Bank holidays and annual leave in each UK nation

No. There is no statutory premium for bank holiday work anywhere in the UK. nidirect states that any right to time off or extra pay depends on your contract, and the same is true in Great Britain. Many contracts pay time and a half or give a day in lieu; check the contract, the staff handbook or any collective agreement.

No. The World Cup bank holiday on Monday 15 June 2026 is a Scottish bank holiday only, listed on GOV.UK for Scotland. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have no extra day. Even in Scotland it gives no automatic right to a day off: it depends on whether your contract gives bank holidays as leave, and how.

Northern Ireland has 10 in 2026 against 8 in England and Wales because it adds St Patrick’s Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day) in July. The statutory leave entitlement is the same 5.6 weeks, so a full-timer whose bank holidays are counted inside it has fewer days left to choose.

Monday 27 December 2027, as a substitute day, with Boxing Day on Tuesday 28 December 2027. When a bank holiday falls at a weekend the substitute is normally the following Monday, as nidirect explains, and GOV.UK publishes the substitute dates for each nation. Whether you get the day off still depends on your contract.

Yes. GOV.UK says employers can tell staff to take leave, giving bank holidays and Christmas as examples. Under regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations the notice must be at least twice as many days as the leave required, so two days’ notice for one bank holiday, unless the contract says otherwise. It is common for contracts to fix this in advance.