With the school summer holidays drawing to a close and the August bank holiday behind us, many of us will be turning our attention to 2026 holidays and how to make the most of them with upcoming long weekends off. Each year the dates of eight bank holidays change with annual celebrations such as Easter not having a set day.
We still have two to go in 2025. The next bank holiday in England and Wales is Thursday, December 25 (Christmas Day), followed by Boxing Day – Friday, December 26. This means that the first bank holiday of 2026 will be New Year’s Day, Thursday, January 1.
While this year’s Easter bank holidays were in late April, next year Easter will be slightly earlier, with Good Friday falling on Friday, April 3, and Easter Monday on Monday, April 6, reports the Manchester Evening News.
May’s two bank holidays will be on Monday, May 4 and Monday, May 25, while the summer bank holiday, which falls towards the end of the school summer holidays, will be on Monday, August 31. To conclude the year, next year’s Christmas bank holiday will be on Friday, December 25.
Boxing Day in 2026 falls on Saturday, December 26, meaning there will be a substitute bank holiday on Monday, December 28. Savvy workers can plan ahead now to maximise their annual leave by booking holidays around these dates to extend their time off.
Here are the confirmed UK bank holidays for 2026:
January 1 – Thursday – New Year’s Day
April 3 – Friday – Good Friday
April 6 – Monday – Easter Monday
May 4 – Monday – Early May bank holiday
May 25 – Monday – Spring bank holiday
August 31 – Monday – Summer bank holiday
December 25 – Friday – Christmas Day
December 28 – Monday – Boxing Day (substitute day)
Looking for more from MyLondon? Subscribe to our daily newsletters here for the latest and greatest updates from across London.
