UK Bank Holidays 2026

When a bank holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, the day off in lieu — the “substitute day” — moves to the next Monday (or Tuesday if the Monday is already a bank holiday). The substitute day, not the original date, is the bank holiday for legal and contractual purposes.

All substitute days on this page are flagged. The underlying data comes from the official gov.uk feed, which calculates substitutes authoritatively.

Every bank holiday above that falls on a weekday removes a working day from the year for the region that observes it. That is why the three regions can have different working-day totals for 2026, and why a deadline counted in working days has to use the right regional calendar. Bank holidays are not, in themselves, a right to paid time off — whether staff get the day depends on their contract — but they do pause BACS and CHAPS payment processing, so pay runs and supplier payments scheduled around them need to be brought forward.

To see the working-day count for 2026 in full, visit the 2026 working days breakdown. For the background to the rules, read UK bank holidays explained, or see how to handle bank holidays in payroll for the payroll detail.