Complete List of UK Bank Holidays for 2025

Full List of UK Bank Holidays 2025

You will have slightly different bank holidays in 2025 depending where you live in the UK.

England & Wales

Scotland

Bank Holidays in Northern Ireland

How do you maximise your annual leave for 2025?

2024 England & Wales

You can request 27 days of holiday and have 35 working days off. Here’s how you can do it:

• 14-17 April and 22-25 April: taking eight days of leave around the Easter weekend gives you two whole weeks
• 6-19 May: taking four days of leave after the Early May Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 27-3 May: taking four days of leave after the Monday Spring Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 26-29 August: taking four days of leave after the Summer Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 22-24 December and 29-31 December: taking six days of leave before and after Christmas gives you eight days out of the office; if you take seven days and book off 2 January, you end up with two weeks of leave

2025 Scotland

You can request 31 days of holiday and have 40 working days off. Here’s how you can do it:

• 14-17 April and 22-25 April: taking eight days of leave around the Easter weekend gives you two whole weeks
• 6-19 May: taking four days of leave after the Early May Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 27-3 May: taking four days of leave after the Monday Spring Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 5-8 August: taking four days of leave after the Summer Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 2-5 December: taking four days leave after the St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 22-24 December and 29-31 December: taking six days of leave before and after Christmas gives you eight days out of the office; if you take seven days and book off 2 January, you end up with two weeks of leave

2025 Northern Ireland

You can request 35 days of holiday and have 45 working days off. Here’s how you can do it:

• 14-17 April and 22-25 April: taking eight days of leave around the Easter weekend gives you two whole weeks
• 6-19 May: taking four days of leave after the Early May Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 27-3 May: taking four days of leave after the Monday Spring Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 15-16 July: taking four days of leave after the Battle of the Boyne Holiday gives you a whole week
• 26-29 August: taking four days of leave after the Summer Bank Holiday gives you a whole week
• 22-24 December and 29-31 December: taking six days of leave before and after Christmas gives you eight days out of the office; if you take seven days and book off 2 January, you end up with two weeks of leave

FAQs

When is the next bank holiday in 2025?

Wednesday, 1st January 2025 (New Year’s Day) is the first bank holiday in 2024.

How many bank holidays will there be in 2025?

The number of bank holidays varies depending on where you live in the UK.

For England and Wales, there will be eight bank holidays in 2025. For Scotland, there will be nine. For Northern Ireland, there will be ten.

How many bank holidays in 2026?

In 2026, there will be eight bank holidays in England and Wales, nine in Scotland, and ten in Northern Ireland.

What are the bank holidays for Easter in 2025?

In 2025, the UK has two bank holidays during Easter: Friday, April 18th (Good Friday) and Monday, April 21st (Easter Monday).

How can I maximise my leave for 2025?

You can maximise your leave with the 2025 bank holidays by taking annual leave in the weeks when there is a bank holiday. For example, if there is a bank holiday on a Monday, you can take four days’ leave rather than five and have the whole week off.

Is May 1st always a bank holiday?

The early May bank holiday is always on a Monday near the 1 May. The actual date of the Monday bank holiday is only sometimes 1 May.

Which UK country has the most bank holidays?

Northern Ireland has the most bank holidays: ten, compared to nine in Scotland and eight in England.

Is it double pay on bank holidays?

There is no statutory right to extra pay for working on a bank holiday; extra payments are dependent on an individual’s contract. However, workers in essential services such as the police, fire, ambulance, or healthcare usually receive additional pay for working on bank holidays.

When are the UK school holidays?

The local council sets UK school holidays for state schools. Private schools can set their holidays. To learn about UK school holidays, search for the specific area you are interested in.

What if a public holiday falls on a weekend?

If a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it is moved to the next working day. This can be a Friday, but it is usually a Monday.

Employee Rights: Bank Holidays

There is no statutory right to take leave on a bank holiday. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers can decide whether bank holidays are included in the annual leave allowance or offered as unpaid time off.

Employees cannot refuse to work if an employer has made it clear in their terms of employment that the employee is required to work on a bank holiday. However, employers should be aware that refusing religious employees time off for any of the bank holidays that have a religious significance could be seen as indirect religious discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 protects workers against direct and indirect discrimination.

Part-Time Workers and Bank Holidays

Part-time employees have the same rights to annual leave as full-time employees under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. However, these rights are based on a pro-rata basis, meaning that the amount of holiday you are entitled to is proportional to your work hours.

To adhere to government regulations, companies should offer part-time employees a prorated allowance of paid bank holidays regardless of whether they are scheduled to work on that holiday.

Annual Leave Management with Factorial

Managing annual leave is a complicated business for HR teams and managers. It becomes even more complex when you start dealing with bank holidays, part-time employees and other types of leave, such as parental or carer’s leave.

Our Holiday and Absence Management Software allows you to centralise and automate the process and keep track of employee time off from one centralised team calendar, giving you complete visibility over upcoming time off.

Book a free demo to speak to an expert about how this tool can streamline how you manage leave requests