Public holidays

how many uk public holidays

In ordinary English search, public holidays in the UK means bank holidays: the weekdays appointed so that banks and many public offices close. England and Wales share one list. In 2026 that list has eight days. Scotland keeps a different list and, in a typical year, more of them. Northern Ireland keeps a different list again, including dates the other nations do not mark as bank holidays. There is no single UK-wide total that is true in London, Glasgow, and Belfast at once.

The eight in England and Wales in 2026 are New Year’s Day (1 January), Good Friday (3 April), Easter Monday (6 April), the Early May bank holiday (4 May), the Spring bank holiday (25 May), the Summer bank holiday (31 August), Christmas Day (25 December), and a Boxing Day substitute on Monday 28 December, because 26 December 2026 is a Saturday. When a bank holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday is appointed, usually the following Monday.

From 3 September 2026, the England-and-Wales dates still ahead are Christmas Day on Friday 25 December and the Boxing Day substitute on Monday 28 December. The May and August Mondays are already past. Counting “how many” as eight still describes the year. Counting “how many left” is two in England and Wales, plus whatever your nation adds in the autumn.

Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the word “public”

Scotland’s usual extras include 2 January and St Andrew’s Day on 30 November. Scotland’s summer bank holiday is not the same late-August Monday England uses. Easter Monday is a bank holiday in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; it is not the same fixture in Scotland’s government list. Northern Ireland’s usual extras include St Patrick’s Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne holiday in July. In 2026 that July holiday is Monday 13 July, appointed in place of Sunday 12 July.

St David’s Day in Wales and St George’s Day in England are widely marked. They are not, by default, extra bank holidays on the England-and-Wales list. A nation can add a one-off day by proclamation. A typical year should not be described as if every one-off were permanent.

England and Wales, 2026: eight bank holidays. Scotland: a longer list, including 2 January and St Andrew’s Day. Northern Ireland: a longer list, including St Patrick’s Day and the July holiday. Weekend bank holidays usually gain a substitute weekday.

England and Wales share a list; Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own. Eight is the England-and-Wales answer. The United Kingdom is not one wall calendar with a single flag on it.

What a public holiday actually closes

Banks and many public counters close. Schools often follow the bank-holiday calendar. Shops, restaurants, and private firms set their own shutters. UK government guidance is blunt: an employer does not have to give paid leave on bank or public holidays unless the contract or a local deal says so. “Public holiday” is not an automatic extra wage. It is a named day on which some clocks stop and some do not.

If you needed “public holidays uk” as a travel list, name the nation you will stand in on the morning in question. If you needed a shop, telephone that shop. If you needed a school, read that school’s term sheet. The search phrases public holidays in uk, public holidays uk, uk public holidays, and public holidays in the uk are the same question. The answer still splits by nation before it splits by shop.