There are now just two bank holidays left in 2025, with these falling on Christmas Day and Boxing Day – December 25 and 26. Next year, Boxing Day’s bank holiday will “move”, due to it falling on a Saturday.
Monday, December 28, will be what’s known as a “substitute” bank holiday in 2026. And it’s not the only bank holiday that will change date next year.
Weekends are not the only occurrence that influence when bank holidays fall, as the ever-changing Easter date does so too.
As it stands there will be eight bank holidays across England and Wales in 2026, the first of these being New Year’s Day, January 1.
Then, Good Friday will fall on Friday, April 3, and Easter Monday on Monday, April 6 – somewhat earlier than the 2025 dates of Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 21.
May’s two bank holidays will each be a day earlier, due to the calendar and these always falling on a Monday. In 2026 the Early May bank holiday is May 4, while the Spring bank holiday falls on May 25.
The summer bank holiday, which falls towards the end of the school summer holidays, will be on Monday, August 31, a few days later than this year’s, which fell on August 25.
Then the Christmas Day bank holiday remains unchanged, falling on Friday, December 25.
And as mentioned earlier in this article, Boxing Day this year falls on Saturday, December 26, meaning there will be a substitute bank holiday on Monday, December 28.
Bank holiday dates for England and Wales in 2026
- Thursday, January 1 – New Year’s Day
- Friday, April 3 – Good Friday
- Monday, April 6 – Easter Monday
- Monday, May 4 – Early May bank holiday
- Monday, May 25 – Spring bank holiday
- Monday, August 31 – Summer bank holiday
- Friday, December 25 – Christmas Day
- Monday, December 28 – Boxing Day (substitute day)