 26 March | Good Friday |
| 3 | Monday 29 March | Easter Monday |
| 4 | Monday 3 May | Early May bank holiday |
| 5 | Monday 31 May | Spring bank holiday |
| 6 | Monday 30 August | Summer bank holiday |
| 7 | Monday 27 December | Christmas Day (substitute day) |
| 8 | Tuesday 28 December | Boxing Day (substitute day) |
Scotland — 9 bank holidays
Scotland trades Easter Monday for two of its own: the 2 January holiday and St Andrew’s Day. It also takes its Summer bank holiday at the start of August rather than the end. Note that in Scotland most bank holidays are set by local authorities and banks rather than by statute, so individual employers and councils vary more than in the rest of the UK. Full detail on the Scotland 2027 page.
| # | Date | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 1 January | New Year’s Day |
| 2 | Monday 4 January | 2nd January (substitute day) |
| 3 | Friday 26 March | Good Friday |
| 4 | Monday 3 May | Early May bank holiday |
| 5 | Monday 31 May | Spring bank holiday |
| 6 | Monday 2 August | Summer bank holiday |
| 7 | Tuesday 30 November | St Andrew’s Day |
| 8 | Monday 27 December | Christmas Day (substitute day) |
| 9 | Tuesday 28 December | Boxing Day (substitute day) |
Northern Ireland — 10 bank holidays
Northern Ireland has the longest list in the UK, adding St Patrick’s Day and the Battle of the Boyne to the England and Wales set. See the Northern Ireland 2027 page.
| # | Date | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 1 January | New Year’s Day |
| 2 | Wednesday 17 March | St Patrick’s Day |
| 3 | Friday 26 March | Good Friday |
| 4 | Monday 29 March | Easter Monday |
| 5 | Monday 3 May | Early May bank holiday |
| 6 | Monday 31 May | Spring bank holiday |
| 7 | Monday 12 July | Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day) |
| 8 | Monday 30 August | Summer bank holiday |
| 9 | Monday 27 December | Christmas Day (substitute day) |
| 10 | Tuesday 28 December | Boxing Day (substitute day) |
2027 bank holidays month by month
Seven months of 2027 have no bank holiday at all in England and Wales — February, April, June, July, September, October and November — and only Scotland (St Andrew’s Day) and Northern Ireland (Battle of the Boyne) break that run. Where a month has its own guide, the link takes you there.
| Month | England & Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Fri 1 — New Year’s Day | Fri 1 — New Year’s Day; Mon 4 — 2nd January (substitute) | Fri 1 — New Year’s Day |
| February | None | None | None |
| March | Fri 26 — Good Friday; Mon 29 — Easter Monday | Fri 26 — Good Friday | Wed 17 — St Patrick’s Day; Fri 26 — Good Friday; Mon 29 — Easter Monday |
| April | None (Easter is in March this year) | None | None |
| May | Mon 3 — Early May; Mon 31 — Spring | Mon 3 — Early May; Mon 31 — Spring | Mon 3 — Early May; Mon 31 — Spring |
| June | None | None | None |
| July | None | None | Mon 12 — Battle of the Boyne |
| August | Mon 30 — Summer bank holiday | Mon 2 — Summer bank holiday | Mon 30 — Summer bank holiday |
| September | None | None | None |
| October | None (clocks go back Sun 31 Oct) | None | None |
| November | None | Tue 30 — St Andrew’s Day | None |
| December | Mon 27 — Christmas Day (substitute); Tue 28 — Boxing Day (substitute) | Mon 27; Tue 28 | Mon 27; Tue 28 |
What makes 2027 unusual
Easter is early — 26 to 29 March
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on 28 March, the earliest since 2016. Good Friday lands on Friday 26 March and Easter Monday on Monday 29 March. Two knock-on quirks worth knowing. First, Easter Sunday 2027 is also the day the clocks go forward — British Summer Time starts on the last Sunday in March, which in 2027 is 28 March, so the Easter weekend loses an hour. Second, the gap between Easter Monday and the Early May bank holiday stretches to exactly five weeks. Everything else about the weekend — school holidays by nation, shop opening, leave planning, why the date moves — is on our Easter 2027 page.
Christmas and Boxing Day both move
25 December 2027 is a Saturday and 26 December a Sunday. The statutory days off therefore become Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December. If your contract specifies “Christmas Day and Boxing Day” rather than “the bank holidays”, check which one your employer is applying — it is the single most common source of December payroll disputes. Our guides to bank holiday entitlement and bank holiday pay cover the rules.
