How many working days are in 2027 in the UK?

If you are planning a project, setting a budget, working out a day rate or just trying to book leave, you need to know how many working days a year really contains. A year has 365 days, but once you remove weekends and bank holidays the figure is much lower, and it depends on where in the UK you work. This guide gives the answer for 2027 for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, lists the bank holiday dates as published on GOV.UK at the time of writing, shows a month-by-month count, and explains how holiday entitlement and day rates fit around it. Check GOV.UK before relying on the dates, because bank holidays can be added or moved by the government.

By Valtrinity. Updated 18 October 2026.

The short answer

A working day here means a Monday to Friday that is not a bank holiday. In 2027, January 1 falls on a Friday and the year is not a leap year, so it contains 52 full weeks plus one extra day, which is a Friday. That gives 261 weekdays in total.

Take off the bank holidays that fall on weekdays. In England and Wales there are 8, so there are 253 working days. In Scotland there are 9, so there are 252. In Northern Ireland there are 10, so there are 251.

These counts assume the standard Monday to Friday week. If you work different days, or work bank holidays as normal days, the numbers are different, and the same method applies: count the days you work, then remove the days you are not expected to work.

Bank holidays in England and Wales in 2027

GOV.UK lists these dates for England and Wales: New Year's Day on Friday 1 January; Good Friday on 26 March; Easter Monday on 29 March; the early May bank holiday on Monday 3 May; the spring bank holiday on Monday 31 May; the summer bank holiday on Monday 30 August; and substitute days for Christmas Day and Boxing Day on Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December.

The substitute days are needed because 25 December 2027 falls on a Saturday and 26 December falls on a Sunday. When a bank holiday lands on a weekend, a weekday is normally given in its place, which keeps the number of weekday holidays at eight.

Easter moves each year. In 2027 Easter Sunday is on 28 March, which is why Good Friday and Easter Monday are at the end of March rather than in April, as they are in 2026.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland's list is different. It has New Year's Day on Friday 1 January and a substitute for 2 January on Monday 4 January (because 2 January is a Saturday), Good Friday on 26 March, the early May bank holiday on 3 May, the spring bank holiday on 31 May, the summer bank holiday on Monday 2 August, St Andrew's Day on Tuesday 30 November, and substitute days for Christmas and Boxing Day on 27 and 28 December. That is 9 weekday holidays, and it has no Easter Monday.

Northern Ireland has New Year's Day, St Patrick's Day on Wednesday 17 March, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May and spring bank holidays, the Battle of the Boyne on Monday 12 July, the summer bank holiday on 30 August, and substitute days on 27 and 28 December. That is 10 weekday holidays.

Employers can also choose to give additional public holidays, and local holidays differ in some Scottish towns. Always check your own contract for the days you actually get.

Month-by-month count for England and Wales

Weekdays minus bank holidays gives the number of working days in each month. January has 21 weekdays, minus New Year's Day, which is 20. February has 20. March has 23 weekdays, minus Good Friday and Easter Monday, which is 21. April has 22. May has 21 weekdays, minus two bank holidays, which is 19. June has 22. July has 22.

August has 22 weekdays, minus the summer bank holiday, which is 21. September has 22. October has 21. November has 22. December has 23 weekdays, minus the two substitute days, which is 21.

Add them up: 20 plus 20 plus 21 plus 22 plus 19 plus 22 plus 22 plus 21 plus 22 plus 21 plus 22 plus 21 is 253. The month with the fewest working days is May, with 19, and the months with the most are April, June, July, September and November, with 22 each.

How this fits with holiday entitlement

Most workers in Great Britain are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of annual leave a year. For someone working five days a week, that is 28 days, and employers can include bank holidays within that figure. So if all 8 bank holidays count towards the entitlement, the worker takes another 20 days at times of their own choosing.

The working days left after statutory holiday are the days you are actually at work. For England and Wales in 2027 that is 261 weekdays minus 28 days of leave, which is 233 days. If your employer gives bank holidays on top of 28 days, you would have 261 minus 28 minus 8, which is 225 days.

Part-time workers get a proportionate entitlement, which means a share based on the days they work. Someone working three days a week is entitled to 3 × 5.6, which is 16.8 days. Check your contract and the rules on GOV.UK for how bank holidays are treated for people who work part-time.

Using the number: day rates, hours and budgets

A working day count helps you turn a yearly figure into a daily one. If you earn £50,600 a year and divide by 253, you get a day rate of £200. For a self-employed day rate, remember that you do not get holiday pay or sick pay, so working out a rate from the full 253 days will overstate what you can actually bill.

For hours, 253 days of 8 hours is 2,024 working hours, and 253 days of 7.5 hours is 1,897.5 hours. These help when you estimate project costs or convert an hourly rate to an annual salary.

Project plans are easier when you count working days instead of calendar days. A task that takes 25 working days starting on Monday 2 August 2027 would finish on Friday 3 September if you ignored the bank holiday on 30 August. Allowing for it, the task ends on Monday 6 September. Always add the dates to a calendar tool instead of counting by eye.

Checking for changes

Bank holiday dates can be changed by the government for special occasions, as happened for a coronation and a jubilee in past years, and the dates listed for a future year may be updated. At the time of writing in October 2026, GOV.UK lists the 2027 dates given in this guide.

If you rely on the count for contracts, payroll or deadlines, check the official list at GOV.UK shortly before the year starts, and again if a big national event is announced.

It is also worth checking whether your own workplace has extra closure days, such as the days between Christmas and New Year, which many employers treat as company holidays.

Tools mentioned in this guide

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