Legal Update: Bank Holidays 2026-27

Businesses who operate their annual leave year from 1^st April to 31^st March should be aware that the 2026-27 period includes 10 bank holidays, compared to the typical eight. This is due to the dates of Good Friday and Easter Monday in 2026 and 2027 falling under the same leave year.

Bank Holidays in England and Wales for 2026-27:

• Good Friday: 3^rd April 2026
• Easter Monday: 6^th April 2026
• Early May Bank Holiday: 4^th May 2026
• Spring Bank Holiday: 25^th May 2026
• Summer Bank Holiday: 31^st August 2026
• Christmas Day: 25^th December 2026
• Boxing Day: 26^th December 2026
• New Year’s Day: 1^st January 2027
• Good Friday: 26^th March 2027
• Easter Monday: 29^th March 2027

Implications for Employers

The Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998 provides that workers are entitled to the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks (28 days) holiday entitlement per year, which is inclusive of bank and public holidays.

It is a common misunderstanding that all workers have the right to take bank and public holidays as paid leave in addition to their statutory leave. This is not the case, and it is not an automatic, statutory right to be entitled to bank holidays. Ultimately, it is up to the employer to determine whether workers will receive the additional bank holiday off and it may depend how holiday entitlement is set out in their contracts.

Temporary Workers

In most cases temporary workers on a contract for services will only receive the statutory minimum holiday entitlement. For example, the REC Model Contract 4 states at Clause 7.1 that:

Subject to clauses 7.2 and 7.3, the Agency Worker is entitled to paid annual leave according to the statutory minimum as provided by the WTR from time to time. The current statutory entitlement to paid annual leave under the WTR is 5.6 weeks.

However, once a worker qualifies for equal treatment under AWR, they may become entitled to holiday above the statutory minimum if the client provides this for their own direct recruits or comparable employees. Employment businesses should confirm this with clients prior to workers completing the 12-qualifying weeks.

A temporary worker on a contract for services is also not under any obligation to work on an assignment. If an assignment falls on a bank or public holiday, the temporary worker can decide whether to work or not but will need to apply to take the day as part of their holiday entitlement if they wish to be paid for the day off. Alternatively, the worker’s contract may stipulate that where an assignment falls over a day which is a bank or public holiday and the worker does not work, this will be treated as part of the worker’s holiday entitlement and the worker will be entitled to be paid for that day.

Internal Employees

Similarly to temporary workers on a contract for services, it is not an automatic right to be entitled to bank holidays. Ultimately, it is up to the employer to determine whether workers will be paid when they do not work on a bank or public holiday, and whether these days should come out of the 28 day entitlement or be added to the statutory entitlement. This should be clearly stipulated in the contract.

Where the contract of employment states that employees are entitled to 20 days plus 8 bank holidays, it is likely to mean that employees are not entitled to the “extra” two bank holidays and would only be paid for 8 bank holidays. In contrast, if your contract of employment states that employees are entitled to 20 days plus bank holidays (not specifying the amount of bank holidays), they will benefit from any extra public holidays which are added to the calendar. This applies if the contract does not make clear that the employee is only entitled to the usual 8 bank holidays (9 for Scotland and 10 for Northern Ireland).

Under Regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998, a worker’s employer may require the worker to take leave to which the worker is entitled on particular days, by giving notice of twice as many days in advance of the earliest day specified in the notice as the number of days or part-days to which the notice relates. This means that as an employer you may request that your employees take two days of their 20 days annual leave entitlement on the Easter bank holiday in 2027, provided that you give sufficient notice. While they would not be entitled to any additional leave, where the contract does not provide for it, it would remove the problem of business closures and annual leave on those particular days.