Scotland’s 2 January slips to the 4th
2 January 2027 is a Saturday, so Scotland’s second New Year holiday is observed on Monday 4 January. Combined with New Year’s Day on the Friday, Scotland starts 2027 with a four-day weekend.
Two Northern Ireland holidays land well
The Battle of the Boyne falls naturally on Monday 12 July 2027, so no substitute day is needed. St Patrick’s Day, however, is a Wednesday — a midweek day off rather than a long weekend.
Is it a bank holiday? Quick checks for 2027
The dates people most often ask about, answered for England and Wales unless stated.
- Saturday 2 January 2027 — no. In Scotland the 2 January holiday moves to Monday 4 January; elsewhere it is an ordinary Saturday.
- Monday 1 March 2027 (St David’s Day) — no, in Wales or anywhere else.
- Wednesday 17 March 2027 (St Patrick’s Day) — Northern Ireland only.
- Sunday 28 March 2027 (Easter Sunday) — no; it is a Sunday. Good Friday 26 March and Easter Monday 29 March are the bank holidays.
- Monday 29 March 2027 (Easter Monday) — yes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; a normal working day in Scotland.
- Friday 2 April 2027 — no. People confuse it with 2026, when Good Friday fell on 3 April.
- Friday 24 December 2027 (Christmas Eve) — no. Christmas Eve is never a bank holiday.
- Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 December 2027 — Christmas Day and Boxing Day themselves, but not working days, so the bank holidays move.
- Monday 27 December 2027 — yes, the substitute day for Christmas Day, whole UK.
- Tuesday 28 December 2027 — yes, the substitute day for Boxing Day, whole UK.
- Friday 31 December 2027 (New Year’s Eve) — no.
- Monday 3 January 2028 — yes: New Year’s Day 2028 is a Saturday, so its substitute day is Monday 3 January (and Tuesday 4 January in Scotland). See bank holidays 2028.
Long weekends in 2027
Bank holidays that sit next to a weekend without any annual leave at all:
| Period | Where | Days off | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 – Sun 3 Jan | All UK | 3 | New Year’s Day on a Friday |
| Fri 1 – Mon 4 Jan | Scotland | 4 | Plus the 2 January substitute day |
| Fri 26 – Mon 29 Mar | Eng, Wales, NI | 4 | Good Friday + Easter Monday |
| Fri 26 – Sun 28 Mar | Scotland | 3 | Good Friday only — no Easter Monday |
| Sat 1 – Mon 3 May | All UK | 3 | Early May bank holiday |
| Sat 29 – Mon 31 May | All UK | 3 | Spring bank holiday |
| Sat 10 – Mon 12 Jul | N. Ireland | 3 | Battle of the Boyne |
| Sat 31 Jul – Mon 2 Aug | Scotland | 3 | Scottish Summer bank holiday |
| Sat 28 – Mon 30 Aug | Eng, Wales, NI | 3 | Summer bank holiday |
| Sat 25 – Tue 28 Dec | All UK | 4 | Both Christmas holidays substituted into the week |
Every one of these, with the dates to book around them, is on the long weekends 2027 planner.
How to stretch your 2027 annual leave
The classic bank holiday arithmetic: book the working days around a holiday and the weekends do the rest. These are the best-value bookings in 2027 for England and Wales.
| Book these days | Leave used | You get off | Total days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 29 – Fri 31 December | 3 | Sat 25 Dec 2027 → Mon 3 Jan 2028 | 10 |
| Mon 22 – Thu 25 March | 4 | Sat 20 → Mon 29 March | 10 |
| Tue 30 March – Fri 2 April | 4 | Fri 26 March → Sun 4 April | 10 |
| Tue 4 – Fri 7 May | 4 | Sat 1 → Sun 9 May | 9 |
| Tue 1 – Fri 4 June | 4 | Sat 29 May → Sun 6 June | 9 |
| Tue 31 Aug – Fri 3 September | 4 | Sat 28 Aug → Sun 5 September | 9 |
The best single booking of 2027. Three days of leave (29, 30 and 31 December) buys ten consecutive days off, because Christmas and Boxing Day are substituted to 27 and 28 December and New Year’s Day 2028 falls on a Saturday — pushing its substitute holiday to Monday 3 January 2028.
