How many working days in the UK this year?
HR, payroll and delivery planners keep asking the same question every January: how many weekdays are left once the bank holidays are removed? The answer depends on which UK nation you are in.
What people mean by “working days”
In UK business English, working days (or business days) almost always means Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays for the nation you are counting. Weekends never count. Some contracts also exclude company shutdowns or local holidays — that is a private rule, not a government list.
Common places the number shows up:
- SLA wording (“respond within 3 working days”)
- Payroll / leave accrual (“22 days annual leave plus bank holidays”)
- Delivery promises and construction programmes
- School term planning and childcare quotes
Quick formula
working_days ≈ weekdays_in_year − bank_holidays_on_weekdays
# Or between two dates (inclusive/exclusive rules matter):
# weekdays in [start, end) minus public holidays in that range
A non-leap year has 365 days → 104 or 105 weekend days depending on which weekday 1 January falls on → 260 or 261 weekdays before holidays. Leap years add one weekday or one weekend day. Then subtract each public holiday that lands on a weekday (or its substitute weekday when the named day was a weekend).
Typical totals (England & Wales)
| Year | Weekdays | Bank holidays (weekday / substitute) | Approx. working days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 261 | 8 observed weekdays | ~253 |
| 2026 | 261 | 8 observed weekdays (Boxing Day Sat → Mon 28 Dec) | ~253 |
| 2027 | 260 | 8 observed weekdays | ~252 |
Scotland and Northern Ireland have extra fixed holidays (2 January / St Andrew’s Day; St Patrick’s Day / 12 July), so their working-day counts are usually one or two lower than England & Wales in the same year. Always check the nation — “UK working days” is ambiguous.
Get the exact number (no spreadsheet)
- Open Tooltern Bank Holidays.
- Pick England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland or US federal, and the year.
- Read Working days in YEAR (Mon–Fri minus holidays) in the summary panel — calculated in your browser, nothing uploaded.
- Need a date range (e.g. 1 Apr → 31 Mar)? Use Anvil
GET /v1/workdays?from=&to=®ion=or the date difference calculator for calendar spans.
# Working days in England & Wales for calendar 2026 via Anvil (keyless):
curl -s 'https://api.oddlathe.com/v1/workdays?from=2026-01-01&to=2027-01-01®ion=england-and-wales'
# Holiday list for the same year:
curl -s 'https://api.oddlathe.com/v1/holidays?region=england-and-wales&year=2026'
Gotchas that break “365 − weekends − 8”
- Substitute days — when Christmas or New Year falls on a weekend, an extra Monday (or the next free weekday) is observed. Counting only the named dates undercounts holidays and overcounts working days. See UK bank holiday substitute days.
- Scotland / NI extras — 2 January, St Andrew’s Day, St Patrick’s Day and 12 July are not England & Wales holidays.
- One-off holidays — coronations, jubilees, state funerals add a day in specific years.
- Inclusive vs exclusive end dates — “by Friday” and “within 5 working days of Monday” disagree unless you define whether the start day counts.
- Part-time and compressed hours — contractual “working days” may mean the employee’s scheduled days, not Mon–Fri.
Related
Bank holidays calculator + calendar feed · Add bank holidays to Outlook / Google / Apple · UK bank holiday substitute days · German Arbeitstage · Feiertage Bayern · Date difference calculator · Anvil /v1/workdays · Anvil /v1/holidays · Anvil /v1/holidays.ics · Working days until a deadline · Countdown
Questions
How many working days are there in the UK in 2026?
For England and Wales, expect about 253 Mon–Fri days after removing the eight observed bank holidays (including substitute Mondays). Scotland and Northern Ireland are usually one or two lower. Use the bank holidays calculator for the exact figure.
Do weekends count as working days?
No. Working / business days are Monday–Friday unless a contract says otherwise.
Are bank holidays working days?
No — public holidays are excluded from working-day counts. When a named holiday falls on a weekend, the substitute weekday is the day that is excluded.
Is the number the same across the UK?
No. England & Wales share one list; Scotland and Northern Ireland have extra holidays, so fewer working days.
How do I count working days between two dates?
Use Anvil GET /v1/workdays?from=&to=®ion= or subtract holidays from the weekday span with a clear inclusive/exclusive rule.
Where can I see working days for any year?
https://tooltern.oddlathe.com/bank-holidays — pick region and year; the summary shows working days in that year.
Published .