The long gaps in 2027
Bank holidays are not spread evenly across the year. In England and Wales, 2027 has two long droughts:
- 119 days — from Monday 30 August (Summer bank holiday) to Monday 27 December (Christmas Day). The familiar autumn stretch with no day off at all.
- 91 days — from Monday 31 May (Spring bank holiday) to Monday 30 August (Summer bank holiday).
Scotland breaks the summer gap earlier with its 2 August holiday and again with St Andrew’s Day on 30 November; Northern Ireland breaks it with the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July.
For payroll and project planning: 2027 has 261 weekdays, so 253 working days in England and Wales once the 8 bank holidays are taken out (252 in Scotland, 251 in Northern Ireland). 2026 also has 253; 2028, a leap year starting on a Saturday, has 252.
2026, 2027 and 2028 compared
The eight England and Wales bank holidays never change — only the weekdays they land on do. Dates marked * are substitute days.
| Bank holiday | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thu 1 Jan | Fri 1 Jan | Mon 3 Jan * |
| Good Friday | Fri 3 Apr | Fri 26 Mar | Fri 14 Apr |
| Easter Sunday (not a bank holiday) | Sun 5 Apr | Sun 28 Mar | Sun 16 Apr |
| Easter Monday | Mon 6 Apr | Mon 29 Mar | Mon 17 Apr |
| Early May bank holiday | Mon 4 May | Mon 3 May | Mon 1 May |
| Spring bank holiday | Mon 25 May | Mon 31 May | Mon 29 May |
| Summer bank holiday | Mon 31 Aug | Mon 30 Aug | Mon 28 Aug |
| Christmas Day | Fri 25 Dec | Mon 27 Dec * | Mon 25 Dec |
| Boxing Day | Mon 28 Dec * | Tue 28 Dec * | Tue 26 Dec |
Full calendars: 2026 · 2028 · 2029 · 2025. See also the next bank holiday and how many bank holidays the UK has.
Pay, time off and working on a 2027 bank holiday
A bank holiday is not automatically a paid day off in the UK. There is no statutory right to time off on a bank holiday, and no statutory right to enhanced pay for working one. What you get depends entirely on your contract of employment — the law only guarantees 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave, and an employer is allowed to count the bank holidays inside that allowance.
- Bank holiday pay — what you are owed, and when time-and-a-half is contractual rather than legal.
- Bank holiday entitlement — how the 5.6 weeks is calculated, including part-time pro rata.
- Working on bank holidays — whether you can refuse, and what happens with substitute days.
- Bank holiday pay calculator.
The December 2027 substitution deserves particular attention. Because the statutory days off are Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December, employees whose contracts name “Christmas Day and Boxing Day” specifically may be treated differently from those whose contracts refer to “public and bank holidays”. Clarify it with your employer before the December payroll cut-off.
Each 2027 bank holiday in detail
- New Year’s Day — Friday 1 January 2027
- 2 January (Scotland) — Monday 4 January 2027 (substitute)
- St Patrick’s Day (NI) — Wednesday 17 March 2027
- Good Friday — Friday 26 March 2027
- Easter Monday — Monday 29 March 2027
- Early May bank holiday — Monday 3 May 2027
- Spring bank holiday — Monday 31 May 2027
- Battle of the Boyne (NI) — Monday 12 July 2027
- Summer bank holiday — Monday 2 August (Scotland) / Monday 30 August 2027
- St Andrew’s Day (Scotland) — Tuesday 30 November 2027
- Christmas Day — observed Monday 27 December 2027
- Boxing Day — observed Tuesday 28 December 2027
2027 guides by nation and by holiday
Each of these guides takes one part of the 2027 calendar and goes further than the table above: substitute days, leave-planning maths, and what is open.
- By nation: England 2027 (8 bank holidays) · Wales 2027 · Scotland 2027 (9) · Northern Ireland 2027 (10)
- By holiday: New Year 2027 · St Patrick’s Day 2027 · Easter 2027 · May bank holidays 2027 · Battle of the Boyne 2027 · August bank holiday 2027 · St Andrew’s Day 2027 · Christmas bank holidays 2027
- Planning: Every long weekend in 2027 · Schools and bank holidays · Jewish holidays 2026–2028 and UK working days
What is open on a 2027 bank holiday
The pattern does not change from year to year: banks and most public offices close, large shops in England and Wales are restricted to six hours’ trading on Sundays but trade normally on bank holiday Mondays, and services run to a Sunday timetable. The exceptions worth checking are Royal Mail (no deliveries), bin collections (usually shifted a day), parking rules, GP surgeries and bank branches. Easter Sunday is the one day with its own rule: large shops in England and Wales must close under the Sunday Trading Act 1994 — see shops open on bank holidays.
Frequently asked questions about 2027 bank holidays
How many bank holidays are there in 2027?
There are 8 bank holidays in England and Wales in 2027, 9 in Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland. Across the UK as a whole that is 13 distinct dates, because Scotland and Northern Ireland each have holidays the others do not.
When is the first bank holiday of 2027?
Friday 1 January 2027 — New Year’s Day, observed across the whole UK. It falls on a Friday, so 2027 opens with a three-day weekend (four days in Scotland, where the 2 January holiday is moved to Monday 4 January).
When is Easter 2027?
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on 28 March. Good Friday is Friday 26 March and Easter Monday is Monday 29 March. That makes it the earliest Easter since 2016. Good Friday is a bank holiday across the whole UK; Easter Monday is a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland.
When is Good Friday 2027?
Friday 26 March 2027. It is a bank holiday in all four UK nations.
Is Easter Sunday 2027 a bank holiday?
No. Easter Sunday (28 March 2027) is a Sunday and is never a bank holiday. It is, however, the one day of the year on which large shops in England and Wales must stay closed. The clocks also go forward at 1am that morning.
When are the Easter school holidays in 2027?
There is no national date in England: most councils end the spring term on Thursday 25 March 2027 and start the summer term on Monday 12 April (Birmingham, Kent and Manchester all do). Wales has a single calendar — Friday 19 March to Monday 5 April. Northern Ireland’s Easter break is Thursday 25 March to Friday 2 April. Scottish councils generally close on Good Friday and Easter Monday and take a separate April break (Edinburgh: 5–19 April). Check your school’s own calendar; academies can differ. Full detail on our Easter 2027 page.
Why is Christmas Day 2027 shown as 27 December?
Christmas Day 2027 falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday. Under the standard substitution rule the days off move to the next working days, so the bank holidays are Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December 2027. The 25th and 26th are still Christmas Day and Boxing Day — they are simply not the statutory days off.
Is 2 January 2027 a bank holiday?
Not as such: 2 January 2027 is a Saturday. In Scotland, where 2 January is a bank holiday, the day off moves to Monday 4 January 2027. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there is no 2 January holiday in any year.
When is the Spring bank holiday 2027?
Monday 31 May 2027, the last Monday in May, across the whole UK.
When is the August bank holiday 2027?
Monday 30 August 2027 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — the last Monday in August. Scotland’s Summer bank holiday is earlier: Monday 2 August 2027, the first Monday in August.
Does Scotland get extra bank holidays in 2027?
Yes. Scotland has 9 bank holidays in 2027: it adds the 2 January holiday (moved to Monday 4 January because 2 January falls on a Saturday) and St Andrew’s Day on Tuesday 30 November, but it does not observe Easter Monday.
How many bank holidays does Northern Ireland have in 2027?
Ten — the eight observed in England and Wales, plus St Patrick’s Day on Wednesday 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne on Monday 12 July 2027.
When is the last bank holiday of 2027?
Tuesday 28 December 2027, the substitute day for Boxing Day, across the whole UK. The next one after that is Monday 3 January 2028, the substitute day for New Year’s Day.
How many working days are there in 2027?
253 in England and Wales: 2027 has 261 weekdays and 8 bank holidays. Scotland has 252 and Northern Ireland 251.
Are the 2027 bank holiday dates confirmed?
Yes. All 2027 dates on this page are taken directly from the official GOV.UK bank holidays dataset. Fixed-date and Easter-linked holidays are set by law and by Royal Proclamation; the only dates that could still change are one-off additional holidays, which are announced separately and are rare. As of November 2026 no extra bank holiday has been announced for 2027.
How long is the gap between bank holidays in 2027?
The longest stretch without a bank holiday in England and Wales runs 119 days, from Monday 30 August to Monday 27 December. The second longest is 91 days, from Monday 31 May to Monday 30 August.
When is Easter 2028?
Easter Sunday 2028 is 16 April — nearly three weeks later than in 2027. Good Friday 2028 is Friday 14 April and Easter Monday is Monday 17 April. See UK bank holidays 2028.